Jump to content

Yellowcard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 64.187.44.242 (talk) at 00:33, 16 July 2006 (→‎DVDs). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the band. For the sports behavior caution, see yellow card.
Yellowcard
OriginJacksonville, Florida, USA
Years active1997–present
MembersRyan Key
Sean Mackin
Ryan Mendez
Peter Mosely
Longineu Warren Parsons III.

Yellowcard is a rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Their music can be also classified as pop punk or punk. A distinct characteristic of the music of Yellowcard is their use of a violin, making them somewhat unique within this genre.

History

Yellowcard was formed in 1997 in Jacksonville, Florida after meeting at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. The band was made up of six members: Ben Dobson (vocals), Todd Clarry (vocals, guitar), Ben Harper (guitar), Sean Mackin (violin), Warren Cooke (bass guitar), and Longineu W. Parsons III (drums). The band released their first album, Midget Tossing, in 1997 and met with some success, before undergoing line-up changes. Ben Dobson and Todd Clarry were replaced by Ryan Key (vocals, guitar) who convinced the band that they would not achieve success in Florida in the long run, so they decided to move to Southern California. The new group released their debut album, One for the Kids (Lobster Records), in 2001, and followed up with The Underdog EP (Fueled by Ramen Records) in 2002 which were both well-received by fans. However, Yellowcard's real public reception came after signing with Capitol Records in 2003 and releasing Ocean Avenue. Fans loved the album's sincere lyrics and unique musical style (mostly due to Mackin's violin playing). The band's popularity continues today; they have toured with bands such as Something Corporate and Less Than Jake,Matchbook Romance,Mae, as well as appeared on the soundtrack of the hit film Spider-Man 2 and on the compilation "Rock Against Bush Vol. II", with a cover of Lagwagon's song "Violins". The band's three singles from their 2003 release are "Way Away," "Ocean Avenue," and "Only One."

Lights and Sounds

File:Yellowcard WF.jpg
Yellowcard performing in 2004.

For a large part of 2005, Yellowcard worked on their new CD, entitled Lights and Sounds. The album was released on January 24 2006. Pete and Ryan moved to New York City in January of 2005 and started writing the album while the rest of the band recuperated in California from 18 straight months of touring. The album is something of a concept album, with many songs based on the band's negative feelings towards Los Angeles. 20 songs were recorded for the album, 14 of which are on the CD, plus a B-side available on import versions, CD singles and at the iTunes Music Store, called "Three Flights Down". The title track, "Lights and Sounds," was the first single released and is also featured on Burnout Revenge. In the first week of release the album sold just over 90,000 copies. "Rough Landing, Holly" is the second single, with a video released in March 2006.

Ryan says that "Holly became this person on the record who appears in a lot of the songs, and at times you love her and at times you hate her. At times she's good to you and sometimes she's bad. She's in a song called "Holly Wood Died," and in another song called "Rough Landing, Holly," which is my favorite song on the album." --MTV.com News

Discography

Some confusion surrounds Yellowcard's "official" discography. (For example, no albums released before "One for the Kids" are listed under the band's discography on their own official website, even though "Where We Stand" was re-released in 2005 as a promotion preceding the "Lights and Sounds" release.) Consequently, there is also a question of what may be accurately titled the band's "first" album. See the talk page for more information.

Albums

EPs

Non-album tracks

DVDs

  1. YellowCard Live In Canada! (2004)

Singles

  • "Way Away" (2003) #63 UK #36 AUS; #25 US Modern Rock
  • "Ocean Avenue" (2004) #65 UK; #37 US Hot 100; #21 US Modern Rock
  • "Only One" (2004) #15 US Modern Rock
  • "Lights and Sounds" (2006) #56 UK; #50 US Hot 100; #42 US Pop 100; #4 US Modern Rock; #26 Hot Digital Songs; #24 AUS
  • "Rough Landing, Holly" (2006) #49 AUS, #27 US Modern Rock
  • "Down on My Head" (2006) (Video coming)

Current members

Lineup changes

Yellowcard has gone through several significant lineup changes over the years.

