Music: Yo La Tengo

Ira Kaplan of the quintessential US indie band talks to Jeff Hemmings

Formed by husband and wife duo Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley in 1984, these veteran stalwarts of the US indie scene will be celebrating an incredible 30 years of music making next year, a milestone that perhaps no-one could have predicted. “Our first gig was at Maxwells in Hoboken, where Georgia and I live,” recalls Kaplan, “and it was a party we threw with another band. We each did two sets for our friends, and it was completely terrifying.”

A huge baseball fan, Kaplan came up with the bands name after reading
a baseball anecdote involving a Spanish speaking player, Yo La Tengo translating as ‘I Got It’. “None of us speak Spanish and it was appealing to have a name that we only slightly understood,” says Kaplan.

With the addition of James McNew in the early ‘90s, Yo La Tengo have essentially remained a three-piece since then, releasing a number of acclaimed albums including 1997’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, which perfectly synthesised the group’s eclectic combination of folk, punk, shoegazing, krautrock, noise-jams and electronic music. Kaplan explains their approach: “We jam away in a nice room where everything is set up – it’s one of the fun aspects of our job that we get to go there in the day; it’s not like the end of the work day when you’re beat and you’ve got to go in and rehearse – we play and it’s fun to hang out and talk.”

Earlier this year they released another superb album, Fade, and to coincide with the release of the Deluxe Edition of Fade, they are playing just four dates in the UK. Fade includes alternative takes, live versions and some choice cover songs, an aspect of their music that has helped endear them to their fans. “It was a record company suggestion [to do the Deluxe Edition]; we like being on Matador and we take what they recommend seriously – we like being on a label that doesn’t order you to do things!

“We did [Todd Rundgren] ‘I Saw The Light’ a long time ago – somebody was listening to it, and thought it was a song that Georgia would sing nicely. A DJ on WFMU in Jersey City, a listener sponsored station that we’re very involved with, was looking for material so that people would give money to the station and would get a prize. The prize was a compilation of bands doing ’70s covers, and he asked if we wanted to be involved and we did a recording for that purpose. Availability was extremely limited availability so we gave it to Matador…”

After a very busy 2013, next year represents a most unlikely 30 year milestone for the band. “I don’t expect next year we’ll keep up that pace, it kinda ebbs and flows,” says Kaplan. “We are aware that it will our 30th year in 2014 so we’ll find a way to celebrate that.” Yo La Tengo have certainly ‘got it’.

Yo La Tengo, De La Warr Pavilion, Saturday 7 December, 8pm, £18/£16