Hiya YACOVELLI, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for having me to represent YACOVELLI, the band, today. Let’s brew.
What was life like for you before you got into music?
As frontman of my cryptically self-titled new band, YACOVELLI, I can’t remember a time I wasn’t into music! I started Yamaha method piano at age six, followed by intensive classical and jazz piano studios. I practically begged my mom to study music. This was eventually supplemented with jazz trumpet and eventually acoustic guitar, which was influenced by my father who was a 12-string player. Dad covered a lot of James Taylor, Neil Young, Zeppelin and Hendrix.
I got my first electric guitar at age 16 and it blew my freaking mind. The Rock N Roll influence, specifically, was always sort of there, but I remember studying it intently ala the Napster/Limewire era. That was about the period of time when I did my homework at the local library after school, simultaneously digesting every Garage Rock album I could get my hands on. There were a lot of Garage bands growing up in Pleasantville, NY. I had a lot of mentors doing the thing locally.
My father played in a band growing up with Tommy Frenzy of Tough Darts of CBGB fame. There was a whole coalition of older summerstock musicians that I greatly admired. So yeah, there were a lot of Rock influences around. I also studied musical theatre and traditional vocals for a long time, so I can’t deny a “conflicting” influence of the likes Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and The Gershwins. That continued through my college years, studying Vocal Performance at New York University. You can’t deny the power of the lyrics or strength of the Great American Songbook pre-Beatles.
What’s the live music scene like in New York City right now?
Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)? Recently, I’ve heard some amazing music being made by Alex Cano, King Falcon, Familiar Faces, Alice Valentine, Christopher Ardra, Ayden Skye, The Rebel Kicks, and Silvertooth Cactus, to name a few. Hardworking people, true musicians and craftsmen. There’s always a lot of great stuff brewing in the New York underground. For my tastes, these Artists are delivering the edge that I love and often genre-bending.
It seems like being a social media curator has become added to the many jobs of a musician, how do you feel about this?
Sometimes it’s overwhelming, but it’s the way of the world. I think the trick is to try and casually document what you’re doing without putting too much thought into it. Not everything needs to be a clean, official music video. Often the best content is natural and exposes your personality. I try to give insight into what I’m listening to and who I’m influenced by. Lately, I’ve been talking a lot about Chris Cornell, one of my main vocal and lyrical infuences.
How do you manage engagement on your socials?
Oh man, it’s tough. I’m not gonna lie. As an independent musician, you wear many hats. I guess you look for trends of what people are asking for. You can’t do every cover someone asks you to do, or take every piece of advice. Sometimes, however, you get some brilliant ideas from engagement. I think you do your best to read the room, stay humble and be gracious, and try to give some insight into where you’re at as a human and an Artist.
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
I think there’s a lot of fearmongering about AI mass-produced music, the “death of Rock N Roll,” venues collapsing due to increasing real estate and payroll, and a “lack of truth” in new music. I think music has always been hard and will continue to be hard. You don’t do it to get rich easily.
Even the people making money are constantly working at it for themselves, their families and their teams that rely on them. At the end of the day, you try and make music that is true to who you are. Something that you would love to play night and night again to an audience of three.
I’ve seen Artists play houses of ten before opening at Radio City Music Hall. You really do need to block out all the noise and make the kind of sound you want. I honestly believe that success follows truth verses chasing a new trend. If I wanted to become a hyper pop Artist today, the wave would be over by the time I got it right. I feel Rock guitar is on the rise again.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
I’m hunting for fans who love the same grungy, noisy, raw kinda of rock and roll that I love. All of YACOVELLI’s music doesn’t appeal to every one, and that’s cool. I guess we’re hunting for likeminded individuals at the moment, both in terms of audience and Producers/Engineers. Right now, the project has been largely DIY, but I would love to work with someone on the dream list like Rick Rubin, Butch Vig, or any number of similarly minded sonic scupltors.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
Make the tone that you want. Offend people along the way. Don’t be afraid to genre blend and mix things. More people are enjoying the kind of Neo-Grunge, Punk, Garage and Sleaze blend YACOVELLI is producing than I anticipated.
