In our Art over Mind issue, we told you how experimental rock band Yeasayer defied genres with their music. Now, we give to you more snippets from their interview with STATUS.

For the full story, grab a copy of our Art Over Mind issue. -RAYRAE

We know you started out as schoolmates in Baltimore. But what was it that inspired you to create music?

Anand: Music is the only thing I’m pretty good at doing.

Does your name mean that you’re “yes” men, saying yes to life?

Anand: No, it’s just a band name.

Anand, you said in an interview last year that you guys are “totally poor and borrowing money” from your parents. After the success of your first album, how is that still true today?

Anand: If I ever said I was “totally poor,” I lied; I’ve never been poor, and I hope never to be poor. I did have to borrow money from my parents when we first started touring, because we would make $20 for the entire band at a show in Pittsburgh, and we had no label support and we’d be touring so much that we didn’t have time for other jobs. I’m not borrowing from anybody anymore, which is a good feeling.

Your music is pretty heavy on the instruments, so how did it feel performing an a cappella concert in France last 2008?

Anand: That was perfectly natural, we sing harmonies in a lot of our songs, so it was just a question of removing the background instrumentation. We played piano on a couple of those songs anyway.

Photo via themusicninja