Youth Is a Ghost

The Party Is Over....

2007-02-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

When Read Yellow started six years ago in a basement dorm at Umass Amherst, the four of us had no idea where our music would take us. We played music with hopes to make our friends want to have a good time and forget the daily stresses of modern life. We wanted to create music that spoke to and for the underdog, and made him or her want to come out to our shows and dance and be free with total strangers…without reservation. Our music took us out of the basements of Umass and sent us across the globe, allowed us the chance to perform with our musical heroes, and most importantly, gave four best friends the best six years of their lives.

We have done more than we had ever expected to do in a band, now it is time to leave the party. We have played shows for 2 kids and shows for 10,000 kids…and each show was special. We have made the greatest friends through this band and for the first time in my life, I really felt part of something big. I want to thank all of our friends who have supported us, taken us on tour, slept in our van, fixed our van, put up posters and flyers for us, put us on shows, gave us a place to stay, listened to our records, and came out and partied with us…Read Yellow could have never existed without you. Thank you for believing in us.

Read Yellow will always be your band.

We Love You All So Much!

pictures

2007-01-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

How do we know the difference between what is real and what is not real? if we have been lied to long enough, would we not believe what is actually not true to be as such? doesn't the body and mind know? some believe that it is the soul that always knows when we are being lied to. But until the conscious mind finds out, only then is it a lie. But does that mean that beforehand it wasn't? How about if other people know. But that is their perspective, how do they know that they are right? Or perhaps on a long enough time line the self-fulfilling prophecy would effect what it is we are pondering.. and then reality becomes a point in time. but does that mean that what was before and perhaps after that point was and will not be real? Or if one truly believes in something, isn't it real to them? How do you decide whose perspective is more real than another person's? Reality is just perspective, isn't it? Maybe "reality" is generally accepted as the popular idea of this. But what if the majority is wrong. Or maybe they just don't see the whole picture.
-mkay

Godfather of Soul

2006-12-25T17:23:00.000-08:00

James Brown, rest in peace.

Fly Into The Mystery

2006-12-16T12:17:00.005-08:00

We have had played amazing shows in the 5+ years that we have been in this band. Here are some flyers from just some of those shows. We'd like to thank all of the talented artists who have done flyers for us over the years, we love you.

Chelsea Hotel

2006-12-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

Nothing is better than playing a show in front of all of your friends.
Nothing is better than getting a bunch of great looking people to dance and party on a Wednesday night.
Nothing is better than getting bodyslammed off of a stage by your best friends when you are trying to remember the words to your song.
Read Yellow is a party band. I want to make if YOUR party band.

we love all of you.

love,
evan of ry

Draw Your Brakes

2006-11-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

Forward Russia is one of my new favorite bands. We had a the wonderful oppurtunity of playing with them a few nights ago at the 30th Fenway Recordings Session. They are such beautiful people who create outstanding music. They give me so much hope for the future of music.

As I write this, I am battling flu-like symptoms and 102 temp. Perhaps I have the vapors. I would like to die from a disease that was only existent during the middle ages. I think that would be a comical way to go.

"Kids, listen."

2006-11-19T19:50:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to mention that last night at the show, while Mark was speaking, people were literally crowd-surfing in the front rows. And there was no music playing in the background... just to paint a more elaborate picture of what the crowd was like. I don't normally do this, but it made me point and laugh :)
-mkay

"I was saying Boo-urns!"

2006-11-19T12:34:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a show at Lupo's in Providence, RI. We were to be the second of three bands, the other two bands being "reggae-influenced" rock. I grew up on and have listened to roots reggae all of my life, so I was looking forward to playing on the bill. I was especially excited to be part of the show because it was a peace rally against the war in Iraq, obviously a cause very close to our hearts. The first band had ended and it was now time for us to go on.

After about three songs, I noticed that the place was completely packed to the brim with 800+ people, and most of the people were booing us. The taunting grew so loud that we could no longer hear ourselves play and we decided that this was a waste of everybody's time, so we left the stage. I made a comment that it is a lot easier to hide in a crowd and criticize a band, than it is to be band onstage playing to people who want nothing to do with your music. It was then that I realized who I was dealing with. The crowd was made up mostly of rich, white, college frat boys who would not know REAL reggae if it kicked down the door of their frat house and slept with their slutty girlfriends. The true rasta has an open mind and an open heart, the kids who were taunting us were a joke.

The most puzzling part of the night was that for a peace rally, we were dealing with the most obnoxious Neanderthals that were ever bred. Even more disrespectful than their taunting of the read yellow set, was their complete lack of attention to Mark Kate's speech about the war, a war that is killing thousands of innocent people while these kids spend their daddy's college fund money on weed and booze while all the poor kids get shot at to protect their "freedom". I was ashamed that these people are the future of America.

