CLAP YOUR HANDS Blog online gives band buzz, a break

The band's shows have been selling out as fans take notice.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
The members of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah understand the power of the blog.
In a matter of months last summer, this New York City-based indie rock band went from new and obscure Big Apple act to the buzz band of the year with its self-titled album, which ostensibly is its demo recording, consistently running out of stock. The quintet was so new that it didn't have a label, distributor or publicist.
Considering the Internet age of the 21st century and the dying business model known as the major label recording industry, the breaking of Clap Your Hands from coast to coast is solely based on the blogging nation. Perhaps the future of music delivery has arrived.
"Oh, yeah, definitely, I think it's the way it should happen," said Tyler Sargent, calling from a tour stop in Minneapolis. "And we kind of didn't realize that we're doing anything differently until all of a sudden it got to this level and it was because we had that approach. We just realized we had done something kind of different."
Band's sound
As for the band's sound, it's pretty simple with plenty of familiar motifs. In fact, for all of those Strokes haters who belittled the band for its slight Velvet Underground-sounding image, Clap Your Hands actually apes a solid Lou Reed vibe sans the distortion. One song that encapsulates the group's creative freedom and musical deliverance is "Details of the War" with its "Heroin"-esque rhythm section and, oddly enough, early Bruce Springsteen harmonica vibrancy.
Throughout the 10-track album, singer-songwriter Alec Ounsworth channels an earnest David Byrne nasal wail but the music seemingly covers more ground than the Talking Heads ever did. Audiences have been taking notice, selling out shows since the band started touring last fall. Its current Stateside jaunt culminates with a high-profile set at the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival with crowds expected to number in the tens of thousands.
Still somewhat amazed and perplexed at the group's quick rise, Sargent doesn't know what to say about the impending Bonnaroo gig in Manchester, Tenn.
"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it," Sargent said. "I don't even know how big of an audience that is. Yeah, I think we all really like playing to small audiences. It's hard to kind of get a feel for what people are thinking when you can't really see them."
Heading to Cleveland
Thankfully, Clap Your Hands makes a return date Thursday to the sold-out Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, where invariably it will be able to see its fans. With a new album already written and studio time on the horizon -- recording begins in late spring for a hopeful release in late 2006 or early 2007 -- the five-piece has been performing new tracks such as the screaming synthesizer-driven "Satan Said Dance" and the up-tempo "Wet Dynamite."
One can only imagine how the band's new album will filter through the Internet. However, a growing contingent of stalwart fans, who have been Clap Your Hands loyalists since the early days (last year!), have become somewhat overzealous regarding all of the attention the band has received of late, painting any new followers as bandwagon jumpers. Sargent has witnessed such events but is reluctant to speak about them.
"I'm not quite sure ... I wouldn't want to go too far into that," said a somewhat nervous Sargent, careful with his words. It's almost as if he's hiding something. So instead, he censors himself. You see, of anyone, Sargent understands the power of the blog.
"Yeah," he said, laughing, "yeah."