Exclusive Interview: Yellowcard's Ryan Key on the "inspired" tone of their new album

It’s always a good sign when a band is ahead of schedule when recording an album. Just ask Yellowcard, who started recording their eighth full-length March 5—a week earlier than expected. “We were extremely well-prepared for this recording process, which was really surprising given the timeline we had to write the songs,” says frontman Ryan Key. “We got it done.” The band penciled in five weeks in the studio with long-time producer Neal Avron, which means the record should be out after Warped Tour. “But not long after,” he assures, while adding they do have a title for it—but that will likely be revealed in June. AP caught up with Key last week, while he was in “studio, live-in-the-cave mode,” to get the scoop on where Yellowcard is in the recording process.

Interview: Annie Zaleski

When I talked to you for the Most Anticipated issue, it definitely seemed like you guys had a vision. And even though Yellowcard only had a few months to write, you guys seemed like you knew where you wanted to go.
Ryan Key: Mainly, it was just that we were so excited about the way things were happening with When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes. The writing process for that record [was still really fresh]. There wasn’t a whole lot of hang-ups or drama or distractions—we were still really focused on that record and how we made it. And we were touring for it, and we really were like, “Let’s just do that all over again.”

Now that you have the demos done, what is everything sounding like?
This question is always so hard for me to answer. It’s so hard for me to put a point on what it sounds like. We definitely picked up where we left off with the last record—and again wanted to write songs that we were super-passionate about playing and I was super-passionate about singing. But also we knew the fans would react to in a big way, both on the record and live. Again, we feel like we accomplished that goal entirely.

The biggest thing about this record—and these songs—is they’re really inspired. I feel confident saying that because this is the first time I’ve ever gone into a recording process—day one of a recording process—with all the lyrics and melodies for a record finished. I’ve always been up the last night before the studio was over finishing at least one song—maybe more than that. Something about this writing process lit a spark in me, and I just dug in and started writing. I finished all the songs, lyrically, before we started recording even. Something about that speaks in and of itself that there was a really high-level of inspiration to make this great, and to get it done. You can feel that urgency and inspiration in the songs.

When you were writing, describe a normal day for you. What was that like, having such focused inspiration?
Most Yellowcard songs, we write the music, play it as a band and feel out the energy and how the push and pull of the sessions of the song are going. Then we’ll demo it in some way, and I will write melody and lyrics over the music. I would say about 80 percent of our music has always been done that way.

We did 100 percent of it that way this time. Because of the amount of time we had, we spent the first part of the writing process finding music and ideas we were excited about. And then once we were able to start demoing them, a typical day [for me] was go to the rehearsal space and work on a demo all day, from lunchtime until 8, 9 o’clock at night. I’d swing by Trader Joe’s on the way home, pick up a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, and head to my house and just get out the laptop, the pen and the acoustic guitar and start working on the lyrics. I made myself work—that was the thing, I wasn’t going to be complacent and I wasn’t going to let myself feel, like, “Oh, well, I just wrote a record, I have nothing to say.” You can tell yourself that, but it’s never true. If you’re a songwriter, you sometimes have to dig a little deeper, but there’s always something to say.

I made myself stay focused; I just made sure I got it done. The days were long; the days are still long. But I’m happy I put in that extra work, because it has allowed me, during the recording process—even in the first week-and-a-half—to be so much more involved in other parts of the record. As the music industry changes, and the recording processes get shorter, the budgets get smaller, all those things. There’s just less time to make a record. On the last album, for example, I didn’t get to play very much guitar at all. I was working so much on lyrics and melody, even throughout the day. So now that it’s all done, I’ve been able to be there for all the drum sounds—and so far have played guitar right alongside of Ryan Mendez on every single song. Which is awesome, to be back in the studio playing guitar again, because I’ve allowed myself to have the time to focus on those things. It’s all good things.

It does sound like a positive—and almost relaxed experience. For me, knowing where I’m going and knowing what I’m doing reduces my anxiety so much.
I’m an anxious person by nature, and I do get stressed out very easily. There’s a fine line of where this whole process could have gone, and I had to make a conscious decision to stay on the positive side of it. Once I got in that groove after the first couple songs… I remember the first night I did it. The first two weeks, say, I was putting it off, going, “Oh, I gotta get started at some point—but I usually finish, so I’ll be okay.” That kind of attitude. I remember the first night I tackled a song, and when I was done with it, I was so excited about it and so happy with the words and the melodies. I sent it to everyone and [they] absolutely loved it. That was enough right there. It just made me go, “All right, let’s do this.” Starting the next day, I pretty much almost did a song a day—or call it a song every two days. I was getting home from rehearsal every day and sitting down and getting to work right away.

My biggest fear was not having anything to say. And apparently, I had a lot to say. I’m happy with it.

