Interview with Yautja

- How has Songs of Lament been received so far?

Better than I assumed. Everyone's been really supportive. In our book it's an EP even though it's on a 12" so I thought it might get overlooked.

- The visuals on ...Lament are stunning, and really enhance the feel of the record. Did you just give Anderson carte blanche or did you have a specific idea of what you wanted going in?

We're all fans of Anderson Cook's art and trusted him to do something appropriate. He did the art for our demo tape as well as a large majority of the art on his label Tapes of a Neon God. We gave him a rough mix of the EP to listen to and let him do his thing.

- The three of you seem to be good friends. How long have you known each other?

Tyler and I met around 2007 or so playing locally around Nashville. I met Kayhan sometime between 2007 or 2008 seeing his band Legion play a house show in Nashville. He's from Birmingham so we didn't really get acquainted until he moved to Nashville around 2010.

- Any notes about your recent tour with Maruta?

We had a blast. One of my first bands ever opened for them years ago, and I've been a fan ever since. Coolest dudes.

- What was your favorite Yautja tour?

One of my favorite tours was maybe our first tour in 2010. In terms of it being successful, financially or otherwise, it was a shitshow. But was super fun and and a good learning experience. Our then bass player quit about a week before we left so we had a member of our tourmates in Dawn fill in super last minute. Tons of shit drives, days off, etc.
Also our first and only venture into Canada last year with our friends in No Brainer was a blast. Made a lot of new friends and saw some new things.

- Has Shibby always run two rigs live?

Yeah. Mostly to try and create the illusion of two guitar players.

(pieces from my personal Yautja collection)

- Both Songs of Descent and Songs of Lament have bold, impactful visuals that speak volumes to your artistic vision. At what point in your career as a band did you decide to push the visual side of your work in this way? 

I'm not sure. Once we were planning to have 500+ copies of anything, I think we probably wanted to be happy with how it looked.
None of the way our album art turned out has much to do with us though. We just let the artists do their thing 99% of the time. A close friend of ours, Caleb Gregory, did all of the art and layout of our first record. He's a local Nashville dude and wonderful person and musician. Out of the whole process of making that record, the art was the only thing I was completely satisfied with. I think we all really like the idea of having the artists listen to the record while preparing to or while creating the art itself.  

- Does Songs of Lament have a singular artistic idea to convey, or is it a collection of songs that represent your current state as a band?

Eh, kinda neither. All the songs on SOL are actually older than the Songs of Descent songs, for the most part. So while we haven't changed our sound necessarily, they aren't the most current songs we have written. There isn't one ongoing concept or theme in every song on SOL, but majority deal in a lot of the feelings and thoughts involved with loss, in many interpretations.

- I saw you in the back of Cafe Coco with Full of Hell and Weekend Nachos some time in early 2012. It was an incredible experience, as I don't think they had ever had a heavy show there and didn't know what to expect. Do you think that Yautja would still gravitate toward smaller venues if given the opportunity commercially to play larger ones?

Totally. We still play and often prefer house shows/DIY spots to venues with weird shaped stages and pushy sound people.

- There are a handful of obvious influences sprinkled throughout your discography, but most of the appeal of your work, at least to me, is its uniqueness. When did you realize you could be more than just another metal band?

I think we are just another metal band, but we all play and listen to a lot of different music, and tend not to try and categorize ourselves in any particular sub-genre.

- Are there any long-term plans for Yautja, or do you take it one step a time?

 

More or less one step at a time. We're planning to start jamming around and writing a new record this Winter. We have a split 7" with Fórn coming out before the end of the year. We wanna make it overseas sooner or later. More touring sometime in early spring.