Makin Waves with Yawn Mower: Band of the Year!
By Bob Makin
originally published: 12/09/2025
Beloved Asbury Park indie band Yawn Mower are the Makin Waves Band of the Year. Pictured from left to right are violinist Nicole Scorsone, lead guitarist Rudy Meier, co-founding guitarist Mike Chick, co-founding drummer Biff Swenson and bassist Dana Yurcisin. PHOTO BY JEFF CRESPI
Beloved Asbury Park indie band Yawn Mower recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. Upon their formation as a fuzzed-out doomy surf-pop two-piece inspired by Toronto’s Death from Above 1979, guitarist Mike Chick and drummer Biff Swenson released several singles and EPs on their own fueled by a framing baritone guitar and fluidly frantic drumming. But within a few years, they signed with the seminal North Jersey indie label Mint 400 Records, and continued a steady stream of singles and EPs.
During the COVID pandemic lockdown, Mike & Biff invited friends to get together. The band mushroomed into a septet and recorded a full-length debut, “To Each Their Own,” which Mint 400 released in 2022.
Dwindled down to a five-piece with violinist Nicole Scorsone, lead guitarist Rudy Meier, and bassist Dana Yurcisin, Yawn Mower spent a year on the road culminating with a career-high appearance at Sea.Hear.Now, the annual local summer beach festival in Asbury Park.
This summer, the follow-up LP, “I Just Can’t Wait to Die,” also was released by Mint 400. Greatly influenced by the whimsical auteur Wes Anderson, Yawn Mower often have released wonderfully wacky videos, but for their latest album, they went all out with four quirky clips. Combined with heavy roadwork and national press, Yawn Mower are the Makin Waves Band of the Year (the 27th annual Makin Waves Awards will be announced on this site as part of year-end coverage).
Proud to have won, Mike & Biff chatted with me about the history of their awesome band, their plans for Yawn Mower, and even details about their many side projects. Enjoy!
Ten years is a long time in the life of an indie band. How does it feel to have survived the NJ music scene for an entire decade and why?
Mike: It feels good. I'm glad we're still here and that our story is always evolving. Feels like yesterday that I bought the baritone (guitar) and me and Biff wrote ‘Teleprompter Rolls’ and ‘Two Frequencies’ in our first practice.
Biff: Mike is my longest relationship! We have a really good workflow with one another. Even if we disagree on stuff, we are both diplomatic and pragmatic in creative situations. The end goal is to always be creating stuff, and for it to feel a click better than the last thing.
During that time, what has been Yawn Mower’s greatest accomplishment?
Biff: If I had to pinpoint an exact moment, I'd say playing Sea.Hear.Now festival in 2023! It felt very vindicating and affirming after spending a full year promoting our debut full length. We put every ounce of effort, funds, and sweat into recording that album, art for the album, promo pictures for publications, music videos for the singles, PR for the album cycle and a handful of tours to support it. SHN felt like our victory lap after a job well done. We grinded and worked our asses off, so it was an honor to be acknowledged for it by playing the biggest gig in New Jersey!
Mike: In addition to SHN, I think the touring we’ve been able to do is an accomplishment. Even if the show is a bust, we are excited to just be out there. We always come back to NJ with a list of stories and phrases from the near constant riffing and the insanity that is life.
Since Yawn Mower started, how and why has the Asbury Park music scene changed for the better and for the worst?
Mike: I think the AP music scene has gone through changes like any music scene will go through. Venues open and close. People move out of town. Bands break up. Luckily, it seems like there is no shortage of characters ready to move to town and grab the baton. It’s great that AP continues to attract people to come and be a part of this community.
Biff: We've been around to play shows at Press Room, the old Lanes, bartend at The Saint, etc. Asbury Park has definitely changed a lot since those days. We romanticize it like everyone else our age, ’cause it was a dope time to be around here -- but I think Asbury is still a dope place to be an artist! You can't pile into the bathroom of Brick Wall or APYC five-deep to do a little toot off the toilet seat anymore, but there is a thriving music community still growing just as quickly as ever. The younger generations in town are more inclusive, more supportive, and more apt to show up to anything and everything. This town will change three more times in the next decade, I’m sure, but Asbury Park being an ‘original music town’ won’t ever change! There are still people flocking here to join the music scene. Shit changes, but if your goal is being creative and prolific? You’ll still be rewarded for it here.
