Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn

Yorn in 2006
Background information
Birth name Peter Joseph Yorn
Born (1974-07-27) July 27, 1974
Montville, New Jersey, United States
Genres Alternative rock, indie rock, indie folk
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, harmonica, drums, bass, piano, analog synthesizer
Years active 2000–present
Labels Capitol Records Columbia, Rhino, Vagrant, Warner Brothers (France), Trampoline
Associated acts Scarlett Johansson, Minibar, The Olms, Iggy Pop, R.E.M., Big Star
Website www.peteyorn.com

Peter Joseph "Pete" Yorn (born July 27, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and drummer who first gained international recognition after his debut record, Musicforthemorningafter, was released to critical and commercial acclaim in 2001. He is known for playing the bulk of the instruments on his records.

Early history

Yorn was born in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, in the same hospital as Yankees great, Derek Jeter. Raised in Montville, New Jersey, the son of Joan, a former school teacher and real estate agent, and Lawrence K. Yorn, a retired dentist.[1] His brother Rick is a major talent manager in Hollywood, and was responsible for teaching 9 year old Pete to play the drums.[2] His eldest brother Kevin Yorn is an entertainment lawyer. Yorn was raised Jewish.[3] Pete attended Montville Township High School.[4][5]

Breakthrough

Yorn was encouraged enough to maintain a focus on music while attending Syracuse University (class of 1996) where he was a major in the department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. After graduating, Yorn moved to Los Angeles, where he began to attract a following with his performances at Largo. Shortly after, signing to Columbia records in 1999, film producer Bradley Thomas (Kingpin & There's Something About Mary) liked Yorn's act enough to request Yorn send him some rough demos for possible inclusion in the Farrelly Brothers' film Me, Myself and Irene. Soon after, Yorn landed a job scoring all of the music to the film and also contributed the songs "Strange Condition" and "Just Another" to the film and its soundtrack. Yorn has spoken of the busy time mixing both his debut record while working on the Farrelly's scoring project. "Just Another" was also used in the soundtrack for "Bandits," the 2001 bank-robbery film starring Bruce Willis, Cate Blanchett, and Billy Bob Thornton.

After experiencing this taste of success, Yorn released his 2001 LP debut, entitled musicforthemorningafter, which went gold on the strength of the album's lead single, "Life on a Chain." Rolling Stone Magazine named Yorn one of "Ten [artists] to Watch in 2001" and gave the album a favorable four-star rating.

Yorn went on to release the 2003 album Day I Forgot which has sold over 300,000 copies to date and scored a third radio hit with the song "Come Back Home."

In 2006, Yorn released his third album, Nightcrawler and toured extensively in support of it. He preceded every show with an instore acoustic appearance at an indie record shop in the town he was passing through. All of these instore performances were recorded, thus creating an extensive series of Live EP's. (complete list of instore EP's below). Nightcrawler was named one of the top 20 records of 2006 by Paste magazine.

Guitarist Peter Buck of the band R.E.M. has made appearances on several Pete Yorn recordings, including instrumentation on the single version of "Strange Condition" and a number of songs from the Day I Forgot LP. Yorn has worked with producers R. Walt Vincent, Brad Wood, and Ken Andrews of Failure and Year of the Rabbit, in addition to several other producers including Scott Litt, Butch Walker and Sonic Youth producer Don Fleming.

Yorn has shared bills with the Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., Crowded House, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Coldplay, The Dixie Chicks, Semisonic, and Sunny Day Real Estate, among others.

Yorn has played at Carnegie Hall on two occasions as part of tributes to Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. Yorn gave the 2011 commencement address to the Visual and Performing Arts class at his alma mater, Syracuse University.

Yorn's song, "Lose You" can be heard just before the ending credits of the episode "Simple Explanation" during Kutner's funeral on the Fox show House, MD.

Yorn mentions the Nova Scotia band Sloan as one with great influence on him, even admitting after seeing them live in 1999, he was so blown away by their talent that he wondered whether it would be worth continuing to even pursue his debut album. Sloan would later tour with Yorn in the US.

The Trilogy

Pete Yorn's third studio release, Nightcrawler, completes a conceptual trilogy of sorts,[6] which spans his first three albums (EPs not included); beginning in the morning with the musicforthemorningafter LP, continuing through the day with the Day I Forgot LP, and arriving at nightfall with the Nightcrawler LP.

In September 2006, in an interview with silentuproar.com, Yorn elaborated on his true intentions behind the trilogy, remarking that it was at least partially a conscious trilogy but wasn't meant to be taken too seriously: "I didn't mean like a Star Wars trilogy where it's one story at all." Yorn expressed that the "trilogy" was more of a diary of sorts; a person gaining new life experiences and simply commenting on them in linear order. "So it's a sort of continuing analysis of those topics, and the Nightcrawler LP would represent a later phase," Yorn said.[6]

Subsequent releases

Yorn in 2006

In 2008, Pete Yorn recorded and released a new song, entitled "American Blues Vol. 1." A music video was shot for the single, and the song itself was released for free on Yorn's official website for a short period of time. Concerning the song, Yorn has said "I wrote American Blues Vol. 1. on the 4th of July after reading the morning paper. It's unlike any song I've ever written. I was moved by how much negativity I was reading about and how even groups were boycotting Independence Day because they were so disgusted with the state of our Nation. I was hoping things would improve...they obviously haven't yet...but I know they will in time."[7]

Yorn appears on Canadian artist Matthew Good's 2009 album Vancouver performing backing vocals.

"Can't Hear Anyone," a song that Yorn wrote during the Nightcrawler sessions, was used for a Mercedes-Benz commercial and was released as a digital single on March 31, 2009.

