Nashville's Yautja attack with an unorthodox amalgamation of punk, grindcore and sludge on their new album The Lurch. These dudes have diligently shredded and toured throughout the last decade, and their recent music video for their heavy single "Tethered" totally sold me. Yautja bassist and vocalist Kayhan goes One On One With The GRIM-1 in this phone interview, transcribed below.
HELL-O))) Kayhan! What's one song everyone should listen to off The Lurch?
I would say "The Wait." It's like the third single video we put out for the record.
Your new music video "Tethered" is like a backyard recreation of Tetsuo: The Iron Man. What was your inspiration?
I had an idea that was based off the lyrics to the song. I kind of like...this would either look really sick with high production value and practical effects and nice camera work and editing and all that stuff. Or it would look really cool, super lo-fi, straight to VHS, and getting a group of our friends together fucking around and making a fun video. We went with the latter because we had little to no budget for a high end video. The narrative fit the lyrics of the song and we got together with some of our friends. I like the Tetsuo Iron Man reference. That's definitely something we enjoy.
What's your secret for that low end special sauce on bass?
I like to keep it pretty simple. My pedal board when we play live doesn't have much on it. I have an orange bass terror amp and an Ampeg 8 X 10. I think a part of our sound is a lot of clarity on the bass. Not super fuzzed out distorted. On the record I use a newer pedal by Kurt Ballou. It's sort of like a boost with a little bit of fuzz. There's a lot going on with the guitar and drums in our songs so it's pretty important for the bass to hold it down and not sound like an electric guitar.
What was the creative process like for this new album?
It was pretty stretched out man. Some of the songs on this record have been parts or little riffs here and there several years, going back even five or six years. And some songs came out of the ether in the last year and a half, two years. We don't have a crazy formula we follow. Between touring and playing in other bands and doing real life stuff that gets in the way sometimes. It's been a several year process.
It must be pretty cool to have your own pair of Yautja Vans!
The name Yautja comes from the alien race in Predator. What's your favorite Predator property besides the 1987 film?
Predator 2 is hilarious and entertaining. I fucking love Gary Busey in everything. Danny Glover is pretty hilarious too. Same thing with the AVP movie. They're dumb as hell but fun to watch. The Predator arcade game is fucking sick. It's a fun beat 'em up style side scrolling game. It's hard to pick out the best from the original because nothing after that came close to it.
What inspirations outside of the musical realm have bled into your music?
We're all really big movie fans. That's what sold us on tour. Whenever we're feeling drained, if it's a four week tour we'll try to go once a week. Most sci fi stuff, horror stuff. Tyler's a big reader. We all like to read, but he's always crushing books on tour.
Who are your heavy metal heroes?
Black Sabbath for me. Neurosis is a band where it's like wow, this is a band musically and ethically I can stand behind. Musically, Morbid Angel, Carcass, Gorguts. I love hardcore punk. Musically, Cro-Mags have always been an influence on me. Drop Dead, Siege, Infest, we actually have a Siege cover on our bandcamp.
What's one of your most memorable stories from the road in the past?
We toured with Magrudergrind and the whole west coast tour of that was with Drop Dead. They've been a band forever since the early nineties or late eighties. That was like touring with an older brother. They were super humble, super chill.
One of the worst things that we did - we did two European tours in 2019. Tyler was already in Europe, so we had to go by ourselves. It was one of the worst flying experiences we ever had. All of our gear was lost for a bit. We were connecting at the Amsterdam airport but it was closed for the day. That was some Planes Trains and Automobiles shit, just one thing after another.
What spot should rockers check out in Nashville?
Dark Matter is like the DIY spot there. It's fucking sick. All kinds of bands play there. A lot of sick metal bands play there. And then there's two venues that are right across the street from each other called The end and Exit/In. Those are the longtime venues where everyone has played. They're like the CBGB's of Nashville.
Thanks for going one on one with the GRIM-1. What do you want to say to all the heavy metal maniacs out there?
Keep doing your thing. Fuck anyone who tells you you can't do this or that with whatever genre or scene you exist in. We had someone review our record and all they talked about was what we looked like in our promo. I think that's fucking hilarious, if we're not in bullet belts and war metal sunglasses, decked out in black and leather. Fuck that shit.
Listen to Yautja's The Lurch here.
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