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Pete Yorn tries to Cross Indie-Pop Divide
(May 2001)

By Ryan Dombal

Pete Yorn is a mild-mannered, 26 year-old singer/songwriter who’s Columbia Records debut, Musicforthemorningafer, was released last month. On the album, he manages to combine Bruce Springsteen’s all-American sincerity with a musical style not unlike R.E.M. or The Smiths. Musicforthemorningafer is a brilliant pop record that has a genuine musical quality not commonly found in pop music today, not to mention smart lyrics and irresistible melodies. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes real music about real emotion.

RD: As a new artist, what kind of trials and tribulations did you have to go through to get signed?
PY: I had to go through a lot. We thought we were going to go out to LA and play a gig and just get signed. We were like, "We’re gonna get record of the year," and we were all psyched and we thought we were the shit. But then we realized that its not going to happen like that. So I just kept writing and playing . . . and after all the gigs and everything, after all the bullshit, at the end of the day the way I got my deal was playing acoustic guitar for some A&R guys in their office. It took about four years from when I started going for it to when I got a record deal.

RD: How much control do you have over marketing and image decisions?
PY: I pretty much had full control over everything creatively, especially making the record. Like with the album cover, they had a bunch of fancy photographers come around and set thing up, just a bunch of bullshit. The actual cover is from this kid that grew up with me in New Jersey, not a photographer at all, not even an arty type person, I threw him a disposable camera one day while we were walking into a gig and said, "Dude, get this picture."

RD: You’re quoted as saying "I didn’t want to make an album for the wrong reasons, just to get on radio. But I also wanted people to hear it." Many artists strive for this goal but few actually follow though, what sets you apart?
PY: I think I want to make a record that was cool but not that cool. I find that a lot of records that get critical acclaim catch the real indie rock kids, who are pretty hardcore, but as far as having any chance of crossing over, well, there is no chance . . . In the end (the labels) just want to make money, and that’s cool but I was like, "Fuck it, I’m not going to make songs to put on the radio just because it sounds like other stuff on the radio." I just wanted to make songs that I like to listen to in my car and that make me feel good and that is what this record is.

RD: Although the album is titled Musicforthemorningafter, not all of the songs are downers, how do you explain the highs and lows of the record as well as the overall sense of hope that runs through the entire album?
PY: A lot of people think it is this dark record, but to me it is all hope, its all positive. There isn’t one song where everyone is feeling sorry for themselves, its all moving on. I like rock songs, I like mellow songs, I just made songs that I like. I like to have fun, especially during my live set, it would be pretty boring set if I had this bunch of miserable songs.

RD: You said that "my music isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s kind of decent" do you think, as your career progresses you will try to attempt something groundbreaking, would you ever consider changing your sound drastically?
PY: I’m just gonna keep making songs I like, you know. I’m going to make music that moves me and I’m always listening to different stuff so that’s gonna come out. I’m not going to go ahead and say "This next record will be a departure," because there will always be songs I love with a certain type of melody and emotion but I’m sure texturally, the next one could go really raw and heavy or another way, I’m not sure. So far it seems that it will be just more songs that I like.