After a three year hiatus where they recharged and reignited their love of music, the guys in Yellowcard have once again come together to produce their fifth studio album since “Paper Walls.”
“When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes,” was released on March 22 through Hopeless Records, and is a fresh work that highlights the passion that drives the band. Yellowcard spent most of 2010 exchanging ideas and flying to one another’s homes to work on song demos that would slowly and naturally become the tracks for the new album.
The band began their “The Dirty Work” tour on March 18 to promote the album and are scheduled to visit the D.C. area in the last week of March. Sean Mackin, whose trademark violins helped give the band recognition, took a few minutes to answer questions about the writing process for the album in an interview with The Eagle.
“We really didn’t intend to create something as traditional as it sounds,” Mackin said about the album’s first single, “For You, And Your Denial.” We got back together, caught up, and it happened naturally. The sound is edgier and it accommodates each of our sounds.” He explained that the song was about “random people going out of their ways to talk and wrongfully accuse us, so we got tired of it and wrote it up.”
When asked about the band’s reaction to the glowing reviews of their album and return, Mackin said, “It has all been very humbling. I can’t really explain it. We just enjoy every moment, every new chapter in our lives.” Having recently returned from a world tour that included stops such as the Philippines, Moscow, and Japan, Mackin described the fan support as “surreal.”
Yellowcard’s hiatus was the band’s opportunity to catch up with themselves, which made the eventual reunion and studio atmosphere all the more amazing. Mackin was very excited to work again, especially with “such an artist” as producer Neal Avron, who worked with the band on almost all of their records. Avron knew how to “bring the best of each of us, [making it] fun and spontaneous which is very important to us because that is a snapshot of who we are,” according to Mackin.
With more than 3 million previous records sold, Yellowcard boasts unique instrumentals that only add to the melodically addictive lyrics about old friendships. In the near future, they anticipate the completion of more songs and look forward to returning to and visiting new destinations. Yellowcard hopes to “look back at the body of work and see how each song projects,” Mackin said. They will be playing a sold out show at the 9:30 club on March 28 that is expected to be unforgettable.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
