Q&A: Yot Club Weighs His Suburban Roots on ‘Simpleton’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY JACK BERTH ☆
Photo by Rachel Briggs
RYAN KAISER NEVER STOPS MOVING OR RECORDING—It is part of who he is at this point, although he has seemed to settle down on the sunny coast of LA. Kaiser, known as indie genius Yot Club, has been moving and making records for well over seven years with his third album, Simpleton, coming out on April 17.
The name may strike a chord as he, like many indie artists of this day and age, had his viral hit: “YKWIM?” The song went viral in the early days of TikTok, with many using the song for their devastatingly sad edits. Standing at nearly a billion streams, Yot Club took the virality of it and built an amazing discography and signature sound. His debut album, off the grid (2022) has an immediate dreamy sound, reminiscent of those classic indie pop days of old. Rufus followed in 2024 with a heavy drive and a more rounded sound. His recognizable fuzzy vocals bring so much energy and life to his songs, and match it with twitchy instrumentation and rumbling drums.
Today, he is looking more toward the acoustic side. His two singles for Simpleton, “Projecting” and “Here and Now,” see Yot Club let his vocals stand alone and focus on clean production as well as having moments for the instruments to shine. The album looks to focus on the suburbs he grew up in his youth, and all of the positives and negatives that come with them. Yot Club is excited for its release soon. Read his thoughts on the album and his music below.
Photo by Nicole Busch
LUNA: Having just put out your second single as well as your album releasing in April, how are you feeling?
YOT CLUB: I’m really excited. I worked super hard on this thing, and I’m excited for people to hear. With the album done and tour not for a couple of months, I don’t really know what to do with my time right now. I’m just practicing the songs every day and getting ready for tour.
LUNA: Simpleton is your third album, and first album since 2024’s Rufus. What has changed for you in the time between the releases?
YOT CLUB: I learned a lot from making the first two albums, some stuff that should’ve been obvious. I can’t help but critique my older albums as being a little disheveled and unfocused, almost like compilations of songs and not albums. I wanted this album to revolve around a central theme in terms of song meaning and aesthetic.
LUNA: You have been releasing consistently since you first released your aquarium EP back in 2019. How have you kept up the pace with releasing singles and EPs at a continuous rate?
YOT CLUB: I’m just always recording stuff. I grew up on Soundcloud where it was normal for people to release a song every week or so. It was laid out almost like social media, and it kind of felt like this low-stakes safe space where people could post their ideas. Around 2019, I remember wondering what would happen if I took the Soundcloud style of posting to Spotify and real streaming places because Soundcloud was starting to get bad around that time.
LUNA: As you have been releasing, you have also been moving all around the country! Growing up in Mississippi, then Nashville, then NYC, then Philadelphia, and now the sunny coast of LA. All vastly different places, all vastly different music scenes, have you enjoyed moving to new places? Have any of your former homes inspired your music? Have another city that you are eyeing next?
YOT CLUB: Yeah, I love moving around. I’ve pretty much done one city per album. I didn’t travel much when I was young, so it’s just fun to see new stuff. But I will say after moving 2,700 miles from Philly to LA, I am over it. That move sucked so bad.
LUNA: As you have grown, you have adopted this lo-fi indie rock sound that so many others try to replicate, doing it mostly through effects on vocals and guitars. Why have you found comfort in using these effects?
YOT CLUB: I don’t have the gear or knowledge to record super crisp and sterile songs, so I’ve just never tried. I never really liked listening to music like that either, to be honest, I like things that sound a little shit. Big fan of drums going through a guitar amp, feedback loops, undermixed vocals, etc. I also think people spend too much money on plugins and gear, and they all buy the same stuff. It puts you in a position where if you buy no plugins or gear, you’re actually able to make more unique stuff.
LUNA: It is impossible (at least for me) not to love the indie genre in its entirety because of how different it is. Did you have any favorite indie bands/artists growing up? Any specific indie eras helped you get into music more?
YOT CLUB: When I was really little, I liked They Might Be Giants, Grandaddy, Green Day, and Proclaimers. It was all stuff I found in my parents’ CD collection. When I started taking guitar lessons, I became a big classic rock kid. This was very common at the time, as Guitar Hero had just dropped and every kid was randomly into Kansas and Danzig all of a sudden.
LUNA: A track that had a more subdued energy was your hit song, “YKWIM?” Sitting at nearly a billion listens, has your relationship to the track changed in any way because of its virality?
