Yoko Love out for the 'Money Shot'
By Dan
Marek
State Press Magazine
 Tempe band Yoko Love unveiled its new CD, Money Shot, at its CD release party on Aug. 27. The album is produced by the band's own label, Eeeee-Ya! Records. |
We've all seen and remembered the scantily-clad cartoon women on anime fliers bearing the Yoko Love name across campus. Promotion seems to be the key to success for this Tempe-raised band.
Last Friday night at the Green Room, the band celebrated the release of its second CD, titled Money Shot. A money shot is exactly what the album is--an attempt to find national recognition and a label that will bring them the big bucks.
The record release party also featured Mr. Pink and another great performance for Dislocated Styles who set up the crowd for Yoko Love later in the evening.
Yoko Love also revealed it's newest member, bassist Steve Faulkner who is on loan from the local hip-hop award-winning Couzins of the Wize. Although Steve was featured at the show, bass on the album was recorded by Josh Prior who has now decided to focus more on singing.
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Yoko
Love *** Eeeee-Ya! Records. Available at Zia Records, Hoodlum's ASU. Playing Friday, Sept. 3 at the Bash on Ash. Doors open at 8 p.m. 21 and over. |
"We decided to add Steve because we thought it would free Josh up a lot more so he could concentrate on entertaining the crowd and dedicating more time to the vocals," drummer Mike Hill said. "He (Faulkner) was probably the band's favorite bass player. So we asked him if he wanted to do the bass spot and he was like 'yeah.' We did it just to kinda better the image of the band and make it more powerful."
The CD kicks off with "My Baby's Got Girth," a catchy little ditty about the love life of the band. The track starts with a screaming bluesy guitar riff played through out the song by guitarist Andy Klein, then transfers to a hard-core chorus-like interlude where Prior screams out "I get what I want."
In "Get Down" the band keeps the bluesy style with 311-type vocals then breaks into a jazz interlude showing off Klein's guitar capabilities.
In "The Feel," Yoko Love slows everything down into a ballad accentuating Prior's scratchy vocals and Klein's floating guitar.
The album was recorded and engineered by local favorite Larry Elyea at Mind's Eye Digital Recording. Elyea has also collaborated with Fred Green, Jesus Chrysler Super Car and Mr. Pink on their locally released albums.
The last four tracks of the album were recorded live at the Balboa Cafe in February by local recording engineer and musician Eric Long. "Rodney" and "Birdseye" were both originally featured on the bands local debut album Who's Your Daddy, but were brought back for a second round.
"Those were actually last minute things. We had finished the record and went to play the show at Balboa cafe and they happened to have someone recording live,"
Hill added. "After we had listened to the live recordings we were like 'wow this sounds really good. So we decided to throw those four tracks on to the record after it was done."
Although the band is looking for national recognition, they say that they will be happy with the album even if it never takes off.
"As far as the album goes, we are really proud of it more than anything we have accomplished in the history of the band," Hill said. "I think that this is definitely going to be a record. Regardless of what happens to it 10 to 20 years from now I still be able to say 'Yeah, I really dig it.'"