Yourself and the Air are an up-and-coming band from Chicago that have been floating around the Windy City’s music scene now for a few years, and are just now garnering some national attention. They have release several records, none more promising than last year’s phenomenal EP Friends of All Breeds. The band draws comparisons to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Modest Mouse, but really occupies a territory uniquely their own in the indie-rock landscape. In advance of their date at the Southgate House tonight, we had the opportunity to catch up with lead singer Erick Crosby about where the band has been over the last few years, and where the next few months will take them.

ENS: Thanks for joining us Erick. We really appreciate you taking the time. As you know, we’re based here in Cincinnati. Have you guys ever made your way through town?
Crosby: We haven’t been to the Southgate House specifically, but we’ve been all over Ohio. We’re really looking forward to hitting that venue, as we’ve only heard great things about the Cincinnati scene, Each Note Secure, and about Southgate in particular. There’s so much trash out there, it’s just nice to be affiliated with positivity in the Midwest music scene.

ENS: I know the Cincinnati date is near the end of your tour. Are you guys looking forward to hitting the road?

Crosby: Oh my goodness, we are SO SO very excited. It’s been probably about a year or so since we actually did an actual tour. We’ve done a few weekend trips here and there, but to actually dig into a nice long tour will be such a relief for us.

ENS: So, what can we expect on the tour? New songs, or are you mainly culling from your past records?
Crosby: We’re definitely going to be testing a bunch of new songs. We’ve had a rotating cast of members of the band over the years, and after losing a key member a little bit ago, we’re really covering some interesting new ground with the additional guys we’ve picked up. It’s pretty interesting to feel the evolution of the band over the weeks and months we’ve been playing. It doesn’t feel unnatural necessarily, but it’s just a different experience when you’re on stage with a different group of people. The core of our music remains the same, but the different members add energy or ideas that we may not have thought of before. So, we really just want to see how people react to our new stuff, outside of Chicago.

ENS: You just mentioned Chicago. I know you guys are from the suburbs. How do you like it there?
Crosby: Chicago has been very good to us. We get a lot of support from the local media and the radio stations out here. We do pretty well in a big, diverse city. Everyone is kind of out on their own out here, because of the disjointed nature of the neighborhoods and the fact that there’s not really one location that everyone hangs, like in Brooklyn in New York. So it can be a little harder for a band to be supported by a wide group of fans, and the media alike. But we’re doing alright out here, and Chicago is a great town.
ENS: I know you guys draw a lot of comparisons to that Pixies and early Modest Mouse sound. What are your thoughts on your influences?

Crosby: Well, I mean, certainly we draw influence and inspiration from those bands, but then again, who doesn’t these days? Essentially, we’re a group of guys with a ton of different backgrounds and influences, everything from punk to indie rock to Americana. And if people lump us in with other bands, that’s cool. But we’re going to do our own thing and play our own music, regardless of the comparisons we receive. That’s high praise to be lumped with Modest Mouse and the Pixies, but we’re not ‘the next’ Modest Mouse. That’s a load of crap and pretty boring when people do that to bands. And it sets bands up for failure, because then all someone is doing when listening to a band is looking for a song that sounds like something else instead of letting them occupy their own space.

ENS: One last question. I know you guys are playing some dates with ENS favorite and Cincinnati boys Pomegranates. How did that combination happen?

Crosby: That was all our booking agent at Flower Booking. I saw them the last time they were here in Chicago and we said that they were probably the perfect band for us to be playing with. They’re young like us, and their music is fun like ours, so we figured why not. We’re really looking forward to bringing them to our fans here in Chicago, and hopefully some of theirs will come out and check us out.

ENS: Well, we sure hope so. Thanks a lot for the time.

Crosby: Thank you for getting the word out.

Yourself & The Air play the Southgate House tonight in Newport along with Thing-One. Get out and catch some great live music!

Yourself & The Air – Heartstrings