YellowHammers

During the Rodney King riots in 1992 my Silverlake basement apartment was filled with smoke from the fires in the surrounding neighborhood.  Fires started by roving gangs looting every store with immunity.  The Northridge earthquake in 1994 shook the apartment, cracked the walls and spooked the bejesus out of my wife.  We decided to move back to Chicago from Los Angeles.
 
The Modern Day Saints had broken up in 1992.  Phil Bayer had already moved to Minneapolis, Kevin James and Rob Pierce had returned to Chicago.  As soon as I arrived, Kevin, Rob and I started writing and recording songs.  After all those years on the road and in L.A. we had no interest in live performance, just wanted to get a batch of songs written, recorded and a new batch started.  We released our first LP, Suffer Fools Gladly, in 1996. We followed that up with All the People Some of the Time (2000) and Satellite (2005).  
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Sometime between All the People and Satellite we started getting the live performance itch again.  I remember the night well.  It was Thursday and after our usual recording session we went out for few drinks.  I have a good pal, Danny Conrad, that had begun tending bar at a joint on Roosevelt Road called the Friendly Tap.  When we entered there were two patrons finishing their Early Times & 7 highballs and then it was just Danny and the YellowHammers (it seems that Thursdays was quarter beer night down the street at Bottles & Cans and the “regulars” know a good deal when they see one).  He asked if we could play some night.  Well it didn’t look like the usual music club but if felt right.  We agreed to play the first Thursday every month.  That was 2004.  Seventy-two First Thursdays later (as of this writing May 2009) we’re still there.  Rob liked it so much he bought the joint a few years later!
 
Enter Tom Kneesel and Phil Levin.  Over the years we have been graced with the help of some very close friends both in the studio and in the live show.  Rick Renner, Pat Brennan, Gary Cleland, Jim Darley, Jim O’Donnell, John Pirruccello, Emily Randle, Ron Steel and a host of others.  After a few months of First Thursdays at Friendly’s we settled into the current line up:  White (guitar, harmonica, vocals); Pierce (vocals, guitar); James (bass, vocals); Kneesel (pedal steel, guitar); and Levin (drums, vocals).
 
We are in the midst of recording our fourth LP.  We had the distinct pleasure of opening a show at FitzGerald’s nightclub in Berwyn IL for the Waco Brothers and met Jon Langford (guitarist, songwriter and singer).  We knew Jon by reputation as a Waco Brother and founding member of the iconic English punk band The Mekons as well as his extensive work as an artist.  We are honored to have him produce this record.  This album will be released later in 2009.
 
The YellowHammers continue to play in Chicagoland and tour occasionally outside the area.