In the famous year 2000, Karen O (vocals, piano), Nick Zinner (guitars, keyboard) and Brian Chase (drums) formed Yeah Yeah Yeahs in NYC. Karen and Brian originally met at Ohio's Oberlin College; she met nick at a bar after transferring to NYU. Originally, Karen O and Nick were a folk duo called Unitard, but were more inspired by the punk scene. Soon after, Brian joined the lineup and the new wave/art punk/garage rock Yeah Yeah Yeahs were born.
In 2003, after supporting The Strokes, The White Stripes, Björk, Sleater-Kinney, Girls Against Boys and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion they released Fever to Tell, their first LP which NME recently placed at number 5 on their list of the “Best Albums of the Decade”. Their 2006 release, Show Your Bones is according to Karen O, "what happens when you put your finger in a light socket" and was rated the second best album of 2006 by NME.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2010.