Yup is a 28 toothed skeleton of a man writing and recording music to the beat of several different Punk inspired genres. During his time traveling and playing with different bands in the St. Louis area, the skull and bones combo that is Yup began writing what would eventually be the musician’s macabre, debut album, Songs About Death (2019).
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Yup about the latest project, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I grew up on the outskirts of an extremely small town called Lynnville, Illinois. The first chance I got I moved to the closest metroplex (St. Louis, Missouri) for close to a decade in an attempt to get into a big city’s music scene and be somewhere where I could actually play shows. Nowadays though I reside in Nashville, Tennessee for non music related reasons.
I’ve battled with ways of how to describe my music to people in terms of genre names and what not. The names that I’ve recently settled on that describes my music style the best is “Math-Punk” or Noise-Punk. Maybe Noise-Math-Punk? Something like that. I also think I was never able to escape the Midwest Emo style given where I’m from so I feel that that sound also works its way into my music at times. All I know is that I like making asymmetrical music with weird time signatures if I can, and that I keep my sound full, and erratic.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I decided to make Yup about five years ago when I was still living in St. Louis, moonlighting for a Lo-Fi Psych band called Comrade Catbox. Funny enough about half the songs on the album were written for the first band I had fronted but never recorded as I had told myself I was done writing and fronting a full band… My love of playing live was slowly “dying” and I decided to roll with that emotion. In my spare time when I wasn’t working or playing for CC, I would either write newer riffs, rewrite lyrics, or structure the existing songs/write second guitar or bass parts for them. I was obsessed with this idea of making an album based off of the Grim Reaper being just a regular 9-5 Joe as well as my experiences with death in general.
When things are going well, I think what keeps me going is the notion that this is essentially pure freedom for me. I can write and make music in any direction I want. It definitely helps that this album has been one of my best received. When things aren’t going so well and I try to stop, I find myself needing this outlet nonetheless. I’ve tried to quit music multiple times but it continues to pull me back in so maybe in that light It’s not motivation as much as it is a pang at times.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This release is different in that I didn’t really keep myself in a box while writing it. In my previously fronted band, I felt that I need to maintain this Punk image in my music and that every song had to have that preconceived grit to it. This lead me to change lyrics and the configurations of certain songs. It left a lot of my older music feeling like the opposite of what I wanted, plastic and contrived. With this album I didn’t hold back and I tried to be as earnest as I possibly could be. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Punk music and write Punk influenced songs as is evident with “Death” and “Now that the Buzzing Has Stopped…”, but I wasn’t afraid to have a more Midwest Emo song in there such as “Gone Fishin’” or a even a Country influenced song like “Ghosts” this time around.
Without giving too much of the album away, I was basically trying to highlight my day-to-day as the Grim Reaper. I wanted to shed light on a grossly misunderstood career through my music, using not only lyrics but tone in the music itself to convey this. However, I do admittedly get side tracked about half way through the album. I also had this notion of wanting to make an album that worked well on a vinyl record. Connecting the two sides together harmoniously.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I think the major challenge that I’ve faced is exactly as the question states, the over-saturation. Everyone and their mother has a band now. So a musician really has to make a great first impression to get noticed it seems. I suppose this isn’t a terrible thing sometimes though. I’ve been trying to incentivize this by making my music stand out as much as I can and by improving recording quality where I can. This presents a problem sometimes too though. I like to believe I have my own recording style and quality. Unfortunately for me but understandable for the powers that be, my recording style/quality seems to put people off at times. Some dig it, other’s don’t.
Technology has helped me through the simple fact that I was able to record this album for a relatively low cost as well as connect with someone to help master the vocals in a pain free way. I’m admittedly behind the 8-ball in some of my recording practices (Ie: I still use an isolated 8-track recording device for my instruments) but thanks to the modern marvel that is technology, I recorded vocals through my desktop this time around in a more efficient manner.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Never Fight a Man with a Perm” by Idles. Never has a song about toxic masculinity pumped me up so much.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl hands down. I think the best thing that modern hipster culture has brought back is the resurgence of vinyl. With a vinyl record, it turns listening to music into an active process as opposed to a passive one. Sitting there with the blown up album artwork and the lyric sheet in front of you, going from song to song the way the band intended, nothing beats that. I attribute it to eating a home cooked meal with the family versus eating in your car.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Definitely Bandcamp. My gripes with Spotify and Apple Music are probably cliched at this point. It’s well known that the previously mentioned streaming services do little to compensate even the well established artists which I’m not a fan of but, compound that with the fact that Spotify and Apple Music usually require a pay to host function for indie musicians and I’m out. I’m past the pay-to-play point in my life in any facet. Bandcamp is the indie music Mecca to me. I can host my music for free, design my page, and even sell merchandise (if/when I get some to sell). There’s even whispers of Bandcamp making an “as requested vinyl service” for fans of a band that would like an album in vinyl that the band hasn’t pressed. The only thing I have against Bandcamp at this point in time is that it just isn’t as well known to the casual music listener. I think I’ve personally only met one person that has a fan page.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
My love of Bandcamp is legit as I plan on hosting all of my work there. Any and all of my music will be posted on my Bandcamp site here
https://yupbobcat.bandcamp.com . I generally post new music as free or name your price for the first couple months just for reference. I also am working on a spin-off E.P. of “Songs About Death”. Catastrophe pending I expect to release it sometime in 2020.
I update my instagram the most out of all the other social media sites and I post to Youtube second most but for the sake of continuity I’ll post them all here.
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/yupbobcat/
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxWyx5LR-ZRNdxPU0qk88lQ
Twitter – https://twitter.com/yupbobcat
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/YupBobcat/
Anything else before we sign off?
I’ve got a little under 200 free “Songs About Death” download codes on Bandcamp. If anyone wants one I’d be more than happy to send them. Also I’d like to extend my deepest appreciation of Middle Tennessee Music for allowing me an outlet like this to promote my music.
