The first time I saw Yam Haus in concert on March 30, 2019, I did not know any of their music but I immediately felt welcomed as a fan. There was so much positivity being spread from the four members of the band throughout the entire room. Vocalist and guitarist Lawrence (Lars) Pruitt, guitarist Seth Blum, bassist Zach Beinlich, and drummer Jake Felstow comprise the energetic Minneapolis based group.
Before their most recent show in Chicago, on January 11, 2020, I had the opportunity to speak with the band and find out a little bit of Yam Haus history. Pruitt, Blum, and Beinlich attended high school and had music projects together in Hudson, WI.
“We live deep ‘burbs of Minneapolis...literally on the river, we call it MinneSconsin,” Pruitt said.
In early 2017, the MinneSconsinites met Felstow, from Detroit, MI. “We met Jake in the music scene, he’s from Detroit, and once it all came together we were like ‘yeah this is Yam Haus,’” Beinlich said.
Coming up with a band name is no easy feat. Beinlich compared it to naming your first born child. I have a hard time naming my playlists on Spotify, so I can’t imagine having to commit to a band name for life.
“I think that’s how good names find you, hopefully, is that they just find you you don’t find them,” Pruitt said. When the four moved in together, they nicknamed their house the “Yam Haus,” with “Yam” standing for “You Are Me.”
When someone suggested they name the group the same name as their house, no one fell for the idea.
“I remember when [Lars] told me, [he] was like ‘and we’re gonna call it Yam Haus’ and I was like kinda deflated and then it grew on me,” Felstow said.
Of course, once the name is set, it’s time for the music. Yam Haus doesn’t quite fall into one genre of music, but if necessary, would probably classify themselves somewhere between pop and rock. In the middle of a show, Pruitt will often stand on a light box and instruct the crowd to chant “rock show” back to them.
“We still are developing what the Yam Haus sound even is. A good brand is informed by the consumer. I think people are gonna tell us what the Yam Haus sound is and we’re going to listen. Genres are dying and we’re happy about that,” Pruitt said.
I think Yam Haus has an incredible blend of fun music that everyone would like in one way or another. Each song is so individualized, but everything blends together and, in my opinion, is Yam Haus. “The Thrill” is so different from “Groovin’ (That Feel Good Song)” which is also so different from “Mama” and “Right Now, Forever” which gives a unique mix of very synth-filled songs and more acoustic heavy songs. Pruitt mentioned wanting to make music that even people who don’t like music might be interested in, and the wide variety of music makes this possible. “These new songs that we’re thinking about, we want to be able to play them with the four of us just on our instruments that we normally play outside of production and keys that are added in a studio setting,” Felstow said.
At the show on January 11th, the band elected to perform a semi-stripped show, but still with the energy of the most upbeat songs. Pruitt said it helps them breathe a little bit better.
“Tonight we’re doing a kind of hybrid so there will still be a full drum kit and electric guitar but [Lars] will be on acoustic,” Blum said.
At the show that night, they played “The Chill Thrill,” a version of “The Thrill” that is slowed down just enough so you could still sing and dance.
“I’d say that singable is something that we tend to go for,” Felstow said. Singable is one of the best words to describe this music, each song is something to sing along to and have fun. The band makes sure of this by not only releasing enjoyable music, but also including a “Party In The U.S.A.” and “...Baby One More Time” mashup in their setlist.
At the January 11th show, my friend Roxana and I met someone in the crowd named Holly Wheeler. She was visiting Chicago from Canada and was heading back home on the 12th. She was bored that night and decided to find some live music around the city. Without knowing of Yam Haus, she listened to a few snippets on Spotify and went to the show.
“As someone who didn’t know any words to any of the songs, I still felt like I could sing along and dance with the crowd because of the high energy from every single person in the room,” Wheeler said. “I could even join in at one point with the Miley Cyrus-Britney Spears mashup.
Everything they have released right now has been predominantly the brainchild of Pruitt, but everything is still very collaborative and they have an open-door policy for creativity.
“Whoever has a seed idea brings a seed idea, whether it’s instrumental or lyrics or melody or some combination of all three, and then we all go ‘do we like this, is this worth exploring?’ and we all have the zones in which we best operate. We all have to sign off on stuff at the end of the day,” Pruitt said, “I’m really excited about our next wave of music that no one’s heard yet because I think it’s the most collaborative we’ve been able to be and I think it’s made the songs a lot better.”
There is no forced fairness in the group, they don’t have their work split so everyone does an equal twenty five percent, but they do split the earnings equally. “We all just want what’s best for Yam Haus, so when it comes to writing a song it’s just the best idea, a democracy,” Felstow said.
The band aims to write and create music that inspires them and that they would enjoy listening to. Being proud of your own music is extremely important, and so is validation from others liking it, but Pruitt really wants the band to get a bad review.
“I would love to get a terrible review on Pitchfork. If we’re in the circle where Pitchfork is going ‘Oh, we’re going to do a Yam Haus review’ that means so much to me. That is such a good sign that we’re even in the discussion, and then to get roasted just means ‘hey, if we’re not too egocentric let’s learn a few things from this article, how can we do better,’” Pruitt said.
The four boys love hometown shows because they spent so much of their original growth time performing there, but they also love travelling a bit further. Felstow says the more they go out to other cities, the more excited they are to go back and continue to find more fans.
“If we get to meet five more people there, that’s five more people that want to come to a show and maybe they bring one more person,” Pruitt said about opening for MILKK and The Orphan The Poet in Chicago last March.
Pruitt says, “You have to beat the game before you change the game.” As the band continues to grow and get closer to 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify (currently 77,000), they’ll continue to play the game of music, play around with current trends, twist them to fit the Yam Haus sound, and eventually create their own game within the music scene.
Interview and photos by Amilee!
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