The
Jim Yoshi Pile-Up
from CP8 pages 78-81
Pen: Danielle Kando
Design: Lenki Design
Click image to download PDF of the Actual layout.
Well, Honey, it's living here,
Earning $6.50 an hour.
I feel like I'm being tested."
- "Breakdown Championship"
The first time I heard these lines, I got a huge chill up my spine. Although these words mirror the sentiments of so many young people, barely scraping by, alienated and trying to make it in the big cities of America, they are especially poignant coming from Paul Gonzenbach, the vocalist behind the California Bay Area's The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up. Paul saying that he feels like he's being tested is a universally recognized statement, but one that might read like something of a doomsday anthem for the twenty- and thirty-somethings who are struggling with the crazed Northern California job and housing markets.
" I (didn't) have any interest in chronicling the dot com downturn or commenting on San Francisco," says Gonzenbach, "and although the economic realities are pretty harsh, the songs aren't really coming out of that place. I don't want them to be that specific in time and location and that whole culture (the stock-market-millionaires-turned-tragically-lost-it-all waiters) doesn't interest me, anyway. The feeling I was after was just about the desperation of working a mundane job that eats all your time and leaves you too drained to do the things you love, and not even getting paid well to do it. I think that line is more just about the forty-to-sixty hour workweek and how people compromise themselves so readily, rather than San Francisco, in particular. It's a time-tested theme, and I kind of feel like that line is practically lifted from the first Smiths record. That actually was my situation when I wrote it; at the time I was living in a cramped, leaking apartment, working all the time and earning $6.50/hr."
While the members of the JYPU might not agree that their song could be seen as descriptive of such a specific phenomenon, drummer Ryan Craven believes they have all felt the effects of the troubled economy in one way or another. "We often spend a good chunk of time at practice bitching about how expensive things are," he admits. "Rent and jobs are a big deal to all of us- Ian (Connelly, the band's newest guitarist and San Francisco resident ) just got laid off, as did my wife."
Despite these harsh realities, the members of the musical brotherhood that is The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up are responsible for some of the most progressive music coming out of the Bay Area. They sound more accomplished after two releases than many bands will sound after having made four or five. With the marriage of three lines of bright and intricate guitar harmonies, cohesive bass and drum work, and Paul's beautiful voice, this is the kind of music that begs to be heard in some sort of cavernous hall or cathedral. The songs are intense tapestries of sound that range from a warm and atmospheric lushness to something blunt and seething with tragedy. But, this is not standard maudlin emo. Refreshingly honest and unique, their music is devoid of the sort of familiar signifiers that many bands put into their music to garner praise from critics. You can draw correlations between The JYPU and bands like Bedhead and Mogwai, but they are their own band and not derivative of any others.
The assorted members of JYPU consist of bassist Frankie Koeller, Craven, and the three guitarists, singer Paul Gonzenbach, Connelly, and Noah Blumberg, who replaced long-time band member Sikwaya Condon.
Though the four original members went to the same high school, they didn't come together until well after they had graduated. The band started when Paul and Ryan were introduced by a mutual friend. In late 1996, Frankie began playing bass with them and in 1998 they added Sikwaya to the mix. Ian, who had been playing with the Bay Area avant-experimental-noise-core project, Boxleitner, left that group in 2000 to join the JYPU, and when Sikwaya decided to leave the band earlier this year, Noah Blumberg stepped in.
When asked about Sikwaya's departure, honorary funny man Ryan says, "There are so many things to deal with in a band, and there were some aspects that he didn't like. Although it's upsetting that we won't be working with him anymore, since 1) he is hilarious, and 2) he is a great guitar player, we certainly weren't going to put pressure on him to do something that wasn't making him happy. It is also easier to take since Noah is 1) hilarious, and 2) a great guitar player. But there were no hard feelings, and, in fact, I think we get along better (with Sikwaya and with ourselves) now that this strange pressure and wondering and uncertainty is gone. Our only fear now is that we are going to have to tune our own guitars. God, Sikwaya even tuned my drums for me. But we can work through that."
With three guitarists, most of the JYPU's songs have the appearance of great complexity. Ryan claims the songs are not terrifically so, stating, "Rumah Sakit is/was complicated. We just like playing our parts six times instead of four. I think some of the parts are complex. Paul or Frankie might play something complicated, and no one really knows what Sikwaya and Ian are doing on the album, but I think the structures are pretty straightforward."
When asked about the role that experimentation plays in the group's practice and creation of new songs, Ryan opined, "I think that experimentation will be cut a little bit since Sikwaya left. He was always up for putting on ankle tambourines and spinning, or maybe smoking a little sage and catnip, and then seeing what he came up with. And he really liked the idea of '...you know... jamming...' In reality, the creation of their songs is always collaborative. The songs begin with some bass chords from Frankie or perhaps, a guitar part from Paul, Ian or Noah, and the group builds from there. There are times when one of the guitarists will come in with a finished part, but all of the members have learned to be very flexible about editing themselves. There is no one single principal creator. As Paul says, " We all have a part in deciding the structure and the dynamics. We decide what the general structure of the song will be, and then I take a recording of the song, and write a melody and lyrics."
Lucky for them that they get along so well, because having to work around the schedules of five members could pose some issues, both logistically and musically. They do agree that having that many members makes things different on many levels. Getting everyone together to practice is difficult and getting everyone together to tour is next to impossible. But, getting things to work musically is one thing that they appear to have worked out. Everyone seems to agree that they have been able to deal with those issues pretty easily.
" The song writing is easier than it seems like it should be," says Ryan. "There are times when we have to stop and realize that all of us shouldn't be playing. (Having) three guitars, bass, and drums can just sound like a big mess sometimes. But, the other four have good ears for which parts are working best, and are really good about cutting stuff out, especially if it is their own part. And I love to not play drums. If I could just sit there on stage and watch them play, I would."
In 1999, the group put out their first release, a self-titled EP, featuring five amazing songs. While many EPs serve as something of an teaser for fans, the JYPU's first release stands as something more like an album. It isn't just that most of the songs are a bit on the longer side, but rather that the EP does what every good album should do: It captures your attention completely and gives you a full sense of the scope of the band's music. That said, Paul claims that "with the EP, we just wanted to get those old songs out so we would never have to play them again."
Other members agree that the EP stands a far second to the group's new album, It's Winter Here. Several guys quote having learned to properly play their instruments as a driving force, although I think they were joking. As for the significant differences between the two albums, Paul believes "they're about as different as they could be. The most obvious difference, to me, is the recording quality and the guitar tones. The EP sounds pretty thin in places that it shouldn't be, which was completely due to our lack of experience and walking into a studio with no clear idea of what we wanted, and then being intimidated to be there. In terms of the songs themselves, I think the lyrics are much stronger and much less buried on the new record. I think my singing has gotten better. Also, the structures are just more interesting and slightly less predictable. And we use more than two chords per song. We had a pretty specific idea of what we wanted the record to sound like and how we wanted the songs to work."
As for the future, everyone agrees that there is a lot of room for evolution in their music. For one, the newest member of the band, Noah, is going to add another element to whatever the band creates in the future.
" I think we've found "a" sound," states Paul. "I would hope that we'd keep forcing ourselves to change and try things we haven't before. The new songs we're writing don't really sound like It's Winter Here, and I think that's got to be a good thing. I'd hate to be one of those bands that keep making the same record over and over. But having said that, the new stuff still sounds like the Jim Yoshii Pile-Up. We're still the same guys playing the same instruments, so there's going to be continuity in that sense. I haven't learned to play the harp or anything. Yet."