Writing's On The Wall

Though they’ve gathered quite the following, lead singer Alec Ounsworth started with humble notions and never expected Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to be this big.

“I don't think anybody should, you just do what you can and if people like it you should be surprised.” Even their obscure name came about by casual chance; they saw the phrase graffitied on a wall in New York on the way to their first gig. â€œWe happened to be passing a peculiar sign and it was graffitied — in not the worst but not the best part of New York — and we said 'this will be our name and of course we'll change it later', but we never did,” Alec laughs.

That was early days; now they're back together after going their own ways for a period last year. â€œEverybody worked on his own projects during that time, got better at certain aspects of their own personality. Sean did production, Tyler and Lee did compositional work, Robbie worked on his own songs and I worked on my own songs; everyone got better at his own instrument.”

With a new album out, they're set to tour down under with Harvest Festival. â€œOne thing I had noticed - it seems there's a very serious interest in songwriters, there's a very real audience in Australia, to me that's a very comforting and optimistic thing.”

This positivity with the audience may be what Alec often feels when the band performs live. â€œI might be exhausted and then I get on stage and there's this push and I don't know where it's from, you turn it into something that you didn't know was possible and I think that's what makes a live show interesting.”

But he says that's a best case scenario and, of course, every now and then you have a bad night. â€œAt the worst times you over-think everything and you're anticipating the next line and you're wondering what the person in the third row is staring at.”

No matter how the performance goes, though, Alec's looking forward to engaging with people in the audience off stage. â€œAt first you might have a band related conversation, but eventually it melts into an actual conversation, real people talking to real people — it might sound small but it's important to me.”

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH PLAY HARVEST FESTIVAL, BRISBANE BOTANICAL GARDENS, NOVEMBER 19.