I want to thank the dozen or so kids that came up to us and apologized, we love you and we thank you. It is good to know that their are still decent people in this world. I also would like to point out that out of all the kids that were so tough in the crowd...taunting us...NO ONE had the fucking balls to come up to any of us and say it to our faces. However, some cowards did send us some scathing myspace messages today. You guys are so macho.

If you are going to come to a show, be a human being. Even if you hate a band's guts, they are still up there, busting their asses to display their love for music. Get in a van, tour for about five years straight, sleep on floors and make no money, lose relationships and suffer heartache for being away from home too long, have a gun pulled on you at a show for playing too loud, get pneumonia for sleeping an hour a night for months at time, and of course, get booed by a packed club. Do all of this, and THEN you can come and criticize my band. Until then, shut the fuck up.

to everybody who supports what we do, we love you more than anything.

love,
evan of read yellow

Welcome to the Jungle...

2006-11-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

You know where you are?

You're in Brooklyn behbeh!!!

You're gonna ddddddddddddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee!!!

in good company

2006-11-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been to a party where you feel like you know almost everyone.. then for a moment you stop and think about all the crazy different ways that you met each person.. and somehow they all ended up in this one building on this one night for this one party.. not to mention they are all obviously connected to each other for perhaps even crazier reasons.. and when you leave this party you are left pining for the next time all our paths will cross again.. and they will :)

-mkay

The Harder They Come

2006-11-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,
Read Yellow has just returned from the absolutely fabulous time at the CMJ festival in NYC. New York is such and amazing place, and we've had the privilege to be playing and partying there consistently for the past few weeks. It is filled with many of our best friends and favorite bands to play with...It is nearly impossible to return home without a handful of amazing stories of late night debauchery at all night dance parties or sweat-soaked rock shows. The experience is incredible, you walk down streets that stink of piss and beer and perfume and coffee and noodles and gasoline and crepes and hairspray and leather and body odor and flowers and the sewers and the skies and it makes you happy to feel so damn alive. This city has a golden heart.

The shows that we played were incredible, we really felt it. We felt the people around us, and each show was a love fest. We had the opportunity to play with great bands like Some Girls, Das Oath, Chinese Stars, Goes Cube, Foreign Islands, Jake Brennan (total hunk), Scissors For Lefty and even had the chance to play dressed as three Slash's and a Zebra on Halloween in Brooklyn...(pictures to come).

It is really comforting to meet genuine people that are from totally different lifestyles, environments, and share a common love for living the fuck out of life. I felt so alive the entire time that I was there, and I have many people to thank for that...Most importantly, my band. We all love life and so should you.

We ended up getting our mastered album(Gang Violins) back from NorCAl and have been giving out two song samplers at our shows and parties(feat. Soul Sister! and Pia Zadora) . We are very proud of our hard work and we are getting right into writing our next album. We love you all and we want you to spread the word that music is still very alive and very real, and we bands must always continue to fight the good fight, the fight for a new Art Explosion.

be good to one another,
evan of RY

Nervous Breakdown

2006-10-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Being in a band is a trip, man.

Sometimes you will drive 30 hours to get to a show where no one will like your band and the promoter pulls a gun on you and you'll sleep in the van that smells like death just to drive 12 hours the next morning to another show that could be the best show of your life. You do it because you love music and you love partying with your friends and you love that when you are an old fart in a rocking chair, you will look back and know that you did something with your life...that you gave it your best shot and that you would drive 30 hours again to play 30 minutes of your music, just to let it out of your body and infiltrate through shitty speakers, to people who love music as much as you do. Being in a band is the most exciting thing that i have ever done in my life, and I never want the party to end.

We just got home from an East Coast mini-tour with our friends The Static Age and A Place to Bury Strangers. Both of these bands are comprised of amazing musicians with hearts of gold. We appreciate everyone who came out to the shows, everyone who partied with us until the wee hours of the morning, and everybody who has ever piled up with their best friends in a dying old van with below-par musical equipment and said, "fuck it, let's do this." Thanks for keeping hope alive.

here some pictures and video from recent exploits:

New Rose

2006-09-25T19:34:00.001-07:00

We played UNH the other night with Piebald, Can't Face The Falling, and Call Her Alaska. The show was so full of positive energy that we ended having such an incredible time. It is really great playing in front of people that have never seen or heard of you before, there is a certain magic to it, a certain tension that makes you want to create something for them that they have never seen before, whether they despise the music that we make or are immediate fans...it is special. The show was filled with sweat, snot, and spit... and ended up being completely insane toward the finale. Somewhere between the time i flipped michelle onto her back and our drunken friends screaming in everybody's faces, I thought to myself, "damn, there really isn't anything i'd rather be doing right now." Thank the stars for rock n' roll.
we are playing a bunch of shows coming up...you should come out.

evan

Richard Brautigan

2006-09-20T18:14:00.003-07:00

This is an amazing poem.

