Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Robbie Guertin and Lee Sargent playing at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genre(s)	Indie rock
Years active	2005–present
Label(s)	Wichita
Associated acts	Flashy Python and the Body Snatchers
Website	www.clapyourhandssayyeah.com
Members
Alec Ounsworth Robbie Guertin Lee Sargent Tyler Sargent Sean Greengalgh

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (often abbreviated CYHSY) is an American indie rock group founded in New London, Connecticut and based in Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their debut album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was self-released in 2005.

1 History
2 Members
3 Discography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The band, whose members met at Connecticut College, started out by playing weekly shows at Pianos in Manhattan.^[1] They are notable for achieving their initial fame and commercial success via the internet rather than through a record label. Shortly after the release of their first album, they received attention from numerous MP3 blogs and a favorable review from Pitchfork Media, who gave the band a "Best New Music" commendation. The ensuing demand for the album was so great that the band was forced to repress the CD, as the initial production run was too small. They garnered even more press after David Bowie and David Byrne were spotted at some of the band's shows in 2005. ^[2] ^[3]

They received praise from Rolling Stone as the "Hot New Band" for 2005. On October 3, 2005, they were signed to Wichita Recordings in the UK.

The band members live in Brooklyn, with the exception of Ounsworth who lives in Philadelphia.

Ounsworth has a solo project, Flashy Python and the Body Snatchers, and is said to be forming an "indie rock supergroup".^[4] Meanwhile, Greenhalgh moonlighted as the frontman for Mr. Brownstone, a Guns N' Roses tribute band, until their breakup in June 2006.^[5]

The band has a fairly extensive repertoire that extends outside their two-album parameter. Several non-album songs are frequently performed at live concerts, most notably, "My Papa's Waltz" (also known as "Cigarettes" or "We Met at the Cemetery"), "Me and You Watson", "The Sword Song" (available on iTunes and Japanese CD only), "Wet Dynomite" (also known as "Pass Along This Way"), and "Telling the Truth and Going Away." They have also been known to cover the traditional Irish folk song Moonshiner, the ballad "Helpless," written by Neil Young, and Guided by Voices song "Motor Away."

Robbie Guertin designed a t-shirt for the Yellow Bird Project on behalf of the band, to raise money for Art for Change, a Brooklyn based charity.

The band released their second album, Some Loud Thunder on January 29, 2007 in the UK, and January 30, 2007 in the United States. Alec Ounsworth has said that he plans to professionally record some of his older songs for a solo release before moving CYHSY onward.

On September 18, 2007, Live at Lollapalooza 2007: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah was released on iTunes. It features the band's complete live set from Lollapalooza, professionally recorded on August 4, 2007.

Front man Alec Ounsworth has said in a recent interview with Wireless Bollinger that he plans to record three albums in 2008, including a children's album. The supergroup rumour was neither denied or confirmed.^[6]