Interviewed: Yves Klein Blue

24 Jun 2009

Indie pop four-piece Yves Klein Blue have come a long way since their humble beginnings in their native Brisbane. Having just wrapped up a tour of the US and UK, Yves Klein Blue are returning to Australia for their very own headline tour. Liveguide caught up with drummer Chris Banham to see how things are travelling.

Liveguide: Your debut LP 'Ragged & Ecstatic' is out this month. Is it much of a departure from last year’s EP ‘Draw Attention To Themselves’?

Since the EP we have definitely grown as musicians and songwriters. Stylistically there are similarities, however the songs are probably more mature. Some of the songs on the record have been around since the EP, but we didn't think they were ready to be recorded at the time. So since then we have made some improvements... well I like to think we have.

Apart from recording, how did you spend your time in LA?

We recorded 6 days a week, which only left Sundays for time off. In the first few weeks we got to visit Santa Monica, see some movies at Grauman's Chinese Theater and eat at as many diners as possible. But in the final few weeks, things started to get stressful and we would spend Sunday working on the songs. Kinda like homework I guess.

Did you feel under pressure recording abroad? Has it influenced the sound of the LP?

I didn't feel any pressure, I was much more excited about the chance to record abroad. The studio we used had such amazing recording equipment and instruments. We used a control desk that came from Abbey Road! The record sounds modern, but because of all the vintage equipment, it has a classic sound.

How would you describe your sound to someone who’d never heard YKB? What are your primary musical and non-musical inspirations?

I have always found it difficult to describe our music, as we tend to draw influences from many different artists and genres. For this record we were inspired by artists such as David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, The Specials and The Clash.

How did audiences respond to YKB in USA and UK? Which nation seemed more responsive to your sound?

Hard to say which audience gave a better response, we have had great gigs in both countries. The first time we played in New York we supported The Vines at the Bowery Ballroom. We were the opening act, but the venue was full by the time we got on stage. We got a better response from the crowd than some of our early gigs in Australia.

Did playing to crowds abroad change your perspective of Brisbane and/or Australian audiences?

Brisbane has a great music scene, we are lucky to have Brisbane fans. I don't think there are any massive differences. We are yet to have things thrown at us. Dear fans, thanks. You guys are great!

Are you happy with the way the debut turned out? What is your fondest, or vivid, memory of the process?

I couldn't be happier with the album. We put so much into it and I'm so happy with the result.

My fondest memory would be when we got Benmont Tench and Greg Leisz to play piano and pedal steel on some of the tracks. Watching them play to our songs was incredible, I learnt so much in one day.

Are you eager to get back into the studio?

Not just yet. Eager to write new songs and play gigs.

Any plans to move abroad permanently, given the buzz your single ‘Polka’ is attracting Stateside?

No plans to move permanently. Brisbane is still home. Though we are hoping to visit England again near the end of the year.

You’re about to embark on a massive national tour, taking in quite a few regional areas. What should punters expect?

Nudity. And chocolate. And us. We are also doing a cover of Born To Run, so hope you like it.


For full dates for Yves Klein Blue's national tour, click here.

taken from: http://www.liveguide.com.au/News_and_Reviews/8/14740/Interviewed_Yves_Klein_Blue

Band Bio from Dew Process

Everyone searches for their place, but along the way it’s easy to forget that the real essence of living is to engage in it, to not only experience it but embrace the chaos and uncertainty and elation and pain and everything in between. As Jack Kerouac so poignantly and simply put it, it’s the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being. It’s this desire to experience and live all life has to offer that so brilliantly pervades Brisbane’s Yves Klein Blue debut album, fittingly called “Ragged & Ecstatic”.

“That summed up the whole experience; everything that’s on the album is about being alive and finding out about the world and your place in it,” frontman Michael Tomlinson explains. “It was the dilemma taking up a lot of my thoughts during the past couple of years: What is this place and where do I fit in? What do I have to do? And the highs and the lows – that’s what life is.”

The past couple of years have seen Yves Klein Blue (“Eve Kline Blue”) walk a path of highs. From the moment schoolmates Tomlinson and guitarist Charles Sale bonded over a love of music and realised their aspirations stretched far beyond their jam room, their path was set. Adding drummer Chris Banham and bassist Sean Cook, the quartet quickly and organically crafted their own sound that swam against the tide of the music scene around them. And with their 2008 debut EP “Draw Attention To Themselves” and single ‘Polka’ leading the way, the band’s skewed and playful pop hooks, refreshing rhythms and Tomlinson’s way with words, Yves Klein Blue sounded fresh but timeless, classicism mixed with youthful vigour. Incredibly, the four were barely out of their teens.