Columbia Records released his Mike Mogis-produced album, entitled Back & Fourth on June 23, 2009.[8]

Yorn toured with Coldplay as an opening act through summer 2009 and collaborated with actress/musician Scarlett Johansson to record a project entitled Break Up. The album was released on September 15, 2009, and its first single—"Relator"—was released digitally on May 26, 2009. The record has since gone Platinum in France.

Yorn released a self-titled album on September 28, 2010. This record was released by Vagrant Records, and produced by Frank Black of The Pixies. It received a favorable 8/10 stars in Spin magazine and 4/5 stars in Mojo. He toured North America and Europe in support of this record February 14 − June 12, 2011.

In November 2012, Santa Monica-based radio station KCRW began spinning songs from a new record by a band called The Olms. DJ Jason Bentley has reported that Yorn is indeed a founding member of this group. On January 8, 2013, NPR's flagship station KCRW released a track by The Olms titled, "Wanna Feel It."[9] The Olms' self-titled debut album was released on June 4, 2013 by the newly relaunched Harvest Records.[10] On September 15, 2013, Yorn and The Olms performed along with Vampire Weekend at the iTunes Festival in London. An EP was released of the performance in conjunction with a documentary centered around their first tour which premiered on November 12, 2013.[11]

On November 6, 2015 in a statement to fans, Yorn announced that he had signed to Capitol Records and would be releasing his sixth studio album, ArrangingTime in Spring 2016. In anticipation of the upcoming album, Yorn released a new track "Summer Was A Day" along with a lyric video.

On January 8, 2016, it was announced that ArrangingTime would be released on March 11, 2016. The first single, "Lost Weekend" and music video for the track were also released. A third track from ArrangingTime entitled "Halifax", was released on February 5, 2016.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album Peak chart positions Sales Certifications
US
[12][13]		 US
Rock
[13][14]		 FR
[15]		 GER
[16]		 SWI
[17]
2001 musicforthemorningafter 111 — — — —
2003 Day I Forgot 18 — — — —
2006 Nightcrawler 50 17 — — —
2009 Back and Fourth[19][20] 32 14 — — —
2009 Break Up (with Scarlett Johansson)[21] 41 14 18 89 58
  • FRA: Platinum
2010 Pete Yorn 66 22 — — —
2016 Arranging Time 63 7 — — —

Live albums

EPs

Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
Germany
[16]		 US Modern Rock Adult Top 40
2001 "Life on a Chain" - - 35 musicforthemorningafter
2001 "For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)" - 28 - musicforthemorningafter
2002 "Strange Condition" - 36 34 musicforthemorningafter
2003 "Come Back Home" - 32 - Day I Forgot
2003 "Crystal Village" - - 28 Day I Forgot
2006 "For Us" - 38 - Nightcrawler
2007 "Alive" - - - Nightcrawler
2009 "Don't Wanna Cry" - - - Back and Fourth
2009 "Relator" 91 - - Break Up
2010 "Precious Stone" - - - Pete Yorn
2015 "Summer Was A Day" - - - Arranging Time
2016 "Lost Weekend" - - - Arranging Time

Non-album tracks

Unreleased songs

Videography

Backing band

Yorn's current touring band is:

Yorn's Back & Fourth touring band was:

Pete Yorn's Nightcrawler era touring band was Minibar, hailing from Britain and including the following members:

Pete Yorn's former backing band went by the name Dirty Bird and includes the following members:

Pete Yorn's "eternal bandmates":

References

  1. ↑ "WEDDINGS;Julie Silverman And Kevin Yorn". The New York Times. July 7, 1996.
  2. ↑ Finke, Nikki (2008-10-19). "Rick Yorn Exits The Firm; Julie To Follow –". Deadline.com. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  3. ↑ John Newlin (2009-04-17). "Interview: Exclusive with Pete Yorn - Pete Yorn". Zimbio.com. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  4. ↑ Hicks, Robert. "Montville's Pete Korn [sic] travels at his own pace", Daily Record (Morristown), August 11, 2006. Accessed February 23, 2011.
  5. ↑
  6. 1 2 "Silentuproar.com". Silentuproar.com. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  7. ↑ "Peteyorn.com". Peteyorn.com. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ Schaffhauser, Lori (2013-01-08). "Hear The Olms — A New Project from Pete Yorn – KCRW Music Blog". Blogs.kcrw.com. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  10. ↑ "The Olms - The Olms | Release Info". AllMusic. 2013-06-04. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  11. ↑ "Check in With Pete Yorn's New Project, the Olms, in Exclusive Tour Documentary Film". Music.yahoo.com. 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  12. ↑ "Pete Yorn - Billboard 200". Billboard.
  13. 1 2 "Pete Yorn - Awards". AllMusic.
  14. ↑ "Pete Yorn - Top Rock Albums". Billboard.
  15. ↑ "Pete Yorn". lescharts.com.
  16. 1 2 "Offizielle Deutsche Charts". Search for Pete Yorn
  17. ↑ "Pete Yorn". swisscharts.com.
  18. ↑ http://www.webcitation.org/5aWxoHiRP?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.riaa.com%2Fgoldandplatinumdata.php%3Ftable%3DSEARCH_RESULTS. Archived from the original on September 2, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ "Myspace de Pete Yorn". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  20. ↑ "Fuelfriendsblog.com". Fuelfriendsblog.com. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  21. ↑ "PY&SJ Break Up". Acharts.us. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  22. ↑ "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016.
  23. ↑ Un. "Myspace de PEte Yorn". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
  24. ↑ "Myspace de Pete Yorn". Fuelfriendsblog.com. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
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