Pete Yorn fueled by new band, albums

Pete Yorn is calling in from Madison, Wis., during a recent stop on his current tour. The "nasty cold" he picked up somewhere on the road gives him the occasional cough, but does little to dampen the enthusiasm he has for performing these days.

Aside from the new duets album, Break Up, that was released with actress Scarlett Johansson, Yorn has his own album out, Back and Forth. If that wasn't enough, he has another album finished, but that one won't see the light of day until sometime next year.

"Right now, I've got a lot on my plate," Yorn says. "I put out two records in a short period of time, another record in the can (with Frank Black) that I'd like to put out in 2010, and I've been writing some songs. When I tour, and I'm in touring mode right now, I don't focus on recording at all. Somehow my mind separates the two. When I'm home and everything comes to a grinding halt is when I feel the need to write or record. I feel kind of inspired with the live shows right now and having new material to take out to the people, so that's what I'm focused on well into next year."

The album with Johansson may be getting a lot of attention these days, but it's not something that's part of his live show just yet. Johansson is getting ready to start a play and with her busy schedule, Yorn says it's not likely the two will be able to tour. He is hoping to record more songs with her and if the schedules work out, they may do a show or two together.

Yorn's energy is not only coming from the new albums, but from a new touring band he's put together. It's almost become a tradition that Yorn change up his band from one tour to the next. In fact, the band that performed with him on the album is different from the touring members, though all are friends based out of California. The lone constant over the years has been pianist/guitarist Joe Kennedy.

"Every band I've had over the years -- they're all friends," Yorn says. "This band has been touring since June and I think we're in a pretty good place right now. We have a good repertoire. Everyone's a great musician and there's good energy. We'll be able to dig deep into the catalog and represent the new stuff in a great way."

Yorn says it's always daunting to have to teach a new band all of his songs, but he's learned to be patient with the process. While he used to prefer that the band stay as close to the album version as possible, he's more open to the band bringing in a bit of their own style these days, though a lot of the process just comes naturally on the road through performance.

"There's nothing like the experience of playing shows to get your shit together," Yorn says. The reason he has changed bands so often is that some of the members often have other things going on in their lives that makes it difficult for them to stay together. Some have families they want to stay home with. Regardless, Yorn says they remain friends. He also says sometimes the bands simply "run their course."

His current group of musicians has created a mixture of sorts for the live performance. Some songs are played more like the album while others have become "better."

"Some of them are better than the record, like I wish we could have recorded them that way back then," Yorn says. "They're incredible musicians and I'm definitely the weakest link technically as a musician -- these guys are amazing musicians, and not in the shreddy way, but the tasteful way." He adds that the best part is that they all enjoy hanging out together when they're not on stage.

For the first three albums that Yorn released, he was playing the majority of instruments and handling things in his own way with songwriting. After the "trilogy" was finished, Yorn felt that it opened up the doors for experimentation. For Back and Forth, he invited a band into the studio and allowed his lyrics to be more personal.

Keeping the process static for the first three albums wasn't his initial goal, but just the way it worked out. "I didn't want to keep them the same, but I think personally I just wasn't ready," Yorn says. "I heard things a certain way and I wasn't in a place to do that yet. It always has been convenient for me to play stuff myself and do it quickly in the studio -- I don't want to say I was stuck in the habit of doing it that way, but I was comfortable doing it that way. I wasn't ready to move out of that zone."

With new energy in the studio, Yorn allowed the band to offer more input and do their own thing without it being too over the top or not fitting in with Yorn's sound. Yorn says he was happy that he didn't have to rein them in or be too controlling about what they were doing.

Yorn felt a sudden rush of fame when he first started out and Rolling Stone was singing his praises. His critically acclaimed debut Musicforthemorningafter received heaps of praise, but through it all, Yorn stayed grounded and has continued down the path he started on.

"It was kind of like a dream for a while," he says. "You go from zero to 60 -- I went from total obscurity and I decided I was sick of playing out and wanted to make the greatest album I could make and it ended up being called Musicforthemorningafter. Then I got signed to Columbia and they sat on it for a year. Being in Rolling Stone -- that stuff was kind of dreamy at first.

"I remember feeling like I made my music on my own terms -- you hear stories about people selling their soul or compromising and doing stuff they're not into just to get into the mainstream or some shit like that. I remember feeling so proud that -- I wasn't some superstar, but I achieved some level of success by sticking to my guns and I felt really proud of that for a long time. If anything, that is what I wanted to hold on to -- keeping my integrity. Seeing yourself in magazines is always fun -- especially for my mom. I've always learned not to take any of that stuff too seriously. At the end of the day, it's not going to make the music."

Pete Yorn will perform at Amos' Southend on Nov. 8. Tickets are $20 in advance and $23 on the day of the show.