“We all like certain styles of music, but it’s impossible to be everything to everyone,” says Sale. “As difficult as it may be to have a universal-reaching appeal, we want as many people to appreciate, or at least respond, to our music. We try to make music that more people want to enjoy. And you might not want to take a risk with it, but it creates a good result.”

“We’re a band that’s influenced by not only new music but a lot of great older bands and classic recordings,” Cook says. “And there’s a certain vibe and feeling that wells up when you listen to those records. We talked about making our first record years ago – and I think Michael’s been thinking about his first record since he was an embryo.”

But first they had their own story on the road to write, as they built a reputation for energetic and resonating live performances that showcased their self-belief and talent. Relentless touring at home and abroad set them in good steed for their debut album and, in hindsight, also went a long way to inspiring it.

So with eight months of preparation under their belts, Yves Klein Blue ventured into the industrial wasteland of North Hollywood, piled into in a two-room flat and spent three months at Fairfax Studios pulling to pieces what they’d spent so long assembling. This unexpected and uncertain turn would prove to be masterful – even if it meant sleepless nights for Tomlinson, desperately scribbling new words in the bathroom at 4am, the only space in the flat that could be lit without disturbing the others.

“When we got to the studio we were confident,” Tomlinson says. “Then we tore apart every song we had and started again. That was a month ranging from total elation to total self-loathing.”

Recording with Kevin Augunas (Cold War Kids), Yves Klein Blue learnt fast to objectively view their work. With a less-is-more approach to varied arrangements and an energised live-sounding set-up ensured Tomlinson’s impassioned and witty lyricism came to the fore.

“We went over there wanting to do a live album, but Kevin made us realise the potential of what we could do with the songs,” Banham says. “We had a massive room where there was no reverb and the walls were padded, so you could put an amp in the middle of the space, mic it up, and it’d just capture a natural sound, a live vibe.”

“Kevin was the man that said: ‘Is this good enough?’ That was his challenge,” Tomlinson says. “And the challenge issued was the extra five per cent, which was the difference between what we thought was great and something beyond what we thought we could ever do. The five per cent between good and excellent is so important. So the challenge he issued was a big factor on the record.”

Great is a word that understates “Ragged & Ecstatic”, an album that subtly and cleverly captures the exuberance and experience of life, but in a way that’s as universal as it is personal. The end of the long journey was at Brisbane’s Airlock Studios and then Sydney’s Big Jesus Burger Studios with Scott Horscroft (The Presets, The Panics, Sleepy Jackson), where final touches to the mix were made.

This passion and uncompromising vision also makes “Ragged & Ecstatic” a lot of fun. With an off-the-cuff, energetic and live feel to the set, it veers from the buoyant, bright and swaggering single ‘Getting Wise’ and irresistible ‘Make Up Your Mind’, to the cheeky and joyous ska of ‘Summer Sheets’ and Dylan-esque generational anthem ‘About The Future’. Wonderfully original melodies ingrain, sentiments resonate and the feeling and splashes of colour carried by Tomlinson’s turns of phrase are illuminating.

“I didn’t want to have any throwaway lines; nothing that could discredit the intention of the lyric and nothing that would be unqualified,” the singer says.

Not unlike the book from which the words came, “Ragged & Ecstatic” is a wild, irresistible ride that, in the end, manages to hold a mirror up to your own place in this old world.

Yves Klein Blue’s debut album “Ragged & Ecstatic” is released through Dew Process on June 26th, 2009.

