6. Yo La TengoPresident Yo La Tengo
Eleventh Dream Day and Yo La Tengo have toured together a lot and played in each other’s bands, mostly in the early 90s. I don’t know how studious they are, just some of my favourite people on earth. Fun, yes.
President Yo La Tengo was the first thing that came out after we became friends, so I listened to it a lot. I doubt if it’s their best record but ‘Barnaby, Hardly Working’ is the blueprint for everything Yo La Tengo. We went on tour together for about two months and it was James McNew’s first tour with them AND they were his favourite band. He was really fuckin’ freaked out, he barely knew them. But it was obvious right away that this was what they needed, he could be apeshit loud enough to carry everything while Ira took a ten-minute solo or he could be quiet and understated enough for Georgia to sing a lullaby. As time went on and they started the whole swapping instruments thing, it was clear that he was the perfect fit.
Yo La Tengo love a cover version – how about Eleventh Dream Day?
Someone posted a list of songs that Eleventh Dream Day has covered, possibly on Facebook? I was pretty impressed. I think it was like 75 or something. Nowhere near Yo La Tengo territory, but still… A couple of them are a little goofy but most are fairly poignant. My all-time favourite is ‘Southern Pacific’. I’d like to do that song in every band I play in.
