Kayhan Vaziri (Yautja)

Todd Nief's Show

Yautja plays lurching, uncomfortable music, so it is fitting that their new album is called “The Lurch.” I first met Kayhan back in approximately 2010 when I was on tour with Weekend Nachos and we stayed at Kayhan’s place in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, Kayhan was in a band called Legion (funny enough), and since then has gone on to play in several excellent hardcore and metal projects like Coliseum, Die Young, and — of course — Yautja.

Yautja’s most recent record is fantastic, so I wanted to get Kayhan on the podcast to discuss how they write such weird but catchy songs. The conversation also took a detour into some of Kayhan’s wild experiences working at his family’s convenience store during a pandemic, so stick around for that as well.

Learn more from Kayhan and Yautja here:

• Bandcamp: yautja.bandcamp.com
• Instagram: @yautjagram
• Facebook: @YautjaTN

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Show Notes:

• [01:29] The power of naming things “Legion”
• [06:50] Being viewed as an off-the-rails weirdo due to an interest in extreme music — and the differences between music, sci-fi, and fantasy fandoms
• [15:04] Getting into hardcore and punk, and the benefits of a mid-sized scene on creativity in Birmingham, Alabama
• [20:28] Straddling genre lines with Yautja and being the misfit band on most concert bills
• [29:17] The impacts of the country music industry on the Nashville underground music scene
• [35:07] Yautja’s songwriting process — and the importance of rhythm, variations, and other subtleties in their compositions
• [47:17] Yautja plays difficult and weird riffs, but is not really a “technical” band
• [57:55] Yautja’s plans as the US emerges from the pandemic
• [01:03:29] Kayhan’s comical and frustrating experiences working in his family’s convenience store during a pandemic
• [01:14:14] How to purchase “The Lurch” and support Yautja

Links and Resources Mentioned:

• Weekend Nachos
• Legion
• Deicide “Legion”
• Integrity “Dawn of a new Apocalypse”
• Legion in popular culture
• Birmingham Legion FC
• The Home Despot
• Wish
• Machine Head “Burn My Eyes”
• Keep Staring I Might Do a Trick T-Shirt
• Doctor Who
• The Lord of the Rings
• Robert Jordan
• George R. R. Martin
• Darkman
• Virus (1999 film)
• In Defence
• Revocation
• Exhumed
• Rivers of Nihil
• Voivod “Dimension Hatröss”
• Morbid Angel “Formulas Fatal to the Flesh”
• Morbid Angel “Gateways to Annihilation”
• Hella
• Gnarwhal
• Mutilation Rites
• Alraune
• Steve Cloutier and Luc Lemay of Gorguts guitar lesson
• Gorguts “Obscura”