When Yawn Mower first formed, you were a fuzzy two-piece in the spirit of The White Stripes. How and why were The White Stripes an influence on Yawn Mower?
Mike: I’ve always been a fan of TWS, but they weren’t a huge influence on YM’s sound. We just tried to get the baritone to take up as much space as possible in a two-piece format.
Biff: Yeah, I personally wouldn’t say they were an influence. I like my drums to be pretty busy and syncopated. Our band has to reign me in often. Was a fan of that band in their heyday, but Meg certainly wasn’t an influence on my drumming style.
How did you feel when White Stripes were recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Mike: With an intro from Iggy Pop? Crazy. I’m happy for them. They deserve it. The White Stripes and Jack White created their own universe. It’s bigger than a lane.
Biff: While they weren’t a big influence on Yawn Mower, that doesn’t change how delighted we both were to see them inducted. It gives weird bands hope! A fuzzed-out two-piece with bold visual aesthetics being acknowledged on a grand scale like that is neat! Plus, Jack following that up with a Thanksgiving Halftime Show (with Eminem) was such a dope victory lap. He is a true DIY-lifer!
What other bands inspired and influenced Yawn Mower, how and why?
Biff: Our day-one influence when starting Yawn Mower was Death from Above 1979. They were the two-piece band we were modeling ourselves after. After that, our mutually overlapping influences were Pavement, The Faint, Dinosaur Jr., Mike Krol. Outside of musical influences, Wes Anderson was a huge inspiration for us visually. Pasta is a huge influence on us spiritually. I'm a gnocchi guy, Mike is a ditalini dude.
Mike: Someone once told me that YM reminded them of like 15 bands, but not too much of any one of them. I thought that was great. We like to use micro-influences in this band.
Why did Yawn Mower expand into a larger ensemble, how and why did the songwriting and arrangements require that?
Biff: We began recording our debut full-length over lockdown, so we had no real ‘end goal’ for it initially. When your entire identity revolves around networking and socializing at shows, being stuck inside indefinitely feels too daunting to deal with. So, our collective of musical homies chose to keep our circle tight and isolated, never stopping our weekly practices. Mike and I knew we wanted to attempt our own version of ‘Pet Sounds’ for this project. Obviously, we aren't virtuosic visionaries, like Brian Wilson was, but the idea of over-producing our two-piece band was comical to us. Doubling down on what we could actually pull off live felt like the best use of a prolonged period of no shows. Then? We had to ask all the homies to come play what they contributed to the album. What started as a fun way to include our closest friends and collaborators, slowly morphed into a seven-piece fuzz-rock ensemble.
How did the larger ensemble impact and enable subsequent songwriting?
Biff: Well, our first full-length was written as a two-piece, then just overdubbed to holy hell with added guests throughout. Figuring out how to translate it all live was easy enough when including all seven of the contributing folks. But for this second full-length, we actually composed the songs in a room as a group. Seven members dwindled down to five, and even still – that’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen! It was a much more combative process, but we all thrive in those scenarios. The end goal is to make the best song possible, while all feeling heard and present in the final product. If no one fought back, then why even do it? You should have big opinions! Scratch and claw your idea to the top of the pile if it best serves the song. I’m not here for the toxic shit, but it certainly isn’t a deterrent.
Who’s in the band now, and when and how did you connect with them?
Biff: Mike and I, obviously. We’re still steadily steering the ship.
Then we have Nicole Scorsone on violin. She’s been our longest-running contributor. She’s been hopping up on stage with us since our days at The Saint. Nicole and I go way back. Met her back in her Waking Lights days over at Mexicali Live in Teaneck. I’ve played drums for many of her violin student’s recitals over the years as well.