(Continued on page two…)

Family was one thing you mentioned you were going to write about. What other topics came up in the songs?
When the band was on hiatus, I moved to Georgia after being in Los Angeles for years. I lived in Athens, Georgia, which is a small college town northeast of Atlanta. I have some immediate family that live there, and we had our own little world there. I was completely removed from this whole lifestyle. I learned a lot about myself, and I learned a lot about who I want to be going forward as an adult and my future with the band and personally. All of it.

When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes was so much about Yellowcard and putting Yellowcard back together and what our vision was and what our dream was and the things we wanted to accomplish and go forward doing. Because all of those things came to fruition and we accomplished a lot of those goals, this one for me was a lot more about self-reflection and figuring out where I stand now. A lot of that comes from that life I discovered living back home. There’s a lot of reflection on what my life is like now and how important that time of my life was.

And then I wrote a song for my aunt, who passed in October. I wrote a song for her on the last record called “Sing For Me,” and then she passed in October, so I wanted to write something for us to have for her now that she’s gone. I’m really proud of that song. The main thing is, the last record was a lot about what the band was facing. This record is a little bit more what I’m facing.

What about the lyrics makes you the proudest?
Their honesty. There’s a real, genuine honesty to these lyrics. I explored some experiences in my life—even from a long time ago—that I haven’t really opened up and written about before. That was important for me to do, to ensure I did have something to say. There have been things maybe I’ve avoided writing about, for whatever reason. I dug into some of those things and found a way to say them. Honesty is the best word. There’s a real feeling of that throughout.

Sometimes it takes getting older and reaching a certain age where you’re able to be like, “Okay, I can actually write about this stuff now.” You have the vocabulary and emotional maturity to do so.
Totally. There’s a couple things I feel I’ve tried to write before and couldn’t do, couldn’t finish. This time, for whatever reason, it just flowed.

You’ve worked with Neal Avron so much. What role has he taken this time around?
The thing about Neal—and the reason we continue to work with him so much, the reason we’ve made every record with him—is because of his personal relationship with us. He is an amazing producer, that goes without saying; his ear is incredible and he pushes your limits as a musician, as a vocalist, to get the best performances and help you continue to grow and excel. For us, it’s so much about his relationship with us.

One little story: I sent a tweet out from my Twitter account the other night that just said, “I’m really grateful to have Neal Avron in my life.” On the surface, that can be read as, “Well, yeah, you’re glad he’s your producer and makes your records.” I was really talking about on a much deeper, more emotional-connected level with him. We were leaving the studio the other night, and I was starving. We had been there for nine to ten hours; I hadn’t eaten dinner yet. I was going down his driveway, and as I’m leaving, I hear, “Ryan!” I turned around and said, “Yeah?” He said, “Do you want to come in and eat?” I said, “Sure, I guess.” So I turn around and go back in and his wife is there in the kitchen, and we sat down and ate homemade chili and cornbread and drank cold beers and watched the NFL network together and just talked about life and football. I really have a friendship with him and a support system with him, I can’t imagine doing this without [him]. That’s something that’s really special we have with him—that I have with him—and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

A lot of musicians don’t have that working relationship. Working with producers is more like a business contract.
I’m comfortable when he wants to break me down. Whether I’m giving a shitty performance or I’m just being shitty, if I’m having one of those days, I’m comfortable with Neal telling me and confronting me about it, because we’re friends and family, in a way. We’ve had the conversation about making records with other people once or twice, and it never lasts more than five minutes.

What has most impressed you about your bandmates on this record?
Kind of the same thing I’ve impressed myself with, is how we all didn’t buckle under pressure. We had a very short amount of time to be extremely creative and make something that is going to define the next chapter of your life. It is a lot of pressure, especially given the success and reaction to our last record. Our fans really responded better than we could have ever imagined to the last record, and so that puts a little more pressure to follow it up. We all really came together and worked together as a unit. The energy and the vibe and the connection between the four of us has been awesome.

And there’s been a [few] hiccups with Sean O’Donnell leaving the band—we don’t have a bassist for the recording. Our friend Josh Portman is joining the band; he’s finishing school, so he’s not going to come on board until Warped Tour. That could have been another thing that could have derailed it or distracted us, but we stayed really focused. I’m impressed how all of us and our ability to come together under pressure and make a great record.

What else do you want people to know about the record?
One of our biggest fears when releasing When You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes, was, is Yellowcard going to become a novelty for people who were fans of Ocean Avenue and maybe a little bit of Lights And Sounds, five years ago? Are we going to go out, do a couple of tours and then the luster is going to wear off? Obviously, it didn’t go that way at all—and we’re so grateful and so lucky we have the fanbase we have that ignited the fire again. I wanted to make sure people understand that’s what we’re trying to do, that these records are just as important as any record we’ve ever made. I honestly think these are my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of with this band. I really mean that. I feel like there is such an urgency—and like I said before, a level of inspiration—that is unparalleled in these songs. I can’t wait for people to hear them. alt