They picked an unusual name.  They released and marketed their first album by themselves.  They chose to use the same unusual name as the title of their record label. They virtually came out of nowhere and through blogs and web-zines, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah exploded onto the music scene tagged after the very ideals they were implementing.  Indie rock is still a righteous endeavor and the autonomous, Brooklyn-based band has achieved impressive success without big sponsorship.

However, sophomore albums can be a little tricky, especially with the favorable reception gained by their debut.  Everyone from labels to producers wants a piece of you and with a legion of fans anxiously waiting for the next edition, there's a small chance of the bubble bursting.  It's a learning stage for any young group and singer/songwriter and frontman, Alec Ounsworth may not have been there or done that, but trying new things is not to be denied. 

With a world tour kicking off to promote their highly anticipated second album, Some Loud Thunder, CYHSY is submerged in the major league of the business.  Exclusive local shows and mailing CDs out of their apartment have gone by the wayside.  Expansion requires change and that means larger distribution and working with an acclaimed producer.  After speaking with Ounsworth about the new record, the new sound and the pressures of living up to expectations, it's apparent that the happy medium between independent control and the conventional approach to the music industry may not be so elusive.

REAX:  The last time you played Florida, you had some problems on stage.  Have you worked out the kinks of playing live yet after the incessant touring?

Alec Ounsworth:  That was a fun and unusual one.  We had some equipment problems and my guitar decided to break as soon as we started the set…great way to start in front of a bunch of people.  That came to be not very unusual.  We didn't necessarily have everything together when we first started touring.  So, a lot of things happened that we didn't account for and we learned pretty quickly that anything can happen when you're up there on stage.   It takes a while to learn these things, but I think we have it now.

REAX:  How long did "Some Loud Thunder" take to write, record, and master?

AO:  Actually most of the songs were written in their basic form way before we started recording and some were written even before the band started.  It took a while to translate the songs into their final form on the album.  It was almost like writing them again.  We spent six weeks in the studio, so there was a bit of pressure trying to work pretty quickly between tours.

REAX:  The production for the new album seems to be different…the mood is darker with more distortion, fuzz, abstract notes, and minor keys.  Was there an inspiration behind the new album's overall sound?

AO:  Dave (Fridmann, producer) made a lot of suggestions but I had my idea on how I wanted the songs to end up.  Usually the live versions of our songs are different from what makes it on the album.  With "Satan Said Dance," we had to drop back rather than push it forward.  We wanted to focus on what the song was actually about and the best way to express any sort of sentiment(laughs).  I didn't want it to be an anthemic, crazy rock n' roll guitar…I wanted to have more interesting stuff going on.  So, everyone wrote parts for the song and it was up to me to try to get all of the ideas straight.  It was kind of a nightmare as far as mixing goes.

REAX:  Did you want to move away from the sound of your first album?

AO:  I don't think so.  A lot of it was working with Dave.  We didn't go in thinking we had to make it different.  A lot of what people respond to on the first album was a steady beat.  I don't think I approach music like that.  It is what it is and it comes off however it does.  I intuitively put things together as I see fit and it's all there is to it.  Who knows, the third album could sound more like the first but never consciously so.

REAX:  How much pressure did you put on yourself knowing that the first album did so well?

AO:  I don't think anyone really had any clear idea what would happen with the first album.  With that…I never thought about what someone may or may not want to listen to.  So, the only pressure I felt was just trying to get the album finished.

REAX:  Are you working on any other projects besides Clap Your Hands Say Yeah?

AO:  I'm always working on other stuff.  Right now I'm working on three other projects. The problem is that we just released our second album under Clap Your Hands so that eats up quite a bit of time.  I'm working on a children's album.  It's a lot more challenging than I thought it would be.  It's made up of seemingly unsensical songs.  I always wanted to do it, I thought it would be fun, and I'm really into children's literature.  It's a little bit of a perfect pop song thing but it's also a little darker.  That will probably be done a long time from now since we're touring for a better part of the year.  I also have a project called Flashy Python and the Body Snatchers, which is kind of an all-purpose project.  I'm playing in it with a few friends of mine.

REAX:  How are you enjoying the promotion and distribution for "Some Loud Thunder" versus the first?  Is it more rewarding going the D.I.Y. route?

AO:  I think I like how we distributed the first album early on.  Maybe it was more rewarding.  We were packaging CDs and sending them away to people all day long, as glamorous as it sounds.  The thing was that I wasn't able to work on music, I was too busy sending off CDs.  Then we handed it off to a distribution company, which is still what we do now.  As far as presenting the second album, it was more of a conventional way this time.  It's one of several experiments I'm working on.  This one was to see what it was like to do some sort of conventional campaign to present the album to people.  I would prefer to put out the album without talking to any journalists and music critics but I wanted to see what would happen this time.  I think if it works and the album is good then maybe this is a real fantasy of mine coming true.

Appearing:
April 20, 2007
Freebird, Jacksonville

April 21, 2007
Club Firestone, Orlando

April 22, 2007
Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale