Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Fri 4th Nov, 2011 in Features

Speaking from Philadelphia, Alec Ounsworth of the Australia-bound Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was chipper and excited about their latest release Hysterical and their impending run of shows for Harvest Festival.
Last on our shores for Laneway in 2008, the Brooklyn five-piece had audiences eating out of their hands for the whole tour: “Watching hundreds of LEDs shimmer while singing along to the synthesised refrain to By The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth with most of the crowd is one of the festival’s greatest moments.”

Congratulations on the release of Hysterical. Compared to the last two records, how have you found touring the new album?
I think that touring Hysterical has let the band get back into the swing of things. Although taking a bit of time off these days seems like you’re gone for good to a lot of people, it hasn’t dropped off as much as we imagined. I’ve really welcomed the challenge. It’s helped that the fans that we had have seemed to stick around, as it was a pretty strong fanbase to begin with. They like something that sticks.

Does it translate well on stage blended with the other material?
Oh, absolutely. It has been pretty seamless.

How much can we expect to hear of the previous two albums when you head to Australia?
As we had been touring initially before the album was out, we were able to play a lot more of the older stuff. At the moment it seems likely that we will play about half new and half old. We do like to play the first record, and we don’t get to play it as much these days. It’d be nice to play more of it live. But these shows will have a lot of the new album, as it’s what folks expect, and it’s good to have more of an energetic show.

I’d read that you had enough material left over for two or three more albums after the debut. Did you use any material you’d intended for a different release in Hysterical?
Hysterical was for the most part all new, aside from a couple of the songs. Some Loud Thunder was almost entirely older material, and from some songs from my solo record. There was stuff floating around. We find that whoever is working on the record starts to change the material.

There’s a distinct theme of lunacy throughout the latest album, with Hysterical, Maniac, and Idiot. What is that all about?
I dunno, it might be coincidence to a degree, but those songs were all written around the same time. It could be about a certain feeling of pressure, a certain desire to step away from little issues. Such as little things that bother me, or that have bothered people that I know or knew. They seem to show that people should really step back and try to re-evaluate things. You need to get other perspectives; otherwise you may face dire circumstances. Well, not too dire!

You’ve recently become a father for the second time. How are you finding fatherhood?
I love it. I think that everybody should give it a shot! [laughs] Nah, just kidding. It’s sort of a grounding experience, makes things stay in check, take certain things more seriously, but not get carried away. It can be a bit tough, but does it give you focus.

Considering that you wrote Emily Jean Stock about your wife, have you found that having daughters has given you new ideas to write about?
Oh yeah, writing songs about changing diapers, drawings on the pavement, going to preschool… (laughs). I have a three year old, and she definitely does give me a ‘bit’ (of inspiration) (laughs). I feel that having children, as heavy as things may get in my world, my mind, they seem to lighten everything a bit. And stop you from getting too carried away. When I wrote this record, thinking about anything I’ve been struggling with for the last two years, my daughters allowed me to step back for myself.