Behind every great band lies a rhythm section that shapes the architecture of the sound. Few drummers today possess the creative breadth and kinetic energy of Peter Yanowitz, known for his work with the likes of The Wallflowers, Natalie Merchant, and Yoko Ono, and currently driving the synth-soaked, theatrical soundscapes of Princess Goes.
In our latest conversation, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Peter to dive deep into the band’s pulse. We discussed the intricate construction of their latest single, “Stranger,” unraveled the collaborative songwriting and composing process that fuels their unique output, and explored the cinematic chemistry between him, Michael C. Hall, and Matt Katz-Bohen. Peter offers a candid look into how they balance technical precision with the atmospheric tension that defines the Princess Goes experience.
Hello, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. How have you been?
we’ve been good, thx. we’re all in NYC at the same time for a change so we’re having fun making videos, jamming a little, and even finishing up some of b-sides.. dialing in album art.
Going from pretending to be a band in Hedwig and the Angry Inch to forming a real one is a brilliant origin story. When you first jammed on “Love American Style,” what was the exact moment you realized that “wild alchemy” was something you had to pursue outside the theater?
matt and i had just gotten off the road touring with the Hedwig national tour.. it was 8 months on the road and matt and i hung out a bunch.. got tacos in at least a dozen cities, and that was where we were like ‘hey we should hang/jam more when we get back to nyc’.. and you always say that to your mates on the road.. but we actually DID it! we started hanging, and making music as soon as we got home, and we quickly came up with 2 or 3 instrumental jams. one of them was the music bed for Love American Style. it was just a live jam that we came up with one day in our studio. matt was on rhodes, and i was on my electronic drums.. the song parts just sort of spilled out in one go. i had dinner with mike a couple weeks later and we came back to the studio and i played him the jams, and mike was immediately like ..’hey i noticed u don’t have any vocals on these.. u want me to write/sing something? so a couple days later he took the subway downtown, (he wrote some lyrics on the train).. when he got to the studio it all came together really fast. i knew mike was an amazing singer from our time together in Hedwig on broadway, but i didn’t know he was a such poet as well, his lyrics are incredible. so that was a nice surprise. we finished recording the vocal that day, and i quickly edited it together. when i texted the jam to mike and matt later i said, ‘i dunno what this is, but lets keep making more of it!’, and both of them heartily agreed! we were on our way.
You’ve mentioned the luxury of growing “under the radar” and developing on your own terms. Coming from established backgrounds in the industry, how important was that organic, almost DIY approach to building the true foundation of Princess Goes?
it was so important for us to get out of the way of this thing and just let it happen. we took our time, i think we had 10-12 songs recorded when we finally realized that ‘hey, we’re a fkn band!’, and came up with a name etc and much later booked a show.. it crept up from underneath us, w/o us trying to force anything. at the root of our collaboration/art project has always been the songwriting part and the act creating music together.. we hustled for songs and still do.. and we’ve kept writing for much of the 8 years we’ve been together. there is a very intentional, but also spontaneous, flow to our collaboration. we all chase that high of making something. matt and i have been in bands most of our lives, but this was mike’s first band, and that 1st time energy was there from the get, and matt and i got that contact high of this feeling like a moment.
The band’s chemistry relies on three very distinct personalities. How do your individual musical backgrounds, from Matt’s work with Blondie to your time in The Wallflowers and Morningwood, plus Michael’s theatrical background, intersect when you’re locked in a room together?
chemistry is so strange.. what even is it? it’s either there or it isn’t. and we definitely lucked out in princess. we couldn’t be more different as individuals, yet we also couldn’t be more complimentary to eachother creatively. we’re all men of a certain age, so we share that, but we fit together as one better than any band i’ve ever been in. this is our 4th album, so that feels like a milestone i haven’t achieved with any other band. but our chemestry is not something we analyze too much, for fear we’ll get boring and predictable, but we still show up for eachother, and for this project and for that we are blessed..
Let’s talk about the new single, “Stranger.” You’ve described it as an ode to human connection and meeting each other with curiosity. What sparked the thematic direction of this track, particularly in a cultural moment that often feels so disconnected?
we are all one. sooner we realize this the better. also what comes around goes around. be kind and rewind.
Sonically, “Stranger” bridges 90s grunge with a 90s Britpop before hitting that massive finale. How did you approach blending those distinct eras and textures in the studio without losing the core identity of the song?
matt wrote the music for Stranger and he can answer this better, but as soon as he sent the demo of it to mike and me it was clear we had a banger .. we also had great producer on this record, Brandon Bost. just a brilliant engineer and mixer, and a talented multi instrumentalist as well. brandon had a lot to do with stitching this song together, the verse and choruses. we fell in love with the ‘build up’on this album.. like 4 or 5 times we build up on the album.. it’s so satisfying. we even added a juicy modulation for the ending of stranger.. it kinda sneaks in the build-up.. and with mike’s melodies leading the way it’s almost got a ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ vibe to it.
