The saying is that you can not judge a book by its cover, and the same holds true for this band’s self-titled debut. After watching the group play at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta, the album contains songs that are recognized, but the energy and power are not nearly as high.
Not saying that the album is bad, but these five guys from Indiana put on a great stage show. The chemistry that they offer is best explained by lead vocalist Nick Niespodziani, “I would define Y-O-U as a group. We live together (for the most part) and write together, but that is only the beginning, my friend.”
“We spend almost all of our time together,” Niespoziani said, “We like to eat iced creams together. You get the idea. Any band is defined through its music - duh. Our music is pretty self-explanatory, yet hard to explain.”
Y.O.U.’s bassist Peter Olson offered this as an explanation, “I would describe Y.O.U. as a rock-n-roll band with pop sensibility, indie credibility, on the edge of disability.”
Yes, they are difficult to pigeon-hole in terms of their sound, but their look is very retro. It feels like stepping into an Austin Powers movie, but they are missing the girls in the Go-Go boots.
This is when the Beatles influence on the band is first felt, because not only do most of them sport the hairdos, the clothes they wear look as if they raided someone’s attic and pulled out the fashions of the late ‘60s early ‘70s.
They do cite influences other than just the Beatles though including Motown, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Beck, Outkast, Dan Fogelberg, Stone Temple Pilots and even Chopin.
When they worked on this album, as well as on new material, it was done in a collaborative spirit. Everybody contributes to the writing process, and all 10 tracks on their debut album credit Y.O.U. as the author. It took them six months to produce the album, and during that time, they did not do any writing.
Now that the album has released, Y.O.U. already have four new tracks written for their follow-up record. They also recently completed a project for the Web cartoonists the Brothers Chaps at www.homestarrunner.com. Y.O.U. produced a soundtrack for the online comic strip, and in return they will be receiving work on an animated video (think of the ’80s video that A-Ha did) for their own Web site www.pleaserock.com.
The group is also staying busy playing gigs, as well as holding down full-time jobs, and they already have several things lined up for the holiday season. They will be playing at 10 High, underneath the Dark Horse Tavern, in the Virginia Highlands on Halloween night. They will be sharing the marquee with their alter-ego band John Macentoeshka and the Mooseknuckles, who are a five keyboard group that will be doing all instrumental covers of ‘80s songs.
During Thanksgiving, Y.O.U. will be doing a tour of the mid-west. “We are playing in Bloomington, Ind., Louisville, Ky, Indianapolis, Ind.,” said Olsen. “The tour will also take us into Cincinnati, Ohio, Nashville, Tenn. and Oxford, Ohio. It will be great, because we can see family over Thanksgiving.”
Currently, they do not have any shows planned for Christmas or New Years Eve, but the group does have one wish for Christmas. “We would like a record deal,” said Olsen.
