Neighbors of Mike Chick are quite used to - and encouraging of - the noises coming from his garage studio. Alongside bandmates Biff Swenson, Dana Yurcisin, Nicole Scorsone and Rudy Meier, their home base for writing and recording the latest release from Yawn Mower was consistently occupied with sound.
I Just Can’t Wait To Die is their first group effort as a five-piece, which started with a Google Drive full of late-night voice memos and loose concepts for melodies. An entire tour was spent combing through it all, working out each idea until 10 tangible songs presented themselves. They brought those 10 songs to Chicago, playing a week’s worth of shows to test out the material.
“It was cool because you also got early crowd reactions,” Meier said. “We would play and we could see the ones that everyone seemed to like [or] maybe we got to work on this one a little more.”
Even when Chick was out of town, the band was using the studio space. In fact, a demo he had written years prior was fully fleshed out by the time he returned. Another time, he left the room and heard them jamming what eventually became the bridge of another song that made the album. Although he is the primary songwriter, this creative process was equal. Collaboration was encouraged, resulting in taking a few left turns that original members Chick and Swenson probably would not have taken on their own. It wasn’t without its disagreements, but in a more lighthearted than hostile way.
“We got out the other side of all of that with something that everyone is hyped on,” Swenson said. “No one’s looking back in anger. No important idea was scrapped.”
The drums were first to be recorded, followed by three days of Scorsone’s parts. Vocals were knocked out in a day. The majority of production was completed by Yurcisin and Meier. There was no need for hiring studio musicians as they intentionally wanted everyone represented throughout each song.
“We were actively trying to write the thing that pleased us as the player while serving the song,” Swenson said. “Which is why it was a year-long process of trying to figure out how to maneuver being a five-piece band as opposed to Mike and I just throwing shit at a wall and telling everyone this is it.”
They honestly enjoyed the recording process because they got to both highlight their skills and improve them at the same time. Each member plays multiple instruments, and Meier said that was helpful for brainstorming as they could easily comprehend what the other person was trying to do.
“You want to [always] show up with your best foot forward, but it’s nice that if you don’t there’s four other people who are equally, if not more, talented,” Swenson said.
Choosing the first three singles was a no-brainer. “Rascal” was the perfect introduction to their current sound. “Geothermal Springs” was the most diverse when it came to their collective talents. “New Years at the Airport” felt the most like it was worthy of becoming a single.
Another song that Yurcisin believes really demonstrates their range is “$12 & A Winepress”, which was written about Chick’s grandparents. The song’s lyrics are where the album title comes from, which was a struggle to decide if that was the right choice. Yurcisin swears that was his choice from day one, while the others took turns going back and forth on their vote for a while. Scorsone remembers laughing when she first received the text suggesting that title, thinking it perfectly highlighted the humor sprinkled into the album. At a certain point, it was clear that I Just Can’t Wait To Die was the only choice.
The videos that have been released alongside the singles showcase their talents outside of music. With members who also work as illustrators, designers and editors, their DIY approach to the band allows their fans to understand them better.
“There’s no way you’re going to watch one of these videos one time and catch it all,” Swenson said. “I feel like the videos do a really good job of showing not only did the band grow in numbers, not only did the songwriters quadruple, but the videos are the same way. If you’ve seen our old videos, they’re just as fun and loose and they paint a picture of what it’s like hanging out with us. This time it’s as overstimulating as an actual conversation [with us] would be.”
The ten songs are not meant to tell a single story or send a certain message. If there is a theme, it is that life exists. The listener may hear inside jokes amongst the band, observations from walking their dogs or unbelievable sights from tour. Chick said that he used to think he needed to have an entire story - complete with beginning, middle and end - in order to complete a song. These days, each line in a verse can be a different story.
“That’s what I like the most about [Chick’s] songwriting,” Yurcisin said. “I couldn’t possibly tell anyone else what a theme for this record is, but depending on the listener, you can have 40 different takeaways from even some real, literal, basic descriptions.”
Yawn Mower’s five-piece lineup means five different voices coming through each track of I Just Can’t Wait To Die. They challenged one another to make an album that was equally their own and succeeded.
“I think this record is a really good way to hear all of our personalities very clearly,” Chick said. “Maybe it’s just because I’m so close to it. When I listen I can clearly hear Biff’s influence, I clearly hear Dana, Rudy, Nicole… and everything melts with our personalities too. It’s cool to hear on a record because we were playing for two years together before that but they were all older songs. We had all this open space so now with everybody just putting their ideas together I think it came out pretty good.”