Tyler Sargent plays bass in a little band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which may have caught your eye back in 2005 when they played the Gothamist Movable Hype 3.0 show at the Knitting Factory. We don’t want to call ourselves kingmakers, but ever since that night the band’s become kind of a big deal, in part because they were one of the first bands to break wide through blog buzz and a self-released album that moved over 45,000 copies in six months, all distributed out of Sargent’s Park Slope apartment. Tomorrow night they play a benefit concert at Bowery Ballroom for Planned Parenthood NYC; it’s sold out, of course, but mark your calendar for February 15th, when Gothamist anoints a new crop of indie rock darlings at Movable Hype 12.0 (it's also Gothamist’s 5th birthday.) Anyway, at some point over the weekend Tyler Sargent sat down at his computer and processed pithy answers to our questions.
How did this benefit show for Planned Parenthood come about? Planning!
Are you concerned about alienating fans who may identify themselves as Pro Life and associate Planned Parenthood solely with abortion? We've already seen some of that in a few emails, and the show hasn't even happened yet. But no.
Tyler Sargent, what’s your preferred method of birth control? I'm just the bass player.
Do you play many benefit shows? Who else have you helped out? We've done a few benefit shows. One was for Katrina victims. One was for a theater company.
Is there any organization you wouldn’t play a benefit for? Yes, there are a few.
Given the choice, would you rather play a benefit for John Edwards, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? None of them like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah anymore. They really liked the first album, but then deemed Some Loud Thunder "unlistenable."
Please tell us a juicy story from your tour with Elvis Perkins. Juice mostly comes from juicers these days.
Please sum up your attitude about touring in 5 words or less. Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!