Midget Tossing

  • Ben Dobson - Lead Vocals
  • Todd Clarry - Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
  • Warren Cooke - Bass
  • Ben Harper- Lead Guitar
  • Longineu Warren Parsons III (LP)- Drums

While Sean Mackin was featured on some of the songs, he was not a full-fledged member yet.

Where We Stand

"Where We Stand" featured the same lineup as Midget Tossing, except this time Mackin was accepted as a full-time member. Soon Ben Dobson lost interest in the band and left.

Still Standing EP

For their third record, the band found Ryan Key to take on vocal duties. Soon after "Still Standing EP" was released, Todd Clarry left the band. Ryan Key then filled both Clarry and Dobson's duties: vocals and guitar.

One For The Kids

  • Ryan Key - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
  • Sean Mackin - Violin, Backing vocals
  • Warren Cooke - Bass
  • Ben Harper - Lead Guitar
  • Longineu Warren Parsons III (LP)- Drums

The Underdog EP

Yellowcard recorded their fifth album with the same lineup as One For The Kids. However, soon after "The Underdog EP" was released, Warren Cooke got into a fight with the other band members and left. The band then asked an old friend, Pete Mosely from Inspection 12, to play bass for them.

Ocean Avenue

During the recording of Ocean Avenue, Mosely left, citing personal problems. The band began the search again for a new bass player and found Alex Lewis. Lewis agreed to join as the band began a year and a half of touring to promote their major record label debut. In the middle of the tour, Pete Mosely returned from his semi-retirement and asked if he could rejoin. Because Mosely had been friends with most of the band's members since high school, Lewis was asked to leave and Mosely was reinstated as the bass player. :)

Lights and Sounds

After the 18 month tour, Yellowcard went on hiatus and took shelter in New York City. Soon after the short break the band began to record their new album at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California. When the band appeared in public again, many fans noticed that the lead guitarist and founding member Ben Harper was missing from the lineup. Many questions from fans aroused but the issue with Harper was kept confidential. After 3 months of questioning Yellowcard announced that Ben Harper had been kicked out of the band. The reason for his booting was because the band thought he spent too much time on his side-project record label Takeover and did not contribute enough to the new record.

Harper: "I would record my parts and then take off. I wasn't the guy hanging out in the studio. And in the past, that wasn't the case. Usually, I'd be the guy hanging out in the studio. I'm the lead guitar player. I play all the riffs. But I had started spending a lot more time working with Takeover, and [the band] said they wanted the old Ben back. They kept telling me I wasn't there for things. And this summer, they all pulled me over to a certain member's house and they told me straight up, 'Ben, we want you to focus on Takeover Records and leave Yellowcard to us.' ... At the end of the summer, they barred me from the practice space. There's something really scary going on with money and business within Yellowcard. It's gotten to the point where they're not thinking as friends anymore. And I don't know if it's because of managers or lawyers, but it was so easy for them to get rid of me. It was like, 'You're out of the band. You can't talk to me anymore. Talk to management.' "

(more on the departure).

For the promotional Lights and Sounds tour, Yellowcard recruited former Staring Back's Ryan Mendez to replace Harper full time. Harper had been one of the original bandmembers. The only original band members left now are Longineu Parsons III and Sean Mackin

Ex-Yellowcard members

  • Ben Dobson – Vocals
  • Todd Clarry – Guitar, Backing Vocals
  • Warren Cooke – Bass
  • Alex Lewis – Bass, Backing vocals - however Alex Lewis was only a replacement for Pete Mosely while he had personal things to take care of for the Tour and Video Recording of "Ocean Avenue"
  • Ben Harper – Lead Guitar

Trivia

  • Yellowcard got their name from partying. Whenever anyone did something stupid, such as drop a beer on the carpet, they enforced soccer rules and gave them a "yellow card" for committing a "party foul".
  • At the beginning of Yellowcard's career, there was a bit of confusion over how their name was spelled, with a space or without one. The band has cleared this error up and publicly announced that it is spelled "Yellowcard" (with no space).
  • Longineu Warren Parsons III often goes by the name "Pizzle".
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellowcard&oldid=64040888"