Test Flight
When the Pitch last spoke to ex-Daybird Jon Yeager in late April, he was looking for significant capital from an unnamed investor to launch the local label to which he had signed. Often, this sort of scenario doesn’t work out quite the way fledgling musicians envision. But Yeager’s benefactor, Mark Koetting, chipped in what Yeager called “a nice chunk of change” to kick-start Polyrhythmic Records, which will release his EP Truth and Volume on August 16.
Yeager played a CD-release show (at Tongue & Groove, a swanky retro bar in San Francisco), but scheduling snafus prevented him from having product to sell at the party, a quandary that’s quickly becoming a requisite rite of passage for area musicians. Yeager will have the goods for his homecoming gig at Streetside Records at 2 p.m. Saturday, but in another breach of record-release protocol, he won’t be playing many tracks from Truth and Volume.
“It’s just me and my guitar, and those songs don’t translate well into that format,” he says. “This will be my last solo acoustic show. My intention has been to rock.”
To help him realize that ambition, Yeager is rehearsing a backing band, having auditioned five to seven local musicians whose identities the secretive songwriter will not reveal. “They’re not married to my group,” he explains.
Yeager shares a much more definitive relationship with his label. In a marketing strategy similar to Tech N9ne’s simultaneous ascendance with MSC and Strange Music, Polyrhythmic Records has tethered its fortunes to Yeager. The label plans to focus all of its distribution and promotion efforts on Yeager for at least a year.
“So many other indie labels sign ten bands at once, give everyone a $100 check and wait to see who breaks,” Yeager says. “Polyrhythmic decided ‘Let’s take someone we can all agree on and get behind that one person.’ It’s good to know that physical hands are in place in certain cities to push the record.”
Although Yeager has some support, he’s not ready for a full-fledged tour. His modest itinerary includes an open-mike night in Austin, a Los Angeles gig that Kansas City transplant David George (Moaning Lisa) helped him land and, while he’s there, a place in the Pop Overthrow festival, which he played previously both solo and with the Daybirds. And when he gets back in town, he’ll resume working at the Plaza Starbucks.
“That’s definitely the goal, to not work anymore,” Yeager says. “But we’re not there yet.”
Saturday, August 13, at Streetside Records in Westport
