Interview: Yawn Mower on the meaning of life, songwriting, and first LP

Bass trembles, spurting from inside the musical backbone. Drums then kick in like a tell-tale heart. And its fumes suffocate with exhilaration. It’s freedom. When spinning Yawn Mower’s “Elevation,” a cut from the band’s To Each Their Own Coat, new wave mingles with the band’s usual indie static. It’s textured without being cluttered, shiny yet raw, and oozing brilliance. The arrangement stretches and snaps, an almost elastic neon scattering through a prism. The bassline came first, after band member Mike Chick dove head first into catalogs of “some heavy hitters of the genre” for inspiration, laying the foundation on which to build the lyrics.

Co-conspirator Biff Swenson and musician Nick Gianatiempo elevated the barebones with rich “atmospheric layers” to give it an “airy” feeling. The Elka Panther organ came next, Chick tells B-Sides & Badlands over email, and it was off to the races from there. Finally, Pamela Flores swooped in with background vocals to further bolster the song’s patchwork quality. Delving further into its musical scope, Chick eyed an interpretation of Dinosaur Jr. covering The Cure, which is “present and apparent in the final song,” offers Swenson.

A skeleton in place, each section was “embellished…in an attempt to further set it apart,” he adds. Where the toggle between the pre-chorus and chorus harkens to Nirvana meets The Front Bottoms, the synth lines take root in The Rentals and Motion City Soundtrack soil. “It plays out like a four-minute mixtape, hitting as many of our buttons as possible.”

The accompanying visual, directed by Swenson with director of photography Michael Burke, is as masterful as the song itself. The creative decision to shoot in one take (totally Swenson’s idea) plays as a love-letter to films like Goodfellas, The Shining, Touch of Evil, and Birdman, as all featured one-take tracking shots. “It was a fun task to meld our band’s tongue-in-cheek, slacker visual aesthetic with the much more rigid techniques of serious cinema,” says Swenson.

With only four hours in the space, the group spent a chunk of time ironing out the movements — so the pressure was on to deliver something resembling a seamless video. “Almost everyone assumed they were walking into a way more fun music video shoot, so the first few rounds of walk-throughs we lost nearly everyone mentally,” Swenson describes the day-of shoot. “By the time hour two ended, everyone was silently thinking we weren’t going to make it happen in the allotted time. The minute we started rolling everyone felt the pressure and nailed it, though. Every single person that appears in the video also appears on the album, so for the most part they were used to working with us on a quick turnaround with little prep.”

In spite a limited schedule, the creative team did have fun swigging on some “prop” beers for each take. Each mistake, though, required not only a redo but more beer. “The more we messed up each take, the quicker we were getting red in the cheeks,” Swenson recalls. “Luckily, we nailed it before anyone was stumbling around the set. We celebrated a job well done with the rest of those beers and some cold DoorDash food that was waiting in the nearby closet until we wrapped.”

Below, Yawn Mower discuss the meaning of life, art, and biggest surprises from songwriting.

In the song’s opening stanza, there’s the lyrics about grinding to make a living. Curiously, what’s been that journey for you to push through all the day jobs to fuel your music?

Chick: I was brought up in a house that preached to not put all your eggs in one basket and that eventually you are going to have to work and provide for yourself. I loved playing guitar and writing music, in general, early on, but never figured that I would make my living as a working musician. I’ve learned that making a living off of the original songs you write is almost like winning a lottery, so I’m okay with working a 9-5 to pay my bills so I can enjoy writing and playing music with my friends. I’m grateful that the years continue to be creative and productive. I feel like all of us in the group are firing on all cylinders at all times.

Swenson: I try to fill every free second I have with a creative endeavor. It’s a coping mechanism I’m sure any therapist could boil down very easily, but it’s my superpower. I hate sleeping, it isn’t for me. I work 40 hours a week in an office, then every weeknight I have band practice or recording sessions with each of my different projects. I also freelance doing video work or producing music for others whenever time allows. My weekends are for shows and any time left over I’m home getting stoned with my girlfriend on the couch with our dog. I don’t do this because I think it’ll ever be financially feasible, I do this because it gives each of my days purpose. I’ve been at it for 20 years, and I haven’t slowed down one bit. I don’t plan on reproducing, so my back-catalog is my legacy.

How do you feel now that you’ve been getting some more attention on your work?

Chick: It feels good. We are proud of the process that went into making ‘To Each Their Own Coat’ and feel that it is a solid LP. We want to push it as much as possible and for people to hear it. It also ushered in the second phase of the band. The LP and the bigger band was very much shaped by the restraints of the pandemic. It’d be interesting to hop into the multiverse and find the Earth that didn’t have a pandemic and see what Biff and Chick were up to.

Swenson: It’s been incredibly validating and rewarding. We’ve been at it for nearly eight years with this band, so to have our first full length get any attention at all makes all those years worth of dedication payoff. It helps quiet the internal doubts. If we weren’t progressing a little more each year, we would have stopped doing it already. This is beyond fun for us, which we try to make very clear on stage and on record. Every listener further fuels our drive.

Chick: Some people have said in the past that we are a “funny” band or something to that effect. We do like to infuse humor into what we do, because we like to laugh and enjoy ourselves. But we’re serious as fuck about trying to make something good for people to listen to or look at.

In “Agents at the Car Park,” you have a lyric about the meaning of life and asking yourself, “Where is it?” So, where is the meaning of life?

