Yo La Tengo Make It 25 Years Without Killing Anyone

These days, a band lasting for twenty-five years seems ludicrous. But it is indeed what Yo La Tengo have accomplished this year, a feat that isn't lost on them, either. "There's always times you never know what people will think of what you'll do and what the consequences of that are," guitarist/vocalist Ira Kaplan tells Spinner. "There was a time years ago when our booking agent told me that we got to a point that we could continue doing this as long as we wanted to. I wasn't sure I believed him."

The trio has built a rather cultish following over the last quarter century, due to their tireless work ethic and knack for straddling the lines between writing great pop songs with indie leanings to writing great indie rock songs with pop leanings. Case in point: for many years, they've booked sold-out shows at Maxwell's in their hometown of Hoboken, N.J. playing all eight nights of Hanukkah. People are known to fly in just for these gigs and over the years, numerous great guests have sat in with them, including the likes of David Byrne and Ray Davies.

But which guest stands out in Kaplan's mind as being in particularly amazing? That would be multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield, who's played with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. "We didn't know him and found him through a friend and just asked if he would be willing to come over and sit in with us," Kaplan recalls. "I'm sure he didn't really know us; I'm sure maybe he had heard of us, he came to us with a violin and a pedal steel. He was so busy and had worked himself almost to a point of sickness during the sound check, which was also the rehearsal. He almost passed out from fatigue and was almost asleep in the office. We thought 'wow, we invited David Mansfield to Hanukah and we killed him.' And then he got onstage and played so beautifully and so sensitively, as if he'd been practicing with us for years."

The collaboration led to Mansfield chipping in on Yo La Tengo's 2006 release, 'I'm Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.' Yo La Tengo's 12th album, 'Popular Songs' is out Sept. 8.