Biography

Discovered in the wake of the Strokes' popularity and the subsequent garage rock revival, New York's art-punk trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs are comprised of singer Karen O, guitarist Nicolas Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. Karen met Brian at Ohio's Oberlin College and met Nick through friends after she transfered to NYU. Nick and Karen formed the band in 2000; originally, they went electric after being inspired by Ohio's legend avant punk scene. After the drummer they recruited initially bowed out, Brian joined the lineup.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs wrote a slew of songs at their first rehearsal and soon wound up supporting the Strokes and the White Stripes, earning a significant buzz for their arty yet sexy tale on garage punk. In late 2001, Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their self-titled debut EP, which they recorded with Boss Hog's Jerry Teel, on their own Shifty label. Early the next year the band stepped into the international spotllight, appearing at South by Southwest, touring the US with Girls Against Boys and Europe with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and headlining their own UK tour. Witchita Recordings distributed the group's EP in the UK and Touch and GO reissued it in the States.

In between tours, the group spent 2002 putting the finishing touches on its full-length debut and playing American dates with Sleater-Kinney, Liars and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Late that year Yeah Yeah Yeahs released the Machine EP to tide fans over before their first full-length.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs moved to Interscope for their debut album, 2003's Fever to Tell. Boasting s cleaner sound and more eclectic song writing than their EPs, the album continued their critical acclaim and also won them a fair amount of commercial success: the gorgeous ballad "Maps" became a hit in 2004 and pushed Fever to Tell to gold status that year. Karen also moved to Los Angeles in 2004, making Yeah Yeah Yeahs a bicoastal band.

The group took some time to pursue individual projects in 2005. Karen loaned her vocals to "Hello Tomorrow", a collaboration with producer Spueak E. Clean that provided the soundtrack to a Nike show commercial directed by Spike Jonze, while NIck recorded with the side project Head Wound City and also had a book of photographs, I Hope You Are All Happy Now, published.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs reconvened in the studio that year to record their second album with Clean as producer; jokingly, Clean said that the album was about Karen's cat and would be called Coco Beware, but the album's real title, Show Your Bones, was revealed soon after.

Released in spring 2006, the album was the band's most mature, polished work yet.