Rudy Meier has been on lead guitar since November 2022. He is also one of our two members who engineers, produces, and mixes our stuff. He owns and drives the tour van too! I briefly met Rudy way back when he was in Breathing Blue at TechFest. Then we gigged together more often when he was in Bounders. But Yawn Mower’s bond with Rudy truly blossomed when he was drumming for Dentist. We toured together and clicked hard as hell. Have been circling each other’s orbits ever since.
Lastly, Dana Yurcisin has been on bass since December 2021. Him and I have known each other for a full 20 years now. He is the other member who engineers, produces, mixes, and masters our music. Unfortunately, Dana’s last show with Yawn Mower will be What A Wonderful Year at Wonder Bar though. He’s lovingly leaving us on great terms to commit more intentional time to his solo project, Dana Why, as well as his other two projects, Grasser and Fashion. If anyone reading this is available on Dec. 29, come see Dana off at his last YM gig! Blow kisses his way!
What other bands have the additional players been and remain in?
Biff: Nicole has been in Waking Lights, River City Extension, Bernie Worrell Orchestra just to name a few. She’s also played live with (or on record for) dozens upon dozens of artists: Brother Andrew, Renee Maskin, The Vaughns. Too many to count. Not sure she’d even be able to tell you!
Rudy is still actively playing with Bristler, Tide Bends, Prop House, Dana Why, and Vin Brue + The Long Branch Davidians. He has been in Wetbrain, Dentist, The Black Clouds, Breathing Blue, Bounders, and I'm sure a handful of other projects I’m blanking on. He also does a lot of session work or live gigs for a bunch of local artists/acts.
Dana is Dana Why. He's also in Grasser, Fashion, and Bristler. He was in Little Hag, Earth Telephone and Doc Emmett. He fills in on bass for Liv Bec every so often as well. He has also co-written or produced for a handful of local acts.
What bands were Mike and Biff in together before Yawn Mower?
Biff: Mike and I have not previously been in a proper band together! We actually tried jamming a few times, but it never really clicked. First, I was on guitar, and he was on bass, but I suck at guitar and the drummer didn’t work out. We first played live together doing a Nirvana cover set at Wonder Bar for a sold-out New Year's Eve gig back in 2015. Mike was on lead guitar, and I was on bass. But once he bought a baritone guitar, we found our ‘in’ as an original act: Fuzzed-out doomy surf-pop with me on drums.
What pre-Yawn Mower bands were the two of you in separately?
Biff: Mike was previously the lead singer of Grand Alto back in the Press Room days. When they broke up, he spent years as an acoustic singer-songwriter guy. More recently, he played in BNBC with Nick Cucci and Bob Paulos of GayGuy/StraightGuy for years. He’s filled in on bass at a Dentist gig once or twice. Plus, he almost did a Pedro The Lion cover set with Rick Barry! Gonna have to force that issue in 2026!
Mike: Biff was a founding member of Earth Telephone, Quiltary, Denizens of Soil, toilet, and Passengers and Their Baggage. He was a touring member of The Obvious and Year of Glad. He also has filled in live on bass for Dentist, Ba Babes and Lost in Society, drums for Blaise, and keyboard for Algernon Cadwallader, just to name a few.
When and how did the two of you become friends?
Mike: I swear the first time I physically saw Biff was at a bar on the Seaside Heights boardwalk. I was doing an acoustic cover of ‘OMG’ by Usher and one dude got up, very animated and started singing and dancing to it. Fast forward to YM times and actually seeing Biff singing and dancing in an animated way, I was like, ‘Yo, he was definitely that dude dancing to OMG.’ Do I have any proof of this besides a fuzzy memory? Nope.
I met Biff at a time when I wasn’t playing in a band for a while. We became friends pretty quickly when we realized that we worked together well in a band. The early days of YM unfolded pretty easily. We found that we had similar aesthetics and influences that guided us, and being in a two-piece band was fun. We got to travel, play bigger shows, and meet a ton of people. You gotta be grateful for the people you can do this shit with for so long!
What side projects are you two in, and what will they be up to?