Chick: From all the experiences I’ve accumulated up until this point, I think the meaning of life is to treat people with respect and help them when needed, work hard, be creative, be skeptical, have fun, and enjoy your family and friends. That’s my take. Someone else could have a completely different answer to that question with much different priorities, times seven billion people on this planet, so can there be a singular meaning of life? Is it a personal thing that we should find on our own or is it something we should all adhere to from the top down? This question never really gets answered, it just leads to more questions.

Swenson: Do what makes you happy! Super generic, but words to live by. I come in contact with so many people who are rigid and crabby daily. People struggle, sure – but generally people tuck their desires and passions to the wayside. I don’t like having “things” or blowing money on bullshit; I enjoy having experiences and being present in each moment. Love isn’t only given or received; it’s also observed. You can be a beacon for love and positivity in all that you do. Proper self-care is the only way to keep extruding that energy.

On a broader scale, how does answering that question inform your life?

Chick: There is a Minutemen lyric I like that goes, “No hope! See? That’s what gives me guts.” I would be okay not knowing what the overall plan for this planet is as opposed to having someone feed me an idea that might be false. There are many books out there trying to explain what is around us. That’s great, and you can read them and take certain things away from those books, but I don’t really think we know where this is all going.

Swenson: I try my hardest to constantly subscribe to the improv phrase “yes, and” whenever I can apply it. Enough psychedelic trips will surely allow you to make peace with any negative aspect of life, so staying present in each moment and allowing situations to play out however they need to with the understanding that you can’t move backwards helps get past a lot of anxieties. No matter what happens during my day, I know I can head to band practice to bang it out or head home to be loved the way I need to be. While I don’t subscribe to Christianity, I did always love the phrase : “Man plans, and God laughs.”

What has making art done for you as a human being?

Chick: Making music and art and the experiences that go along with it continues to teach me a lot. In November 2022, we did an eight-day tour of the Northeast and everything went super smooth. I think that’s because of lessons we’ve learned from other bands and our own experiences. Art and music has also introduced me to a lot of long time friends. You won’t be friends with everyone in these scenes, but you can hopefully find some people you like to kick it with.

Swenson: Making art has given me purpose. It’s defined my personality. It’s all-consuming. Be it writing music, performing music, producing albums for others, making music videos, designing flyers, filming or acting in short films, ceramics, doodling, paper maché masks – it makes every day that much more bearable. It’s brought me to many different states, introduced me to countless people, and presented me endless opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I have a very unique life that I’m eternally grateful to live, and I owe all of that to the arts that I’ve pursued. I’d never be able to recall all of the perfect days I’ve lived throughout the past two decades, and I don’t ever take that for granted.

For this record, did you set any intentions heading into the songwriting process or when entering the studio?

Chick: Up until this record, the majority of YM releases were capped at five songs. We knew this was going to be our first LP. Any intentions were loose until I think most of the instruments and vocals were on the record, and we knew this would be a bigger sounding record that we usually do. Then we were all in; let’s get a bigger live band, let’s press a vinyl, let’s switch the whole thing on its head. We always talked about someday doing a Pet Sounds-type record, which for us just meant more than baritone guitar, drums, and vocals. If it flops, whatever, we’ll move on to the next thing.

Swenson: After tracking drums and baritone with Evan Bernard in Philly, we brought the project files to our home studios to butter these tracks up far beyond what we thought we would. Not having to pay hourly allows us the freedom to not turn down any good ideas that we had. We also had the ability to allow our friends to stop by and collaborate, which was normally kept to a minimum for financial reasons. Lockdown was the only reason the album turned out the way it did. Time and drive multiplied by months of solitude.

What are the biggest takeaways from making this record?

Chick: I think it was important that we (Biff and I) let each other have time with the record without the other person in the studio watching. We’ve gotten into spats over the years about song parts while in the studio, that later we realized actually worked. For me, I have to take that initial feeling about an idea and shelve it for a little while, give the idea time to breath, then make a decision on it. And at that point, we were pretty open to discussion about what would work if the other person was like “dude, that part is killing me, we have to change it.” But overall for this record, I was blown away when I got the version with all the things Biff added. I sat on the couch in my practice space with headphones on, staring at the ceiling like, “holy shit, what did we do here??”

Swenson: This was also the first time I had the ability to fully realize every idea I had before pitching it to Mike. I’m not always able to convey every musical idea in terms that would paint a full picture, so I’m forced to actually make the thing happen in order to show Mike what’s happening in my head. With this album, every idea was at least put to record, and we were able to deduce what each part needed after the fact before moving on.

How’ve you grown the most as songwriters and collaborators in eight years?

Chick: I think listening back from our first EP (‘Get To The Boat’) to ‘To Each Their Own Coat’ answers that question. The band literally started between two people who kinda knew each other with a baritone guitar and has turned into almost eight years of steady releases. We signed to a label (Mint 400 Records). We toured and played outside of New Jersey as much as we could. We met a bunch of really cool people and bands. It’s a trip. I’m glad I bought that baritone guitar!

Swenson: I think our dynamic has shifted a ton over the lifespan of the band. It’s become way more collaborative, post-COVID. Not only did the live band grow, but our vision is more dialed in than ever. Mike and I have learned all the best practices for navigating our way around decision making processes. There’s also only two of us, so if we get hung up – we flip a coin. It’s that simple. This is my longest lasting band ever by a few years, so that alone speaks for itself. We are very different people, but we play to each other’s strengths and know when to fall back. Mike is also a very easy person to travel with, which is the icing on the cake for me.

What surprises you most about songwriting?

Chick: That it keeps happening.

Swenson: The magic of it all still surprises me after all these years. Just pulling ideas out of thin air and making something out of nothing. It consumes my thoughts daily. The more I do it, the more I want to do it. My brain never turns off because I’m always chasing that high.

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