Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Yeah Yeah Yeahs (formed 2000)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs is a New York art-rock band. The line-up consists of Karen O - singer, Brian Chase - drummer and Nick Zinner - guitarist. In 2006 they were joined by an additional live guitarist, Imaad Wasif.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Early Days

In the late 1990s, Brian Chase and Karen O met at Oberlin College in Ohio. When Karen transferred to New York University, she met Nick Zinner in a bar. Karen and Nick formed a band called Unitard and when the original drummer left, Chase joined the band and they changed their name to Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their sound is reportedly based on the student bands that Karen and Brian had left behind in Ohio.

In their early days, Yeah Yeah Yeahs supported bands such as the White Stripes and The Strokes and soon earned a name for themselves on the underground New York garage punk revival scene.

The band's debut EP was recorded by Jerry Teel of Boss Hog and released on their own label, Shifty. In the UK, the EP was released by Wichita Records, home of The Cribs and Bloc Party. In the US, it was re-released by Touch and Go Records.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Debut Album Onwards

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' debut album was entitled Fever To Tell and was released in 2003. The lead single 'Maps' received widespread airplay and the video for its follow-up, 'Y Control' was directed by Spike Jonze.

The band's debut DVD release was called Tell Me What Rockers To Swallow. It contained a live performance filmed in San Francisco's the Fillmore venue as well as all of the band's music videos.

Show Your Bones, the band's second album, was released in 2006. The debut single from the album, 'Gold Lion' went to number 18 in the UK Singles Chart. Later that year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs helped to curate an All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Britain.

2007 saw Yeah Yeah Yeahs release the Is Is EP.

It's Blitz is Yeah Yeah Yeahs' third album, released in March 2009 and the lead single from the album was 'Zero'. The album was leaked on the internet prior to its official release so Interscope Records brought its release forward.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Collaborations

Karen and Nick both make a guest appearance on the album Bang Bang Boom Cake, by Tiny Masters of Today.

Karen O worked with Kool Keith on a track called 'Teaser', though the track never got an official release. She also recorded a track with Peaches and Johnny Knoxville for the soundtrack to Jackass II. In 2007, she recorded vocals for a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Highway 61 Revisited' for the soundtrack to I'm Not There.