What was your best experience on stage?
I played Madison Square Garden with Weezer in 2008. On the way to the stage, I fistpumped Thom Delonge and praised him on a solid Angels & Airwaves performance. He stopped to talk to me for a minute, which was really gnarly. Then I walked through a portal, was handed a pre-tuned acoustic guitar, and walked into The Coliseum like a Rock N Roll gladiator. An enormous rush of adrenaline came over me and I stood next to Brian Bell and we kicked off into “Beverly Hills” and “Island in the Sun.”
What was your worst experience on stage?
I had a nosebleed once. Mind you, it was a theatrical performance and I was in a freeze, so I just kept bleeding. My “former life” as an actor has definitely informed my Rock N Roll performance style, although it’s certainly more distracting trying to navigate a guitar than saying memorized lines with intention… in my opinion. The nosebleed incident kind of reminds me of a New York Dolls story that David Johannsen told where the band started puking beer all over their instruments. They kept playing, and so did I. Very punk.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about.
I’m a Valentine’s baby. So a lot of people have questions about that. Generally, I tell people—depending on whether or not your single –it’s the best or worst day of the year. Having a birthday only heightens the collective feeling of the day. Ha.
The rest of the band is currently rotating, with a lot of my associates being touring and gigging professionals. It’s a little tricky to get someone to commit to a single project in NYC, but I like the challenge.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
“Doppelganger” is a new Neo-Grunge song about alter egos. In the song, the singer can’t tell if he’s actually looking at himself in the mirror or a mimetically synced doppelganger version of himself. It’s about times when you don’t feel like yourself and perhaps you’ve engaged in some morally questionable activity that feels like your personal compass is glitching. I think we’ve all been there at times in our life. It was greatly inspired by the Cornell lyric, “I’m feeling California, and looking Minnesota,” which is one I think about a lot. It means what you want it to mean, just like “Doppelganger” should. It’s a very personal song disguised as a stadium headbanger.
We’re going to be performing it live at Mercury Lounge NYC on Friday June 6th at 9PM, a bill with our talented friends Christopher Ardra and Aimee Bayles.
What was the recording process like?
Being a DIY Producer, I did all the parts myself in the style of Dave Grohl or Lenny Kravitz or Tom Scholz (of Boston) or Wolfgang Van Halen (with his first Mammoth record). Even the album art and the music videos and shorts are all DIY.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
Interestingly, I have a problem focusing on one song. My mind keeps running to new places melodically and lyrically, so I need to constantly record demos of future ideas just to prevent the FOMO of not having it laid down somewhere later when I return to it.
I heard Rick Rubin say something recently about “record the drumkit you have” and “don’t make your drumkit sound like the AC/DC drumkit” but the “best version of what you’ve got.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that. How do you make the guitar in your hands sound like the best version of that guitar in your recording DAW without too much plugin finessing? I guess that’s why my tunes have a more raw, garage-y approach to records than a polished one. It’s what I like.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
You always want to change something. But that’s the beauty. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put a song in the world and wished that I could record the LIVE version two years later. Maybe I’ll put a Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” move and record a version six years later. It’s a solid move. I would consider releasing a “Doppelganger II” if the fans really respond. Give the people what they want!
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I saw that Green Day recently had a 7/11 Slurpee flavor created in their honor. It made me laugh cause we totally had a 7/11 scene growing up in Pleasantville, NY that aligns with the American Idiot vibe. That said, I’d like to put into the universe a YACOVELLI Ben & Jerry’s icecream flavor or Dunkin Donuts coffee blend. Heck, we’d love a Trejos Donuts LA special (like the taco flavored treat)! Starbucks feels too tame for us. Dream big, dream tasty.
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