Behind The Lens: Yellow No. 5

---

What can fans expect from you this year? Any new music, projects, or milestones you're aiming for?

2026 is already shaping up to be our biggest year yet! Last year, we performed just under 100 shows in 10 states through our DIY efforts alone. In January we signed to M7 Entertainment (National Booking Agency), and with our combined bookings, we’re already slated for more than 70 shows and 3 tours in 15 states through June alone. We can’t combine each run as one big tour because they’re all being branded differently due to the various national acts we’ll be touring with. Yellow No. 5 will be included on dates with: Sponge, Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, The Lonely Ones, Tantric and more.

We’re leading our Spring Tour, From Rust To Dust, with our new single, Be Mine. We started recording it at one studio and the vibe just wasn’t being captured. We’d been recording there for years and with a February deadline, it was hard for me to abandon the project after the studio time was already paid for and in-progress. Our intuition kept nagging at us, so we made the conscious decision to start all over from scratch at Atomic Lounge Studio (Columbus, OH) with Chief Engineer, Joe Viers (Blues Traveler, Twenty One Pilots). The experience was amazing, and the proof is in the pudding. We made the deadline; the quality is there and Joe’s approach to Yellow No. 5 is both directive and absorbent. We never recorded there before yet he caught on to us and we caught on to him.  

You’re creating a song in a brand-new genre—what’s the name of it, and how would you describe the sound?

Ha! Perfect question! These guys put up with a lot during my music explorations and steer me back in place when I stray from our core. 

How about this? A female fronted song named, Kissed In Space and in the genre: Ethereal, Dark-Pop-Punk!  It’s certainly not Yellow No. 5 but imagine Mazzy Star tempos and reverbs with Blink 182 style lyrics with the entire band looking like 1960’s Star Trek. I reverted to referencing those eras because they each have a nostalgic torch that one could run with and draw from to nourish a new genre like this. Or, as I would imagine it.

Which of your songs best amplifies the feelings of love, freedom, or pure joy?

Our band re-recorded a previous work, Echo Ding and released it as, Echo Ding II. I wrote a beautiful classical guitar intro for it and while listening to our VACANT STAR EP on CD or from download, it plays in succession. (The 2 are split on streaming outlets and TouchTunes jukeboxes). With just a handful of lyrics and a supple tradeoff between minor and major chords, we’re able to carry the listener from initial feelings of despair to absolute triumph by the end. You’ll even hear a little ding during this song’s major shift point. That’s to illustrate being in the corner of a boxing ring and it’s time to start the next round. Spin World Here I Stand, the last lyrics spoken in the song, are to show resilience, strength, and empowerment, before the music goes into its victory phase. This is a crowd favorite as well as a band favorite. I’ve played this song over a thousand times yet answering this question for your readers makes me want to hear it again right now!

Which song in your catalog best expresses heartbreak, sorrow, or a time of loss?

Our song Vacant Star narrates the frustration experienced while trying to reach someone from the inside yet they’re so distant you’re unable to help. You thought you knew this person; you remember their potential yet they’re living in a state of self-degradation all the while their decisions are only taking them to deeper, darker, and more distant places.

If a new biopic dropped today, whose life story in music would you want to see and why?I’d like to be unbothered for hours and fully enveloped in the most encapsulating Prince biopic. I know there are some biopics on Prince already and even more in the works. I find him to be one of the most intriguing artists of all time.

What’s a book, podcast, TV show, or movie you’d recommend right now and what drew you to it?

I’m a self-diagnosed fanatic of the 1960’s show, The Munster’s. There’s an incredible backstory to how this show was launched and the challenges the cast had to overcome to keep it going for their 2 seasons. More recently, I befriended Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster), and other than being a cool guy, he is a wealth of knowledge regarding that show and old Hollywood in general. As the founder of Yellow No. 5, I can freakishly relate to The Munsters, because we neither have the same cast we started with, and we didn’t use the highest tech to produce our art. There was a lot of labor happening during the filming of The Munsters. The show was in black and white so they could stay within their budget. It reminds me of how we did the best we could with the instruments that we had, when starting out.

Often, I’m still the one pressing the footswitch for the fog machine or the strobe lights, all while singing and playing guitar. Currently, the only computers used during our creative process is in the studio. Our live show is raw and manual for the most part.

What’s been the hardest life lesson you’ve had to learn and how did it shape your growth?

Losing my mother when she was just 67. Our very last conversation was about me wanting to give up on music and just live a normal life. I was in both a creative and a relationship slump. She told me it would be a shame and a waste of talent to let go and drop everything like that. Her statement has been my momentum and I’m personally growing my musical journey in her honor. I haven’t even told the band that story. I’m not sure what their motivations are, but we’re lucky to have each other and we all push hard.

Which family member gives you the most inspiration and what about them fuels your passion?

My father owns an autobody repair shop. He quit school in 1961 to enter that field at just 15 years old. During his wild youth, he was in a couple of major car accidents. My grandma described how he was unrecognizable when they went to see him unconscious in the ECU. He’s equipped with steel pins in his bones and the whole bit. If he hadn’t fought for his life during that, I simply wouldn’t be here. As of 2026, he’s still working at his autobody shop, no less than 5 days per week. Some of Yellow No. 5’s first practices were afterhours at Lucas Body Shop while he and his friends would crack open some beers and watch us rehearse.

Where do you go, physically or mentally, when it’s time to create?

I have a dedicated space, surrounded by The Munsters’ memorabilia, ha, ha! I go there to doodle and eventually riffs or progressions will appear the longer I sit and play. Then I track them into my phone or DAW so I can recall them later if I don’t have enough time to write at that moment. However, often, I have no control when a song idea is going to come to me. It even happens in my dreams. Simply put, it’s like when your body tells you it’s hungry or, when it notifies you to use the restroom. It just hits you. I have forgotten song ideas before and it’s a very regretful feeling. You remember it was a kick-ass idea, but you can’t recall the chords or the melody. I always keep my phone on me so I can dictate immediately.

What’s a call to action for fans and where can fans connect with you to follow the journey?

Rather than leave your readers with a social media link, I feel its best if everyone goes to our website so they can see our entire list of engagement platforms. From there they can choose how to follow us, see our tour dates, and buy merch from one hub! Ultimately, we’d love to see you all in-person, with our T-Shirt on, yelling our words back to us from the front row!

www.YellowNo5.net