Courtesy Yonder Mountain String Band
Audio By Carbonatix
If you are wondering what a Yonder Mountain String Band concert might look like inside Convergence Station, Denver’s Meow Wolf location, so is bass player Ben Kaufmann. He’s never been there.
“I’m sure we’ll be inspired in the moment,” Kaufmann says. “If the performance space is set up at all like the one in Santa Fe, it’s a very psychedelic environment.”
Kaufmann adds that he’s been interested in the new Meow Wolf spot since before the pandemic.
“I’ve never been to Burning Man or anything like that,” he says. “That’s sort of my concept of these incredible artists and architects – very psychedelically minded, bringing these things together for a museum installation experience. The Santa Fe one really blew me away.”
The show, which takes place Friday, February 25, will also serve as the album-release party for the bluegrass band’s latest full-length album, Get Yourself Outside, and Kaufmann anticipates that much of the set list will revolve around the new songs.
“We tend to not make set lists for shows until at least a couple days before,” he says. “We are very changeable human beings.”
The show is sold out, but those who don’t have tickets can get a taste of the new album with the just-released single “Suburban Girl,” along with an accompanying music video, which dropped today, February 11. Directed by filmmaker John Summerson, the stop-motion animation piece features a disembodied pair of Chuck Taylors pushing a skateboard around a mountain town, art appearing to assemble itself on an old school desk, and lots of time-lapse shots of clouds passing by. It’s a somber vision, by most standards.
Guitarist Adam Aijala says that the band had never been more prepared for an album in its more than twenty-year career. The members worked together through Google Drive folders and Zoom meetings, and they were also getting quite a lot of practice in: The band, like many others, performed a good deal of Brady Bunch-style boxed music shows during the quarantine.
“A majority of the songs were nothing before COVID, but some of them were at least rough ideas,” Aijala says. “When we got into the studio in April last year, we were more than prepared. Obviously, some stuff comes up creatively in the moment, but we went in already kind of knowing what we were doing.”
Kaufmann says that although the recording process was new for the band, he loved it. In its earlier years, Yonder booked as much studio time as it could afford. But in recent years, the members have been spread out across numerous states.
“We decided we were going to pre-produce the record,” Kaufmann says. “We knew where every solo was going to go. We knew how the arrangements were going to go. We knew what we wanted to try once we got in the studio.”
The new approach was also necessary because of the pandemic; The less time spent in a cramped recording studio together, the better.
“We were able to think things through and actualize them really easily,” Kaufmann says. “I don’t think that’s something we would have been able to do twenty years ago, because we didn’t have the experience.”
In Kaufmann’s opinion, Get Outside Yourself is a return to form of sorts for the band. Yonder has gone through some lineup changes over the years, and the band became sort of “wide-eyed” about being more technical in its approach to playing, he says, though it has since learned that such technicalities are not as important as connecting with the audience. Mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist Nick Piccininni, the latest addition to the lineup, has been a good addition in that regard. Members are able to see a bit more clearly what was an important part of Yonder Mountain String Band in the first place: the energy.
“Nick brings that energy,” Kaufmann says. “He explodes with it. I feel compelled to say he is no slouch on his instrument. In fact, he plays every instrument, and he’s probably the best at every instrument in the band.”
Kaufmann notes that his favorite Yonder Mountain String Band songs are the newer ones.
“Some of the songs in our repertoire we’ve been playing for 23 years, and we’ve probably played them 1,000 times,” he says. “In terms of exploring musically, as a creative person, having something new to sink my teeth into is always appreciated.”
Get Yourself Outside will be released on Friday, February 25, and will be available to stream on all major platforms. For more information, go to yondermountain.com.