Sounding Off: Yerkish

Written by Matt Pusatory
(mpusator@mscd.edu)

Denver’s own Yerkish are making music that is hard to describe. Their complex blend of influences creates a vibrant and intricate sound. Fresh from recording their new album, Fear Conquers America, and on the verge of hitting the road for their first West Coast tour, drummer Ryan Eschenbach explains that Yerkish are not monkeying around.

MP: For those unfamiliar with the band, what is Yerkish all about?

Ryan Eschenbach: Yerkish is an artificial language using geometric forms to represent words, created for the experimental communication between chimpanzees and humans. Since 2005, we’ve aimed to dish out an experimental, neo-grunge, fuzz-jammin’, progressive rock/jazz and/or roll. We also believe in the visual aspect of a live show, always complementing our audio with a barrage of projected imagery and texture. The four of us have such an incredibly diverse and often contrasted musical background, but we somehow smash it down into a cohesive composition.

MP: You recently played an acoustic show. How does an acoustic show differ from your electric shows?

RE: We must be smashingly stoned to play an acoustic set. Kidding! The energy of the acoustic show (was) stripped down, more rhythmic, much more jazz-influenced, and overall more dynamic. With electric shows, we project a more intense onstage energy, barreling through songs, often bleeding from one to the next.

MP: The complexity of your music has garnished the label of “art rock.” Do you consider your music art rock?

RE: Art rock has been very loosely defined, it seems. The Denver art rock collective has sort of incorporated bands that fall between the crack, the ones that bridge gaps between genres. Our art rock can have seven or eight difficult passages, as opposed to your usual structure. Art rock tries to do something more than just rock, but still wants to rock. So, yes, Yerkish is art rock.

MP: What has the general reaction been to Fear Conquers America?

RE: The reaction has been humbling. We’ve gotten other bands that are inspired by it, my friend paints with it on, someone uses it as a coaster, my dog loves the smell of it and the local Denver music critics seem to enjoy it as well.

MP: The band is setting up a West Coast tour in May. What are you looking forward to most about the tour?

RE: I think we are all looking forward to getting out of Denver and playing in front of people who have never heard of us before. Meeting other bands, and soaking up as much new live music as we can. I also think it’s a sort of social experiment as well between the four of us, to see how we handle each other under such extreme conditions.

Yerkish
3.14.09
8PM @ the Toad Tavern
$6, 21+