Going live and acoustic

By John Benson | March 14, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

When Yellowcard singer-guitarist Ryan Key envisioned his band’s first acoustic tour, which comes through Cleveland for a show tonight at the House of Blues, he couldn’t help but think about Kurt Cobain.

Specifically, he remembers the magic moments he experienced as a 13-year-old kid growing up in Jacksonville, Fla., listening to Nirvana’s popular “MTV Unplugged in New York” album.

“Nirvana ‘Unplugged’ may be a clich√©, but it was pretty influential in my life,” said Key, calling from his Los Angeles home. “It was such a defining moment for a teenager.

“And obviously our music is so extremely different than Nirvana, but definitely for the fans of Yellowcard, I’d like to provide them with what the fans of Nirvana got by seeing the band in that atmosphere.”

It’s been an interesting few months for Yellowcard. The group was supposed to mount a spring headlining tour first alongside All Time Low and then MxPx, but both acts dropped out, leaving the quartet with an open calendar. So when the band’s drummer Longineu W. Parsons III needed time away for personal reasons, the decision to unplug and tour seemed like a logical choice.

“We wanted to be able to still get out, and we always wanted to do something in more of an acoustic setting,” Key said. “So it’s real intimate and we get to connect with the fans in a different way than when it’s all gusto crowd surfing, electric guitars blasting.”

The leader singer is really excited about the idea of tackling older material from Yellowcard’s debut album, 2001’s “One For the Kids.” For the record, it’s the band’s second effort, its major-label debut “Ocean Avenue,” that most fans know.

The double-platinum effort, filled with crunchy guitars, whiney vocals and violin-infused hooks, put the pop-punk act on the map for Vans Warped fans everywhere.

That CD was followed up with the more experimental 2006 effort “Lights and Sounds” and the group’s most recent album, 2007’s “Paper Walls.” In looking back over the band’s releases, Key sees an important evolution.

“‘Ocean Avenue’ is a record about heading out as a young adult to take on the world, while ‘Life and Sounds’ talks about what it’s like to get lost along the way on that journey,” Key said. “And ‘Paper Walls’ is the record about finding yourself again.

“It’s about what you learned along the way – the ups and downs of what the career is – and there’s a certain feeling of comfort and confidence. That’s what I really like about ‘Paper Walls.’

Unfortunately, neither of the group’s last two albums crossed the platinum threshold, with “Paper Walls” still not even gold. Despite the fact the band’s last two efforts have suffered from dwindling record sales, Key is doing his best to stay focused and positive. He’s also holding out hope that it is merely the dying record business that is somehow affecting Yellowcard’s livelihood.

“You put it out of your mind and stay on tour,” Key said. “The people who are coming to see us over the next couple of months have ‘Paper Walls’ and that’s what we care about. If you let record sales invade your thoughts, then it’ll eat you alive.

“But I’d be lying if I didn’t say it is frustrating. I feel we did come back and make a record that was exactly the record we needed to make, and in my opinion is some of our best work. So I’m excited about playing, even if it’s not the hordes of people who had ‘Ocean Avenue.’ So it’ll be fun, no matter what.”