INTERVIEW: yearn
With the release of their first EP, yearn, Vol. 1, indie band, yearn is continuing to deliver their take on J-Rock’s Visual Kei to their growing fanbase. The Atlanta based band is quickly making a name for themselves with their strong artistic vision and personal identity. We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to sit down with lead singer, Justin to talk about the EP, musical influences, and their love of all things anime.
Tell me a little about your journey as a band. How did you guys meet and when did you decide you wanted to make music together?
It was originally my solo project. I started writing songs under my name, but eventually I realized it could be something I could share with people who I’m close to that I like working with. I ended up recruiting my longtime friend, Shawn, and my coworker, Athena and we formed the band together. Then we started scouting for drummers and we found Colton through another band friend of ours. We just sort of got together and started playing and practicing and writing together. I still do the majority of the writing on my own and then we add and subtract ideas here and there together.
Your debut EP, yearn, Vol 1 just came out not too long ago, what was it like making it and how did it compare to making and releasing your first few singles?
I would say the EP was not necessarily challenging, but it was a long process. I wrote the songs over the span of maybe a year and a half and then we chose which ones I thought would fit in a full project and which ones tell something of a cohesive story when put together. When we release singles, it’s easy because I just write something I like that I think sounds cool. It doesn’t necessarily have to fit into a particular niche or project. The last single we released, “callmewhenyougethome,” I just thought: “dude, this song sounds awesome; I’m just gonna drop it.” I think with the whole debut EP thing, I realized we wanted to put together a really good catalog of tracks that sound cohesive and really mesh with each other and flow into each other. So, yeah, I would say it was a lot more challenging than releasing singles.
Your sound has stayed pretty consistent across all your past releases. Did you always know what kind of music you wanted to make?
I’ve always really liked heavier, but sort of melodic alternative rock music. As I continued to discover and listen to more music over the past few years, I’ve expanded stylistically. However, I will say, I definitely have a go to sound or a go to methodology that I use to write. I really like catchy lead guitar, super dissonant rhythms, loud, simple baselines, and catchy lyrics. That’s just my thing, so you might see similarities in our songs because of that. I’m definitely absorbing more and more from my peers and other music that I’m listening to right now. I’m finding that it doesn’t deviate too far from what I was originally writing just because I still want us to sound like us at the end of the day.
Who are some of your biggest creative influences?
Oh dude, I’ve been listening to a lot of J-Rock since I was really young. I think that’s the first movie I ever discovered on my own. I listen to a lot of artists like The Gazette, The Brilliant Green, and Tommy Heavenly6. Just a shit ton of Visual Kei that I would listen to while I was growing up. I always kept it to myself because when I was younger, there was Scene and there was Emo, but Visual Kei hadn’t crossed over to the west yet. I see more people appreciating it nowadays, but back then, it was like “what the hell is this?” so I kept it on the down low. I was always really in love with that sound. I feel like Japanese rock bands just do a lot of things differently with different chord progressions and melodies. They use a lot of different syncopation with their drums, bass, and vocals. I really love the dark, sort of grundy aesthetic. It really shaped me a lot and honestly, it shaped all of us because that was the one big thing that we all connected on. We listen to the same music, so that became our biggest influence. We started trying to translate it into something more appealing to a western audience. Obviously we sing in English, so that’s already another thing, but it’s about not copying the V Kei sound but doing it in our own way.
Photo by Kay Pham-Nguyen (@kaaysphotos)
You used clips from the anime, Madoka Magica in your trailer for the EP. Does anime have a big influence on your music or is it just that the visuals are heavily associated with the genres you take inspiration from?
How could you tell? Yeah, we’re all really into that stuff. Madoka Magica is one of Athena’s favorite shows right now and it’s probably one of my favorite shows right now. We’ve been waiting for the final movie to come out for the past ten or twelve years and we have a little watch party of the entire series every single year. We all watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga. I grew up in Japan and Athena’s always been really into anime and manga, so that was definitely something that we bonded over. I would say the music that’s used in a lot of these shows has been very influential on us. A good example is a band called Nightmare, they did the opening theme for Death Note and they had me in a chokehold for like a year. We definitely take a lot of inspiration from the Japanese sound and aesthetic that we grew up with. I think it’s intrinsically within us.
Visuals as a whole have a very strong presence in your work. Do the visuals come to you at the same time as the songs or are they developed after the fact?
I would say they definitely developed after. I usually figure out the instrumentals and before even putting vocals on the track, I’ll listen to it over and over and visualize scenes from a movie or a TV show in my head. For the “callmewhenyougethome” visuals, I did an entire storyboard that was super intricate for it. I scouted out locations that I thought were good. I’ll just listen to the songs over and over sometimes for months and jot down frames as they come in my head. It’s a pretty organic process. Might not be the most efficient way to get things out, but I think it’s the most honest approach that I can really offer.
You guys haven’t released any music videos for the songs on this EP yet, is that something fans have to look forward to in the future?
We’re working on it. When you’re releasing a single, you only have to worry about one song that you can really focus on. For a big project like this, I’m like “okay, what are the songs that are really connecting with people? What are the songs people would want a music video for?” If I had it my way, I would do a really nice music video for all six of them, but at this moment in time, it’s not super realistic. I want our music videos to be intentional. I think right now, the biggest candidates for music videos are “walpurgis nacht,” “dazed,” and “i want u to know.” I have some storyboarding done for “dazed,” but I see the vision for all three of them. I really wanted to develop a reputation for doing music videos, but six is overwhelming.
You just did your first few shows since the EP released. How did you prepare for that and what was it like performing your new songs live for the first time?
It was kind of scary. A couple of them, we had performed live prior, but others, we had to work them in as best we could. It hasn’t been tough, but we were just really trying to work with what we had like “okay, you gotta talk at this point in time while we’re turning out guitars or banter here or crack a joke here to fill in the space.” We had one of our friends, Nocturne’s Kiss featured on “die 4 me” and I’m kind of iffy on performing it unless he’s with us, which does happen pretty often. I think now that we have more songs, we have to pick and choose which ones to play because our sets are only 30 minutes long. It wasn’t an issue before because we didn’t have too many songs out, but now we have to keep in mind what people want to hear. It’s funny because I have some friends that come out to shows and they already know the lyrics to the new songs, which is so cool.
If you could open for any artist, who would it be?
Honestly, I think for me, it’d probably have to be Tommy heavenly6. She’s the first J Rock artist I’ve ever listened to and she has a very special place in my heart.
If you had to play one song to introduce people to your music, what would it be?
Oh, definitely “callmewhenyougethome.” I feel like it’s perfect. I don’t want to say it’s my magnum opus right now, but even just listening to it now, I’m still not tired of it. I feel like we did really really well on that one. It’s catchy; it sounds really nice and dark. It just gets everything right. I feel like for the EP, we experimented a lot, but “callmewhenyougethome” is just us.
Why does your guitarist wear cat ears?
He just does. Shawn, are you awake? I’m in the interview and they’re asking why you wear cat ears… He just said, “cause meow.”
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