The Dreadful Yawns

Over the course of my interview with Cleveland's The Dreadful Yawns I had used the phrase "The Dreadful Yawns Now" in order to distinguish the 2007 version of the band from the one that released a self-titled disc on Bomp! Records in 2005. Immediately, guitarist/vocalist and Ben Gmetro, and one time manager, now guitarist Eric Schulte remarked how that would be a great title for their next album.

It would be a simple, yet effective way to convey just how much change the band had undergone. First, the founder of Bomp!, Greg Shaw (who was responsible for signing The Dreadful Yawns), passed away before the previous album came out, putting the band in the rather awkward situation of being the last release on a legendary independent label. Then, while recording a follow up, all of the band members went their separate ways, leaving Gmetro the task of finishing an album and re-assembling a band. In spite of this turmoil, Gmetro and his new bandmates (Schulte, Elizabeth Kelly on vocals, keys, bells, & tambourine, Chris Russo on drums/vocals, and Clayton Heuer on keys/violin) are decidedly optimistic on what the future holds for The Yawns. Our conversation makes up the latest installment of the Cool Cleveland Pop Quiz:

Cool Cleveland: Your last album was received fairly well received by the critics, and there seemed to be some momentum building for the band, but Bomp! was taken over by another label before the record even came out. Do you ever look back at this as a wasted opportunity?

Ben Gmetro: I wouldn't call it a wasted opportunity. There's too much in life to regret, so you're better off not regretting anything. Actually, the first album we put out could have been a wasted opportunity. We didn't tour or do much to support it, but that's all in the past. I believe now we have the best opportunity to succeed.

Eric Schulte: Sometimes I wonder, what if Greg Shaw had lived to see it out the last record? Alive had taken over Bomp and had to tie up the loose ends, and get the record out, but we were always Greg Shaw's band.

It took over two years to record Rest, and in that span of time, your entire band had been replaced. Is there a particular reason why you decided to continue under the name The Dreadful Yawns?

Ben: I like the band name and I think there's more for this band to say. I didn't want it to end with that last statement.

Did you have doubts of whether Rest would ever be completed?

Ben: It was never a question of if it would get finished. It wasn't a broad huge task that took two years to assemble, rather it was more a matter of finding time to work on it between tours and everything else. I feel like I've had to produce the last three albums myself. I'm starting to get out of that and make it a more collaborative process.

In many ways The Dreadful Yawns are a new band, not one that has been around for a few years. Does it feel like a new band to you?

Ben: There's a lot of excitement, like when you first say, I'm going to start a band. There's whole new songs, and sometimes we have trouble learning the old songs. You can't play them like they used to be played. If this is the group making the music, then it has to sound like those people.

How important was the role that Cleveland record label, Exit Stencil Records played in getting the new record out?

Eric: Ryan [Weitzel], Brandon [Stevens] and Paul [Murphy] are great people. They're excited about the record, and this may be cheesy, but it's nice to be working with people who are genuinely excited about what you're doing. You're able to feed off of that energy.

Ben: I assumed that when they learned a lot of people left the band that they would lose interest, but they continued to ask me what's going on with the band. There were only a handful of people who believed in that idea of a new band being the same band and it meant a lot to us.

Check out the Dreadful Yawns when they perform this Friday, May 4 at Parish Hall Cleveland. They'll be celebrating the release of their latest CD, Rest. Keep up with the Dreadful Yawns at http://www.myspace.com/thedreadfulyawns. Visit Parish Hall at their new website http://parishhall.wordpress.com.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Bill Lipold irockclevelandATgmail.com

Lipold writes the rock music blog I Rock Cleveland http://irockcleveland.blogspot.com
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