taken from: http://www.dew-process.com/artists-bio.cfm?id=26

RIP IT UP Review

YVES KLEIN BLUE
Issue 1041
RAGGED AND ECSTATIC (DEW PROCESS/UMA)
In 1955, French artist Yves Klein developed a deep blue hue of paint that had the same brightness and intensity as its dry pigments. The colour, crowned International Klein Blue, went on to be the inspiration for the majority of Klein’s masterpieces. In 2006, four lads from Brisbane borrowed his name and used it for their band. Three years later and after an almost unparalleled amount of hype from the Australian music industry, Yves Klein Blue have unveiled their very own masterpiece.
Yves Klein Blue’s debut full length, Ragged And Ecstatic, delivers on the promises made last year by their triumphant EP, Draw Attention To Themselves. Recorded in LA with Kevin Augunas, indie producer extraordinaire responsible for the Cold War Kids’ latest, the foursome have crafted a mature piece of Australian indie rock with a healthy serving of pop sensibilities spattered throughout.
Chances are you’ve already heard the insanely danceable Polka, filled with frontman Michael Tomlinson’s enigmatic musings on chemically fuelled nights on the town. And it’s Tomlinson’s witty lyricism that goes a long way to making Yves Klein Blue so damn charming. There aren’t many wasted moments on Ragged And Ecstatic, with every song a testament to the boys’ versatility and skill. While the horns of Summer Sheets are reminiscent of that signature ska sound, the carefully crafted rock goodness of Queeny cries out to be played at high volume every time.
Whatever your musical affiliations, Ragged And Ecstatic is destined to have you shuffling along in your bedroom and bursting into impromptu air guitar solos on the train. Oh, and it’s a hell of a lot more entertaining that watching paint dry.

Liam Sharrad

taken from: http://www.ripitup.com.au/reviews/13885

YVES KLEIN BLUE – Ragged & Ecstatic

WEDNESDAY, 08 JULY 2009
(Dew Process/Universal)

An indie-pop debut set to soar
The fervently anticipated debut album from lovely Brisbane indie boys Yves Klein Blue (with a silent ‘s’, please) has finally materialised. After spending three months at Fairfax Studios in North Hollywood recording with Kevin Augunas (Cold War Kids), the group of four have produced a clever and joyous album, and a debut set to buoy them upwards and onwards. Each indie-pop song leaps out spinning, dancing and tripping, with intelligent lyrics and charmingly catchy tunes. The two most recognisable songs, Getting Wise and Polka, are great for a weekend jive and remain favourites despite the considerable exposure they’ve received in recent months. Other standouts include Soldier, a contemplative number that states “When I’m a grown man I only hope I don’t forget / Exactly how I feel right now in this moment”; and Digital Love, a slightly darker grunge and bass-infused reflection on methamphetamine use. Frontman Michael Tomlinson cites this album as being about life and how we each fit in, so it’s no surprise they drew inspiration from Jack Kerouac’s line “It’s the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being” when deciding on a title. The album is full of unashamed romanticism, with lamentations of love, life and memories abounding, such as in Summer Sheets: “Oh, I know I’m being forward, that’s not like me / But it’s not often in life you look into two eyes / That make you forget everything”. This is a sophisticated, entertaining and spirited album that sets a pleasingly high precedent for debuting indie groups everywhere.

[Four Stars]

NINA ATKINSON

taken from: http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/16003/180/

Bull-IT Not Fade Away

Michael Tomlinson of Yves Klein Blue chatted to Chris Beaumont about the young band’s rapid blossoming and the upcoming Big O festival.

Fading away is not an option for Brisbane indie rockers, Yves Klein Blue.

The band is named after French artist Yves Klein’s famous blue paint, International Klein Blue (IKB), hoping to emulate the paint’s famed trait – eternal lustre.

“The remarkable thing about IKB is that, while most paint fades and loses its sheen, this paint has a special resin so it just doesn’t fade, it always looks fresh,” said lead singer, guitarist and “enthusiastic amateur” art fan, Michael Tomlinson.

“It’s kind of a metaphor. A lot of music we like is from 30 – 40 years ago and is still popular today, like IKB, it doesn’t fade with time. That’s the kind of music we hope to make,” he said.

It’s a positive frame of mind with which to embark on a musical career.

It has been barely three years since high school jam-buddies Tomlinson and guitarist Charles Sale linked up with bassist Sean Cook and drummer Chris Banham at the University of Queensland to form Yves Klein Blue.

Since then the young four-piece have been caught in a relentless updraught that is carrying them to dizzying heights in the music scene.

In 2007 they were scooped up by prominent label Dew Process (home of The Living End, The Grates, Sarah Blasko and Bernard Fanning) after they were named a Triple J Next Crop artist and then took out MTV’s Kickstart competition.

With Dew Process, YKB began to unfurl their wings and achieved lofty praise for their EP, Yves Klein Blue Draw Attention to Themselves.

The band then spent six weeks in the United States late last year to record their debut album, which is due for a mid-year release.

“I can only describe it as ultimately challenging and ultimately rewarding,” remarked Tomlinson.

“The stuff we came up with over there was beyond what we thought we could do.”

