B-Sides: Music & Other Ephemera

Kirk Kiefer of Yardsale enters the sanctum and finds … softball questions.

LEO: Name of the album.
Kirk Kiefer: Knock Alley West.

LEO: Who did you all record with?
KK: We recorded at Downtown Studios with Billy Bartley engineering, with some additional overdubs engineered by Jordan Forst.

LEO: How has the band evolved?
KK: Yardsale’s gone through a number of lineup changes, and each of those lineups might as well be a different band. This lineup, which we’ve had for a couple years, is definitely the tightest and most creative that we’ve had. We’ve become much more democratic — everyone offering ideas and having say-so — and there’s a much greater emphasis on finding the best arrangement for a song, rather than just playing it however it comes out initially. We’ve managed to weed out the weak links and become a well-oiled, twang-rock machine. Stylistically, I think there’s a more rockin’ edge this time out, though there’s still plenty of twang as well.

LEO: Any curveballs we should be aware of?
KK: The album has a horn section on a number of tracks, as well as backing vocals by the Sandpaper Dolls on a big chunk of the album. Not sure if that’s really a curveball, but it’s something.

LEO: Any lineup changes?
KK: We’ve managed to retain the same lineup (Jacob Lee: rhythm guitar, harmonica, vocals; Kirk Kiefer: bass, vocals; Colin Garcia: drums, backing vocals; Chris Scott: lead guitar, backing vocals; Andrew Rhinehart: keyboards, guitar, mandolin, backing vocals) since our last release, a live EP (Yardsale This Week) that came out last year. Knock Alley West has the aforementioned horns and Sandpaper Dolls, with a couple other guests, like Freakwater’s Catherine Irwin, Neil Hulsewede on pedal steel, and Jordan Forst of Adventure, but the band is the same.