As a multi-instrumentalist who handles everything from drums to synths, what was your specific approach to the rhythm section on “Stranger” to ensure it drove toward that epiphanic, glorious crescendo?
it’s 75% cymbals!! just bash the shit out of them. no, really it sounds like i’m crushing the drums, but actually we recorded the drums very quietly. there is a sweet spot with drums/percussion.. if u hit the drum or cymbal just right the frequencies can be so resonant and pure. we made the record in a tiny studio in greenpoint. there wasn’t enough room for me to even put a floor tom.. but i had a great cymbal to hit. Stranger was really fun to play in studio. hope i get a chance to play it live on real drums soon.
You’ve called this upcoming third record the culmination of every hour you’ve spent together and your most definitive work to date. What specifically makes this album feel like the ultimate distillation of the Princess Goes sound?
our producer Brandon Bost for one.. we self produced all our albums in the past. this album we felt like we needed extra fire power.. Brandon helped us shape our songs, never gave up on our songs, and even cowrote a few with us. for the first time the sonics, or the sound of the record, finally caught up with our songwriting, which also has evolved over the years. and we took our time.. almost 2 years to make it.. and sometimes you can work a thing to death if you work for that long of a time, but w brandon’s help we were able to keep making it better. to us it feels like finally, the sound matches the songs, matches the energy of how we felt making it. hope u agree!
Following up your first two full-lengths and the EP, was there a conscious decision to push your avant-indie boundaries further on this new LP, or did the songs dictate the direction organically?
it’s always the songs that tell us what to do. these songs feel like they wanted to reach a lot of ears .. and somehow are our most accessible.. all our records move in and out of genres and sounds, but this one seems to hang together as one body. one new dimension to the record is that i sing vocals on this album for the first time in our music. i even sing lead on one song. also, on the new album we wrote a song called French Kiss which to us feels like the ultimate princess song.. the one that if you mashed up everything that we’ve ever written in a vitamix you would get french kiss.. it’s the gold medalist.. don’t want to say too much but it’s 7 juicy minutes of pure protein.
When you look at the tracklist for the new record as a whole, how does the narrative or sonic theme compare to the journey you took us on with your previous releases?
it feels like new york.. and even some of upstate new york. it’s still where we create most of our music. but there is also a feeling that we used the record to get some things off our chests, whether personally, or more globally. mike asked me to write a couple songs (the lyrics), because it was a lot of songs for him to write, and i am really happy he asked because i didn’t realize i had so much to say, or so much on my mind.
Your writing process seemed incredibly prolific early on, generating 10 to 15 songs in that first creative burst. Has that spontaneous, rapid-fire songwriting process evolved, or do you still rely on that initial spark when you hit the studio?
we did a bit of both on this.. several songs were born in that tiny studio in greenpoint. and each of those was magic… like a real magic trick.. to be in an incredible studio w an amazing engineer and make something from scratch.
With all three of you bringing an impressive multi-instrumentalist toolkit to the table, how do you decide who plays what on a given track? Is there a lot of instrument swapping and experimentation during the writing process?
we just go w the flow.. whoever is around.. we all play a lot of stuff.. but matt doesn’t play drums, so i’m lucky to hog em all to myself.
Given Michael’s background in narrative and acting, how does the lyric writing process integrate with the instrumental beds you and Matt create? Does the music usually inform the character of the lyrics, or vice versa?
a bit of both. his talents are vast.. and his ability to crawl inside a song, or a performance of a song is so amazing. i love performing with him.. i learned that when we were in hedwig together.
You’ve played over a hundred shows worldwide now. How has translating these layered, cinematic studio tracks to a live setting influenced the way you wrote and recorded the material for this new album?
this record is also unique because we are playing real instruments, live drums, piano, bass, etc.. as opposed to using loops for drums.. electronic drum sounds.. more synthetic sounds. we wanted a real organic feel to this album, and i think we got it. it’s as if we started out as a band more experimental or diy with our sounds.. we didn’t really care or fuss about what the sounds were as much as we wanted to get the song out and into the computer.. but this record that changed.. we wanted it to sound as lush and deep and pure as the songs we were writing. more like something we could add a couple members and play the album live onstage.. as opposed to just the 3 of us onstage with tracks etc.
The band has a very dedicated following that you’ve noted “stumbled into discovering” you. How does that intimate, cult-like artist-fan connection impact your energy when you step on stage today?
feels pretty good to see that we make fans and they stick around. we’re grateful to them for being there for us at the beginning and all the way throughout.
Looking ahead to the LP release and the rest of the year, what are you most excited for the fans to experience with this new chapter of Princess Goes?
we really want to spread this music out far and wide.. we hope people hear this album and fk with it, and share it with everyone they know! lfg
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