With a band name embedded in artistic foundations, it’s little surprise that Tomlinson’s creative process for making music ends up as a collection of shapes and drawings on paper.

“A song has different parts and layers, it has beats and crescendos and stuff like that, so for me it’s easier to map it out visually,” explained Tomlinson. “It’s like those mind maps we used to do in school. I can’t really write music, but this works for me - no one else understands it”.

It’s this kind of abstract creativity that accentuates the band’s sound, which Tomlinson and his fellow band members determinedly ensure doesn’t “adhere to or regurgitate any genre”.

Regardless of where critics peg them on the generic spectrum, YKB’s infectious blend of pop-rock rhythm, danceable beats and countless influences seems to entice fans to cross boundaries of musical taste, making the band a valuable and versatile addition to festival line-ups.

They are already festival veterans with Big Day Out, Splendour in the Grass, Great Escape and Pyramid Rock under their belt, and St Jerome’s Laneway and the Big O beckoning early in 2009.

The Big O, which will hit Australian university campuses during Orientation Week, will be a ‘coming home’ of sorts for Tomlinson, a former law student, “just don’t tell the bus driver though, I still use my student card to get around!”

Tomlinson says the band is keen to tour with heavyweight British headliners The Music and The Fratellis as well as fellow Aussie talents Ben Lee, Bluejuice and The Cassette Kids.

“I’m looking forward to it big time,” he said, “the bill is incredible – it’s great to be touring with The Fratellis again – it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

One stop on the Big O tour familiar to Tomlinson and co. is the University of Sydney Union’s Manning Bar.

It was there Yves Klein Blue rocked a stage-melting set at Purple Sneakers New Year’s Eve House Party, alongside the likes of The Teenagers, Sparkadia, British India and Bluejuice earlier this month.

“It was probably the best New Year’s I’ve ever had,” enthused Tomlinson.

“The whole place had such a great atmosphere, everyone was going off and although we were there to play a set, we felt like we were a part of the party.”

“Also, we’d just flown in from Phillip Island and we were so relieved to be back in Sydney – no more arctic winds ripping our faces off!,” he laughed.

Playing to a fervent horde of students at Manning gave Tomlinson time to reflect on his two years as a student and although now a sought-after musician, he says university was an important time.

“I really enjoyed it, I probably wasn’t ready for all the studying involved, but the social experience was fantastic - I made a lot of good friends during my first year at uni,” he said.

“It’s great because everyone has kind of broken free from the yoke of high school and has more freedom.”

“Playing to students is always good - we were students when we first started playing shows – even if it was just on the Boardwalk [at UQ],” he said.

It’s a long and taxing trek from the Boardwalk to the U.S. and back, but like the paint that inspired their name, Yves Klein Blue don’t look like fading away anytime soon.

The Big O hits Manning Bar on 27 February.

Check out more info at www.manningbar.com

taken from: http://www.usuonline.com/Publications/The_Bull/Bull-IT_Not_Fade_Away.aspx?t=1

Polka done acoustic-like at the Rockinghorse

19 performed at the Rockinghorse

Behind the Scenes - Silence is Distance

Behind the Scenes - Getting Wise

Tea Time Chat with Yves Klein Blue

Between playing LA's infamous Viper Room and giving small town America a taste of the Brisbane sound, Yves Klein Blue have also released their debut album Ragged and Ecstatic. Rachel speaks with Charles (keys and guitar) about what life is like post video-clerk career and current position livin' the dream... (well, almost)

Rachel: Hey Charles, so what's been cracking? Busy day?
Charles: Yeah, I've been doing a bunch of interviews and now I'm back at home, doing more interviews, while my Mum's walking around...

R: So you're still living at home, that's handy
C: Yeah, well it's kinda hard to keep a job when you're always having to go away for month or two to play a bunch of shows, so yep, there you go... still at home!

