The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up - Biography
The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up is an Oakland-based five-piece indie rock band that formed in 1997. Originally a trio consisting of Paul Gonzenbach (guitar/vocals), Frankie Koeller (bass) and Ryan Craven (drums), the band played on the West Coast and is known for their highly textured post-rock songs, honest, often nihilistic lyrics and striking pop melodies. Over the course of the decade the band was active, they released three full-length albums, three EPs and a couple of splits. The band has drawn comparisons to Pedro the Lion, Death Cab For Cutie and Sunny Day Real Estate.
Named after a high school friend of the band members, the Jim Yoshii Pile-Up added guitarist Sikwaya Condon after a year and played regular gigs locally. They released a self-titled EP on Yoshii’s label, Old Prospector Records in 1999, before signing up with San Francisco-based indie label, Absolutely Kosher. They brought on additional guitarist Ian Connelly to round out the roster before releasing their debut full-length, It’s Winter Here (2000). The distortion of the guitars cottoned up nicely to Gonzenbach’s depictive lyrics, especially on tracks like “Breakdown Champion” and “This is the Last Day.”
Condon scaled back his involvement with the band after the release, and Noah Blumberg joined. In 2002, the Yoshii’s self-released an EP called Burning Flag before recording their follow-up LP, Homemade Drugs (Absolutely Kosher). The nine-track album was recorded with venerable studio engineer, Scott Solter (Okkervil River, Lazarus) at Tiny Telephone and Fifteenth Street studios.
The group returned in 2005 with the 11-track Picks Us Apart (Absolutely Kosher), which was more downcast that the previous works, featuring Gonzenbach’s very personal lyrics and delivery. Though the band played local and regional shows, they went on hiatus in 2006, as Gonzenbach began recording under the name Baby Panda and Blumberg is playing as a duo called Meanest Man Contest.
