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Saturday, June 01, 2002

By Scott Mervis, Post-Gazette Weekend Editor

People are prone to asking Pete Yorn about the singer-songwriter resurgence, and it's understandable because when you put your name on a record it's hard to be mistaken for a band.

	Pete Yorn will be at Club Laga on Tuesday. (Courtesy of Jeffrey Sidelsky) Artist's web site www.peteyorn.com

But Yorn believes what he's doing is bigger than one person.

"In my heart I feel way more aligned with bands like the Strokes or the Hives or the Vines or whatever than other songwriter-singers, to be honest," he says. "I think there are elements to my record that might allude to that, but if you see us live, you can tell we were very into punk. The guys are all my boys, they're all old friends and you can tell we're a band. We have fun with it."

Yorn isn't the only one who's noticed. His ability to rock recently put him on tour opening for the current kings of power pop, Weezer, during which, he says, the kids were crowd-surfing through his set.

"With Weezer, we knew we wanted to just go out and rock," Yorn says. "We had a half-hour set and it was like big arenas, so I said let's go full-out arena rock. I didn't do any of the more introspective slower numbers because I could tell the kids just wanted to jump around."

Yorn's image can change quickly depending on where you drop the needle on "Musicforthemorningafter," his debut on Columbia. Some of the songs have a rootsy feel (Yorn has come out as an Uncle Tupelo fan). Some are more dreamy, sung in that voice that says he's just woken up. In still other places, you can feel his love of Bowie-style glam or the post-punk of Joy Division or the Smiths.

"Even in my live show, I'm not shy about covering Springsteen and the Smiths every night," Yorn says. "I like to give away glimpses of the influences. I'm not self-conscious about it at all."

	Pete Yorn WITH: Superdrag. WHERE: Club Laga, Oakland. WHEN: 8 p.m. Tuesday TICKETS: $15 advance, $17 at door; 412-323-1919.

Yorn, who grew up in New Jersey and took off for L.A. to make this record in his friend's garage, admits that it took a while to separate himself from his influences.

"When I first started writing, I didn't know how to make it my own, I didn't know how to turn it into something that wasn't just a rip-off. Over the years, I think I learned how to make it into my own thing. I don't worry about it that much anymore. I throw so many different influences into the context of one song."

Despite Yorn's good looks and potential star power, Columbia chose to give the 26-year-old a slow build rather than splashing him on billboards. Yorn wanted to win people over on the road and, after a year and a half of touring and some modest radio and video play for "Strange Condition," "musicforthemorningafter" has been certified gold.

"After three singles on this record, I think we're in a really good place," he says. "It's great to have a hit. But then radio just plays it to death, over and over and over again. And everyone's just sick of you and no one cares anymore. I don't think I've been overexposed at all. I think the fans still feel like it's their thing and it belongs to them. ... It's a good feeling to feel like you're discovering something on your own and that it's just a small group of people -- but not too small, of course."

Yorn says the touring has been "exhausting and invigorating." Now, he's eager to get off the road and back into the studio with the dozens of songs he has ready. He has a "lost record" he recorded with producer Don Fleming (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) that's a bit more hard-edged, but he thinks he'll hold back on that one.

"I think I would put out another original record before I release that. I don't think I need to put out my lost record yet, even though I love it," he says. "I have all this new material I've written, so I'd want to go out supporting that. Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind tomorrow."