R: Ok, just so I can visualise who I'm talking to here, you're Charles from the video store right?
C: Yeah, that's me - well formerly of the video store, I'm not there anymore I'm afraid.
R: Oh, that's a shame
C: It's kind of sad for me because I just didn't get anymore shifts when I left to do the recording last year... I mean they didn't fire me, but I didn't exactly quit.
R: Fair enough, I guess it's a bit hard to manage being a video store clerk and a rock star these days
C: Look, it's pretty hard work you know - being a video store clerk, a rock star on the other hand - very easy (lols). But yeah, despite it sucking losing the job, I'm surviving and the band is doing things, which is kinda exciting.
R: Yes, you definitely are doing things, so you've got the debut album out now, which you've been working on for a while now, yeah? I remember you were busy recording when Laneway was on...
C: Yeah, we were doing the finishing touches at Airlock Studios over at Samford which is a cool little studio out the back of Brisbane's north. It was pretty fucking great getting it all on hard disc.
R: 'Getting Wise' is the new single - was it fun making that flim clip?
C: It was cool, it was actually just done in our rehearsal space, but amended with a few random things, like neon signs from some guy. Made it look all pretty.
R: Is that just in Brisbane?
C: Yes, In Woolloongabba actually, we've got this friend of ours, this great guy who has this big house that he lives in, with this big open area in the back with all our gear it in. So we just decided to film in the rehearsal space. I think it turned out pretty well, it was a good day and it certainly paid off.
R: Yeah, it looks really good.

R: Woolloongabba is turning into a bit of a new hot spot in Brisbane
C: There are a few bands that have their rehearsal spaces there. I know the Cairos do.
R: And there's a couple new bars and restaurants - it's really opening up
C: Yeah totally, it's sort of an untouched area in terms of ‘cool' you know, in terms of culture, aside from the ol' game at the Gabba, alot of the area is untouched since back in the day.

R: So, you've just come back from Europe, how did that feel, coming back to Brisbane after gallivanting?
C: It was pretty damn wonderful I think, Brisbane is home to me and I guess all of us [the band]. It's good to get home and sleep in my bed. But it was still a really productive time overseas, very satisfying.

R: Anything in particular from the trip that was noteworthy or really crazy-fun?
C: I dunno, we mostly hung-out with out fellow Brisbanites The John Steel Singers in London and those guys are always really fun. We were in the US as well which was also really cool. What happened? Uhh, oh actually this is really embarrassing.., It was our last night in New York and I went back to the hotel cause I was really tired and we had to get a flight to London at about seven in the morning or something stupid. Anyway, all the guys went out except for me - I went to sleep being the rock'n'roller that I am. And everyone else went out to this little bar which The Strokes own and they were just hanging out there and the story goes that Michael asked a woman for light, who turned out to be Juliet Lewis who then introduced him to her friend Drew Barrymore, who introduced him to the Mac guy, Justin long.
R: The Mac guy?
C: Yeah, he was also in Die Hard 4 for those in the know. He's going out with Drew Barrymore
R: Well that's definitely a talking point, cheers for that
C: Yeah I just feel really fucking stupid for not going.

R: So I take it no one in YKB has a criminal record, cause you can't go to America if you have one.
C: It really is an intense process to go to America; we had to get working visas
R: Did you have to go for an interview in Sydney first?
C: Yeah, we had to be searched and checked - but no one has any criminal records - I'm glad to have avoided that so far.

R: So, Splendour this month, is it the second time you guys have played?
C: We played last year, which was really cool, Hopefully there'll be even more people there this time. Splendour's real fun. I only went for the first time last year and it's a great festival. Jane's Addiction are playing which I'm kinda excited about and Flaming Lips will be cool and of course the tickets sold out in 5 seconds again...
R: Of course
R: And do you know which stage you're playing on this year?
C: No, but last year we played on the main stage, but at like 1 o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday, but maybe we'll get a better time this year, who knows? But before that we've got the tour for the album.

R: Woo hoo, and so tell me Charles, how much of your week now is consumed by the band? Is it pretty much a full-time job?
C: Yep, It's a full time job, yeah there are interviews, discussing artwork and practise of course - there's a lot of practise. So yeah it's a full-time job, just not one we get paid for yet... laughs, maybe soon.

R: So, since you live at home is your mum cooking you dinner tonight?
C: You know what, I think I will actually be home for dinner tonight, often I get home too late or I'll be somewhere else.
R: Do you know what you're having?
C: No, not yet - she's just gone to walk the dog, so I'll have to ask her when she gets back... I'm sorry I can't give you the inside scoop to my dinner plans.
R: I think it's just that time of the day; I'm starting to think about dinner
C: Look it's 5.30, there's nothing on TV, people are making their way home from work, there's that grumble and you start to think dinner! - it's the same everyday.
It' s a process I'm looking forward to.

By Sadie Lost

Release: Album

To Cure: A quiet weekend

taken from: http://www.fourthousand.com.au/hear/tea-time-chat-with-yves-klein-blue/