Get In The Van!

2006-09-20T18:14:00.001-07:00

The heat and/or AC does not work in our van. Our brakes are really bad and we listen to a small boombox for a stereo. We don't care...we are coming to fuck up your city anyway!

Ghost With The Most

2006-09-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

So I went to this statue located in Brookline, Massachusetts that has been named by childhood mates and siblings as, "the statue of gloria". This statue is located on the one of the most beautiful areas that I have ever seen in this country. Seeing it made me feel as if I had entered another time in history. The statue is about 16 feet in height, and is one of the most breathtaking sculptures I have ever seen. It is located on an abandoned mental institution.

I wasn't supposed to be there. I felt a pressure pushing me away and pressing on my back at my exit. I found it hard to breathe. The statue holds a curse. If you touch a certain part of it, you will receive some kind of injury to your own body. When my sister was in high school, a friend of hers threw a rock at the statue and hit it in the knee, the nexy day my sister's friend tore her ACL at soccer practice. I wasn't supposed to be there, but I had to go. I never felt anything like that before. I believe in ghosts.

evan

Sweating Deep Jazz.

2006-09-18T16:21:00.003-07:00

The four members of the Read Yellow army will be posting on this blog. You will get to see how truly fucking crazy we are...like how I swear I saw a teradactyl flying over the highway last week. Stay tuned for more awesome shite!

here are some up coming Read Yellow Shows!!!
21.Sep.2006 - Durham, NHUNH, Memorial Union Building, Strafford Room7:30pm, All Ages, FREE for students/$5 non-studentsw/ Piebald, Call Her Alaska, Can't Face the Falling

30.Sep.2006 - Allston, MANEMO @ Great Scott - 1222 Commonwealth Ave.9:00pm, 21+, $10w/ A Place to Bury Strangers, Jake Brennan, Foreign Islands, DJ Carbo, book reading by Michael Patrick MacDonald

01.Oct.2006 - Syracuse, NYMezzanotte Lounge, 658 N. Salina St.w/ A Place to Bury Strangers, The Static Age, Magic Hour

03.Oct.2006 - South Burlington, VTHigher Ground, 1214 Williston Rd.7:00pm, All Ages, $7 adv/$10 day ofw/ A Place to Bury Strangers, The Static Age

08.Oct.2006 - Philadelphia, PAthe Khyber, 56 S. Second St.w/ A Place to Bury Strangers, The Static Age

10.Oct.2006 - New York, NYPianos, 158 Ludlow St.7:30pm, 21+, $8w/ A Place to Bury Strangers, The Static Age

12.Oct.2006 - Brooklyn, NYNorth Six, 66 North 6th St.8:00pm, $10w/ A Place to Bury Strangers, The Static Age

13.Oct.2006 - New York, NYClub Midway, 25 Avenue B7:00pm, 21+, $5w/ The Static Age, The Spies

31.Oct.2006 - Brooklyn, NYHalloween CMJ show!!!Club Europa, 98 Meserole Ave. (at Manhattan Ave.), Greenpointw/ Some Girls, Die! Die! Die!, Chinese Stars

see the world...do something you love.

2006-09-18T16:21:00.002-07:00

i really love this picture of jesse in Scottland. We were on tour with Tv on the Radio and stopped to run with sheep in this giant field. It was a beautiful time.

this is how the shows went...

>

it was great.

Party Vibe.

2006-09-18T16:21:00.001-07:00

we are out and about playing shows that usually end in a total blood fest. Our new album will be out very soon. Notice Evan's spilled blood on this set list. This was from when he split his face open in Brooklyn during the first song. We have a good time when we perform. Blood is sexy.

Gang Violins
Absolute blackout in the city tonight
Rhythm of ages wearing veins of chrome
And their sleeping on top of their homes
Your mother drugs and a revival of love

A nation of millions who just want to fuck
A sea of noise crisis closes her eyes
Remember those secrets that you once tried to hide?

As I child I remember wondering
What type of villain I was going to become
And thought made his heart just shatter then shake
We’ll die in winter

Keep alive long enough just to dig your grave
Audio illumination in her fits of rage
Distraction ego death’s rattle screams on planes

Take two arms unfold
Weapons to temples awaiting sweet soul
Can’t have my opinion I’ve already been sold
A line in the sand creates monsters of gold

This surveillance

Killing floor

Electric ghost

Corazon

And this phantom

He keeps spinning

Strange leviathan

Future leader

Did you ever wonder what this war was really for?
Interest neglected with her ear to the ground
Introduction of the new youth sound

Gang Violins.

2006-09-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

My name is Evan and I have been playing
in Read Yellow for a little over 5 years now. It is amazing that I am able to be in a band with my best friends...a band that allows me to travel all around the globe and show kids of all ages that all we ever wanted was everything. Read Yellow is all about having a good time, we are a party. We want you at the party.