Read our review of Yearling’s The View From Here.
We sat down with Yearling guitarist George Hage and drummer Mike Schroeder to talk about their band’s debut album, The View From Here.
INDEPENDENT: Is your music more pop or pop-punk?
MIKE SCHROEDER: I think our music is really based more on the pop side. When you think of punk, you think of something that has a dirty sound to it, like the Buzzcocks or Bad Religion. I think our music sounds very clean and almost, I don’t want to say it, homogenized. It just has a very smooth feel to it.
GEORGE HAGE: Yeah, we just try to make feel-good rock like the Gin Blossoms or Jimmy Eat World.
“Feel-good rock” depends largely on mixing engaging lyrics with rhythmic melodies. How does Yearling try to do that?
MIKE: [The guitar work and rhythm] comes from just listening to other artists’ music. The more music you listen to, the more you’re able to soak it in and it all becomes a part of what you end up putting back out into your own music. Sid [lead singer/ bassist] listens to a ridiculous amount of music whether it’s pop or rock or even country. He’s really into Keith Urban right now. I guarantee our next record is going to be a country record.
Who are some of the bands (besides Keith Urban) you looked to and incorporated musically or lyrically into Yearling’s sound?
GEORGE: For me, I listened to a lot of Jimmy Eat World and early Weezer growing up. I love reggae, ska and rock. There’s almost too much to name. And I know Sid, since he’s coming from a metal band [Glass Casket], loves everything from metal to country.
Does Sid ever try to put a metal spin on Yearling’s sound?
MIKE: He always says that Glass Casket is one of those things that he has a good time with. He likes to be on stage and play loud music, but Yearling is more of where his heart is. I think some of the metal influences spill over though on a couple of tracks on the record like “Arrow and Archer” and “Luna.” But we try to switch it up. A lot of metal and hard-core bands will just stay on one note, like chug-a-chug-a. We try to make it sound a lot less mean. We clean it up a bit.
Yearling releases The View From Here at The Brewery on Friday, May 11.
