Portrait of a Sensitive Brooding Artist...

Pete Yorn comes off as a sensitive and brooding rocker. But how would he describe himself?\n"Sensitive and brooding," he says laughing.\nThe sensitive and brooding New Jersey native says he's family-oriented, fiercely loyal and a connoisseur of comedy. He cites Kingpin and Dumb and Dumber as some of his favorite movies. He also likes "weird stuff" like Waiting for Guffman and says he misses "The Ben Stiller Show" on FOX.\nYorn's appreciation of comedy translates to his own life as well. His appearance on "Last Call with Carson Daly" lent him one of his most recent embarrassing moments. Attempting to make his entrance, Yorn accidentally tripped over the lip of the last step, falling flat on his face. Instead of playing it cool, Yorn opted to jump up and scream, "Hello!" to the audience. \n"I played it off as my Willy Wonka move," he says. "You know, when he pretends to need a cane, then does a flip and jumps up and screams 'Hello!'? That's just the kind of (stuff) I do."\nHappy accidents are just part of Yorn's repertoire. The musician played almost every instrument on his current album, Day I Forgot. In fact, the only instruments he hasn't mastered are horns.\nOn tour, Yorn isn't able to have the same control over the instruments as in the studio. Nonetheless, he says he doesn't feel anxious to surrender some of the musical responsibility. Yorn trusts his band, Dirty Bird (Luke Adams, drums; Terry Borden, bass; Jason Johnson, guitar; and Joe Kennedy, piano/guitar). With that trust, Borden produced both of Yorn's records.\n"My bandmates are all my close friends," Yorn says, "And sharing it with them is very comfortable in a live setting."\nYorn says his love for music started young. When his brother was in high school he played Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times" for Yorn and told him, "You might not like this now, but when you get into high school and college, you'll love it." But Yorn already liked it.\nHe recalls first being blown away by The Cure's "In Between Days." The first album he bought was Ratt's Out of the Cellar and the first concert he attended was Poison and Warrant at the Meadowlands, outside of Detroit.\n"Music is about a feeling," Yorn says. "When you first hear a particular song, it's like a bookmark in your life ... If you're really into music, it becomes a huge part of your life."\nHe cites Bruce Springsteen as one of his influences and learned to appreciate the songster's lyrics and melody in college.\n"He had swagger," Yorn says, "He would sing about love, and never in a whiny way -- but it wasn't too macho either, just kinda cool. He believed in what he was saying and what he was singing about."\nYorn says he tries to present his music in a similar way, even though he doesn't think his sound is comparable. \nIn September 2003, Yorn had the opportunity to play with the likes of Elvis Costello and Dion DiMucci at "Light of Day: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen.'' The benefit concert donated 100 percent of the net proceeds and the artists' royalties to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and the Kristen Ann Carr Fund. The Jersey native played a cover of Springsteen's "New York City Serenade."\nYorn has been fortunate in his relatively brief career, like when he scored a chance to play drums for a set with Iggy Pop at the Shortlist Awards in Los Angeles. He contributed a version of The Ramones "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" to We're a Happy Family -- A Tribute to the Ramones. Yorn also has had his music on movie and television soundtracks ranging from Me, Myself and Irene to Igby Goes Down to "Dawson's Creek."\nYorn has learned the importance of "keeping it about the music" -- a cliché among musicians -- but Yorn argues "Clichés are clichés because they're true at the end of the day."\nHe says his friends inspire his music and he prefers to write at home.\n"I'll sit around for days," Yorn says. "(I'll) walk around in my robe, go look in the fridge, surf the Internet, write down some words, look in the fridge again -- always looking, but not eating, although I do eat a lot -- and then I pick up my guitar and put down some more words. Then I'll go talk to my friends and learn some of their stories. Inspiration comes from living life."\nSo what music inspires Yorn? If he were only allowed to listen to three albums for the rest of his life, what would he pick? Not wanting to be locked into anything and complaining about the question, he ultimately came up with a response.\n"For today what I would pick," he says with reservation, "Velvet Underground, Loaded; Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street and Beach Boys, Pet Sounds. That way, I've got all my moods covered."\nRolling Stone reviewer Greg Kot could have influenced Yorn's mood with his review of Yorn's most recent album. \n"Day I Forgot isn't much of a progression from Pete Yorn's workmanlike 2001 debut, Musicforthemorningafter," Kot writes. "As the album winds down, Yorn laments that 'it's the same old song.' Exactly."\nBut Yorn says critics have no effect on how he makes music or the direction of his next album. \n"If you change too much from the original, you're criticized for that," he says. "If you change too little, you'll be criticized for that." \nYorn recently toured with Foo Fighters and is currently on tour with R.E.M., before headlining his own, learning to pace himself -- a task much easier, he admits, than keeping up your energy. \n"You deal with the consequences the next morning if it gets too crazy," Yorn says, "My friend told me to hydrate. So I drink a lot of water - but more beers than waters."\nYorn will be in Bloomington at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre Oct. 20. He'll take the stage Monday night, likely consuming more beers than waters and doing his best to "keep it about the music for this Midwestern crowd." Tickets are $22.50 and available at the Buskirk box office.