Mike: I release solo music under the name Mike Chick. I released an LP called ‘More Thrills, Less Hills’ on Mint 400 Records in 2023. I have a new LP dropping in April 2026 via Mint 400 Records. I tracked most of the songs on my own at Waving Cat. Rudy Meier mixed the record at Yungbull. Pat Noon mastered the record at eightsixteen recording. The record features Bob Paulos on drums, Nicole Scorsone on violin and viola, and vocals from Martin Howth.
Biff: Rudy, Dana and I are in Bristler together alongside our homie Rob Bost. We have our second full-length dropping early in the new year via Mint 400 Records as well. We’ll have a whole album cycle built around that.
Rudy and I just finished a run of three debut EPs with our newest band, Prop House, in 2025. That band features Eric James Guy Friedman on guitar, who also used to play with Yawn Mower as well. We are now shifting focus to our upcoming split EP with Philly’s Brackish. We’ll be gigging often in the new year.
Dana and I are both in Grasser alongside my cousin Nick Gianatiempo. We began tracking drums for our third LP with Erik Romero from The Front Bottoms this month. It’ll easily be another year before we have anything to show though.
Dana Why has another full-length totally completed already. That one is dropping next fall. It’s really dark and brooding, definitely a departure from his earlier work. Plus, Dana already has the next two DW albums pretty far along, each with a varying palette. Dude works at an alarming rate!
Rudy is pretty far along on a new batch of Tide Bends tunes as well. Not sure what the release plan is for that, but they’ve been cooking up some heat since their Sea.Hear.Now performance this past summer. From what I’ve heard of it, they’re further pushing their washy, surf sound into a poppier, produced sheen that really suits them well. It’s accessible without abandoning any of their roots.
Rudy and I are Scumming. We have a couple releases pretty far along already that we will slowly chip away at between our other projects’ releases. This one is more for fun than anything. A recording-only project to pay homage to the Midwest emo of yesteryear. We’ll never find the time to pull this shit off live though, so don’t hold your breath.
Lastly, Yawn Mower is already in the process of writing LP3. Got a few songs started, and an endless Google Drive of voice memos and demos we’ll be circling back on. Sleep when you’re dead!
Yawn Mower will play What a Wonderful Year Dec. 27 at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park. PHOTO COURTESY OF TELEGRAPH HILL RECORDS
What year-end and 2026 Yawn Mower plans can you share?
Mike: Our next and last show for 2025 is What A Wonderful Year on Dec. 27 at the Wonder Bar. This is our first year playing WAWY, and we are stoked to be a part of such a dope lineup. Get your tickets today!
We just played Status Green’s 20th Anniversary show at the Stone Pony with Church and State TM. Everyone ripped, and the crowd was great. We got to meet Jon Stewart, and he was super nice. Overall, chef'’s kiss of a night.
2026 will see some YM hibernation and reconfiguration, then new songs, shows and touring.
What do you like most about Mint 400 and why?
Mike: Neil (Sabatino) is very liberal with the amount of release dates he gives YM and our related bands and projects, and for that we are grateful. He’s normally open to whatever we want to do. Thank you, Neil.
How does it feel to win the 2025 Makin Waves Band of the Year?
Biff: Bob, you’ve been very kind to our band since our inception. One of the first people to give us any press. Not only is it an honor to be the Makin Waves Artist of the Year, but it’s an honor to still be on your radar a decade deep into this project. We don’t do any of this stuff for the accolades, but it is very affirming to be acknowledged at all for our creative outputs. Most people our age golf on their free days. We instead dump every spare dollar and free moment we have into making art with our friends. For you to give our hobby any spotlight at all is a blessing! Having someone like you in the scene to keep the community informed is invaluable. Thank you for not only making us the Band of the Year, but thank you for your service to the scene!
Is there anything I didn’t ask on which you would like to comment?
Mike: Thank you again, Bob. YM is stoked to be 2025 Makin Waves Band of the Year. Thank you to all our loved ones and friends and, hell yeah, to all the bands and artists that keep creating things for us to listen to, watch and go to. Keep going.
Biff: We love you. Mwah.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and Instagram and contact Bob at [email protected].
New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.
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