Yeah Yeah Yeahs recently sat down with Beat 1’s Matt Wilkinson in Montreal this past weekend. After giving a killer set at Osheaga Festival, the band gave an eager update to fans about new music, with the possibility of them rehearsing some of the new material.
In the interview, Wilkinson asked the band about writing songs for the new record. “Yeah, think so! The guys for the most part, I think they’re waiting on my just ‘getting struck by inspiration’ for it, y’know? A lot has changed in my life in the last 5 years and I’m just kinda waiting for the inspiration to hit me – and then we’ll go,” Karen O stated. Wilkinson then suggested the band not to push new stuff until it is ready. Karen O responded, “Yeah and I just feel like I’ve never really ‘pushed it’, just kinda waited for it to really feel like this overwhelming…” Wilkinson continued to ask if the band toy around with their instruments to get an idea of what the next album will sound like during rehearsals. Bandmember Brian Chase commented, “We’ve been rehearsing with a pretty tight timeline and pressure for these shows – to get them sounding good.” He then mentioned that they are very ready to play new material. The band also recently performed at Toronto’s Field Trip Music Festival alongside Alvvays, Jacob Banks, Japandroids, Allie X, and many more.
Karen O also confirmed that new solo material is in the works and will possibly arrive “early next year.”Yeah there’s like a collaboration – some new music that I think is probably going to come out early next year. It’s like a collab with a producer so, yeah. It’s finished, we’re just kinda developing [it], like preproduction with the way we’re gonna roll it out.” As far as touring with her solo material, don’t expect a world tour. She states “Yeah eventually. Some special gigs you know but probably not a world tour! It’s probably a handful of some special gigs – but we have some cool stuff cooking up for that!”
Karen O is set to join Tony Hawk, Patti Smith, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Flea for a concert event at the Ace Theater in Downtown Los Angeles September 16th to implement climate change awareness and the Pathway to Paris Initiative. She also recently joined Kristin Kontrol at the Girlschool event performing Yeah Yeah Yeah’s song “Date With The Night.” Fellow band member Brian Chase recently released his experimental album Drums and Drones: Decade, receiving critical acclaim. Mxdwn said the album “has set the bar that much higher for a truly immersive musical experience.”