Realcoolyeah

billthemountain writes "
RealCoolYeah
Album: RCY in NYC




This band provides a great soundtrack to a night of drinking.

RealCoolYeah is a band out of nearby Jersey, in the style of, well... I don't know! It's more funky and jammy than heavy or ethereal. There's no screaming or yelling. The guitar distortion is set to smooth overdrive, when not chunking on a gritty clean riff. Sometimes it has a Sublime influence, sometimes it borrows from 'world jam', and other times it's kind of technical - but always on the upbeat. The tracks I heard were live tracks, and were pretty tight. The quality was decent - not the best, but definitely not like 'crappy low budget boom-box stuck in the corner of the room' live (c'mon, every musician's done that!). It was more than adequate for a great listening experience. The squealing girls popping up in random spots was a nice touch Although a studio recording would be a cool thing to hear, especially for a guy like me who adores the subtle nuances of the best take of the night, the live tracks did a decent job of catching the amusing energy. See, this is where a band like this shines, in the performance. This really feels like a live band.

This band is a 4-piece. 2 guitars (a great lead guitarist too), bass and drums - as raw as rock gets. Go to their website and check out the beginning and solo of Ten Steps Ahead. Unaswered is the jam I get off on the most. Cool gruff singing, and nice, tight kicks. Oh, and another nice guitar solo I might add.

You may trip on the name at first - RealCoolYeah - but the playfulness of their sound explains it. You want a night of drinking? Go see RealCoolYeah. Dance a little. People still dance at rock n' roll shows - I swear it. As a matter of fact, listening to their music while writing this review, I was suddenly compelled to drink some Cuervo. I'll be drunk by the time I'm done proofreading this review. I just need to get me some squealing girl to round out my night!

Check 'em out at www.realcoolyeah.com

~ Bill The Mountain - http://www.philadelphiamrk.com/

Real Cool Yeah
www.realcoolyeah.com

Hailing from Vineland, New Jersey, Real Cool Yeah at times calls to mind such straightforward, progressive rockers as Stone Temple Pilots and Queens of the Stone Age, at other times Sublime-like smoothness, with a little bit of the weirdness of Modest Mouse thrown in. Vocalist Brian Saxton has voice that can be gritty and rough-edged one moment, then soft and even the next. It does well playing off the technical prowess displayed by both his own guitar and Mark Wardell’s soaring solos. Sean Friel on bass and Jerry Arsenault on drums both contribute pounding rhythms to the band’s sound.

Real Cool Yeah’s location in Central Jersey has allowed them to amass a gathering in both Pennsylvania and New York, as well as their home state. They have a several pretty high-quality demo recordings which are available on their website, and be on the lookout for a new full length recording coming out in the near future. - http://www.playphilly.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17816924&BRD=2766&PAG=461&dept_id=578256&rfi=6

Interview with Jerry Arsenault (drummer of RCY)


First of all i wanna thank the guys from RealCoolYeah, especially Jerry Arsenault, who is the drummer, for answer my questions.
I put it exactly the way Jerry wrote to me, because i think it´s the best way to know his thoughts.
Take the time to read it, trust me.
Here it goes...

How did you guys met? I mean, who had the idea about starting the band?
Back in 1990 I met a guitar player through a mutual friend, His name was Mark Wardell. We would jamm out in my Mom’s basement sometimes. Then in 1993 me and Mark decided to put a band together. That bands Name was "Candy Jar". Candy Jar’s music was very fitting of 1990's and I would say we sounded like experimental grunge. By about 1995 Candy Jar broke up and we all kind of went our separate ways.
Then around 1996 I started to get itchy to play in a band again. So I contacted one of my skateboarding buddies who I knew played guitar (Brian Saxton). So we got a bass player, a singer, and another guitarist and formed a band called "Mississipi Black Snake".
I would describe the music we made in that band as sounding like soul rock, with a little bit of a jam sound too. We where probably closest too sounding like "Black Crowes" ”Mississipi Black Snake” had done pretty well for them selves playing around south New Jersey and Philadelphia, and even had talked to a couple of producers and talent agents. But there were some serious riffs within that band and once again I was left with out a band.
I played in other bands for a while here and there but nothing was coming of it.
Sometime in 2002 I got the idea to get my two guitar playing friends from my previous bands (Mark and Brian) to play together, and form a new band. So I called them up and they came over and we started jamming. Brian Saxton had a friend who was a pretty good funk bass player named Sean Friel. So we invited Sean over and he fit right in. So then we where doing these weekend jam things and not even playing any songs, just jamming and seeing where the music would take us, because we had all these different influences. We then started to try out singers and kept jamming for the next year, but none of them fit our style of music (probably because it was so different).
In 2003 we pretty much realised that we weren’t going to find a singer who fit us. So Brian Saxton said he would sing for us as well as play guitar (He used to sing the back up vocals in Mississipi Black Snake). We found that his voice fit our music well, and we started to write actual songs, instead of just jamming.
One day after practice we came up the band name "RealCoolYeah". The band thought that the lack of any true meaning that the name had was a perfect fit for the open ended style of music we where playing, nor did we want to have a name that would type cast us or pigeon hole us into a genre. RCY spent the next year and a half then crafting songs and recording our first demo (simply named "Demo").
2004 was the year that RealCoolYeah really broke out, and we played a huge amount of shows that year, sometimes like 8 shows a month.
RealCoolYeah released a live cd in 2005 ("RCY in NYC", recorded from one of their headlining shows at the Continental in Manhattan, Nyc. They also kept a steady diet of shows as well.
2006 saw RCY releasing their second demo cd (which was self titled "RealCoolYeah") in the winter. Then in the summer they released a single "Swim" for a compilation cd for Danimal records.
That was handed out at the Danimal Record's booth at the east coast Warped Tours.
2007 will be a big year for Realcoolyeah as well, as they will be releasing their first full length album, and we have a few other tricks up our sleeve as well.

Do you have musical studies?
Yes, I do have musical studies. I took music lessons for a year so I could know how to read and write drum music and improve my technique. Prior to that I am a self taught drummer. Brian Saxton teaches guitar lessons now as well as playing in RCY, and took lessons for four years when he was in his teens.
Sean Friel is self taught, but did take bass lessons for a year.
Mark Wardell is self taught and never had any musical studies.

Your kind of music is very unique. Is there any influence you wanna talk about?
Well we have so many influences. I like everything except for new country or any newer pop music. I really like progressive rock (Yes, Tool, Rush, Genesis, Mars Volta, Radio Head). I also really like old rock (Chilli Peppers, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Sublime, Smashing pumpkins, Pink Floyd). And enjoy jazz and old school rap as well.
Brian likes the jam band stuff (Phish, Grateful dead, Government mule) and likes jazz a lot too, (John Scofield, Medeski Martin and Wood, Miles Davis.) The rock he likes is( Jimi Hendrix, Tool, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, System of a Down, Mars Volta, Talking Heads)
Sean Likes Just rock pretty much (Chilli Peppers, Mars Volta, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Fugazi, Radiohe - http://solamentemusica.blogspot.com