Preview
YELLOWCARD
Tuesday, January 20
MacEwan Hall
A couple of years ago rock bands were accessorizing with tambourines. Then keyboards made a comeback. While it may still be too early to tell, it looks as though the violin could very well be this season’s Moog. But for Yellowcard, incorporating four strings into the emo punk rock mix is not a passing fad.
"It’s sorta become a shtick," admits lead guitarist Ben Harper about the media ink violinist Sean Mackin gets for his role in the group. "But when we were in high school, we weren’t really thinking that far ahead. He was just a really close friend that happened to play the violin and listen to the same kind of music we were listening to, like the southern California rock that we all grew up on."
Since those adolescent years in the late ’90s, the five Floridians migrated to Hollywood, where they were quickly signed by Capitol Records. The first release, "Way Away," on their latest album, Ocean Avenue, was an immediate hit. All this good fortune could explain why they couldn’t care less if the violin hype overshadows the rest of the music.
"We don’t let anything bother us too much," he says. "There’s so many bands out there. It’s good to have something specific and original for people to write about. As far as Sean and I playing together, I think it makes it a lot more fun for me. It’s almost easier for me. It’s someone to share ideas with and spice up the songs that (lead singer) Ryan (Key) writes."
If he sounds chronically positive, it’s because he is. The band’s website and lyrics are riddled with reach-for-the-stars, believe-in-yourself and don’t-let-what-other-people-say-about-you-hold-you-back motivation.
"Not everybody in the band is as gung-ho as me," says Harper. " I’m probably the most super hippie optimistic person in the group."
One area in which Harper and his band mates show their teeth is genre-defining. Key is especially concerned about the band being pigeonholed. Yet, the group’s own homepage consistently refers to Yellowcard as a "punk" band.
"We don’t write the bios," says Harper. But he admits that they do give final approval of the written copy. "I think that Ryan’s adamant about being called ‘pop’ punk. He’s not afraid of (the term) ‘punk’ but he doesn’t like us to be labelled as anything. He likes us to be called a rock band because there’s so many different flavours and influences that go into our songs from when they’re first conceived to where they end up."
Most of the tracks on Ocean Avenue end up in the same vein as the Ataris – PG rated emotional rock that’s tailor-made for the radio. In their hit single, "Way Away," Key fights to free middle-class straight-edged kids from the pain and suffering of following mapped out expectations instead of their hearts. Over the urgency of crunchy guitars, he cries with a sincerely pained voice about his own decision to drop out of college and move to Hollywood. "You can’t stop me now/ You can’t hold me down/ You can’t keep me here/ I’m on my way."
Throughout "Only One," emo’s answer to the power ballad, Mackin puts his bow to work by adding an orchestral maturity that most contemporary alternative rock love songs lack.
If you want to air-violin along with Mackin, you better catch Yellowcard while the violin is still hot. After all, who knows if the Stradivarius will still be the "it" instrument next year? The cowbell is long overdue to make a comeback. |
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