YOT CLUB: No, I have a good relationship with that song, appreciative of the love it’s gotten. I’m kind of lucky because my fans are cool and don’t just show up just to hear that song. They holler crazy deep cut requests at me, songs I forgot I even made.
LUNA: Your lead single, “Projecting,” does not have as much edge and driving pace as your previous work, going for a more reserved and swaying feeling. Is that reflective of the album in its entirety? Why choose “Projecting” as the lead single?
YOT CLUB: I think it’s one of the better-written songs I’ve made, so I wanted to push it to the front. The writing and arranging are just more thorough than stuff I’ve made in the past. I wanted this album to be more dynamic than the past stuff, with bigger highs and smaller lows. And I wanted more natural tones like piano, acoustic guitar, etc., as I’ve gotten better with recording those things.
LUNA: Guitars are a driving force in “Projecting” and have been consistently an instrument you focus on. Do you start to write your songs on guitar? Are you someone who likes to have a plethora of pedal options or just keep it simple?
YOT CLUB: Yeah, guitar is my main instrument. When I play other stuff, I kind of feel like I’m just pretending, but guitar feels natural. Most of the songs, I’ll record some scratch drums so I’m not just playing to a bare click, record the guitar, then redo the drums and figure out where everything else will go.
LUNA: The album cover for Simpleton is artwork done by Jake Longstreth, an LA-based painter. A lot of his work is focused on the landscape of LA: the palm trees, the dry look, and some capitalistic corporations being omnipresent. Besides you liking his work, why did you ask him to do the cover? Did you want to personify LA on your album?
YOT CLUB: I was brainstorming ideas I thought would be cool for the art, and I sent some of Jake’s work to my management. I’ve been a fan of his stuff for a while now. My management was like okay we’ll hit him up. I was like, “Guys, he’s not going to respond, this guy has stuff at Sotheby’s.” They hit him up anyway, and he responded right away. It’s definitely an honor to have a Streth piece as the cover, now I just need one in my house.
Photo by Rachel Briggs
LUNA: The somewhat hustle culture and “me-first” personalities of LA seem to be present on “Projecting,” as you say, “I want to feel like a part of a group again.” With how much you have moved, how has it been trying to stay in contact with your friends? Is this a disconnect from friends and others a theme on the album?
YOT CLUB: I actually wrote that song back in Philly. To be honest, I’ve been surprised by how nice everyone is in LA, and they’re always trying to work. Philly was probably the hardest place to make friends, but I didn’t make that song about Philly people. But yeah, it can be hard to keep up with everyone for sure, especially people from back home.
LUNA: Your second single, “Here and Now,” sees you still struggling with your emotions. How do you get in the headspace to write lyrics and build songs that are more emotionally heavy?
YOT CLUB: That’s not really a headspace I have to force myself into. I feel like there’s plenty of stuff to be sad about naturally, but with that one, I just wanted a song to encapsulate the feeling of being overwhelmed to the point of disassociation because I feel like that’s a common thing people feel.
LUNA: “Here and Now,” similarly to “Projecting” also contains a little instrumental break towards the end. What is your thought process for making a good instrumental break?
YOT CLUB: I wanted to be more thorough with the arrangements on these. A lot of 70s music they used to write these crazy bridges that felt like an escape from the song. And then they would somehow bring it back to the chorus, and then there would be an outro/coda different from everything else. It’s just more effort than you see with a lot of songwriting today, so I wanted to challenge myself to give each song a good C part. Thanks for noticing!
LUNA: The album cover definitely represents LA, but also gives the comfort of a suburban fast-food drive-thru. Did you grow up in suburban neighborhoods, and if so, how do you feel they shaped you and your childhood?
YOT CLUB: I grew up in the suburbs. I feel that when I was younger, I wanted to live in the city so bad because I felt like the suburbs had no culture. I eventually realized that the lack of culture is the culture. Suburbs create an opportunity for an actual counter culture that you don’t see in bigger cities. Counter culture feels performative somewhere like San Francisco because everyone is welcome to be themself, but I feel like the punk scene in Mississippi carries more weight because they are genuinely seen as outsiders.
LUNA: The merch for the album includes a tote bag with old-timey newspaper ads, T-shirts with retro dinner trays and an older-looking SUV. With these being more suburban trademarks, are they all things you grew up with? What memories do you have of your childhood family car?
YOT CLUB: We had a Honda Pilot with a tv screen. But the only DVDs we had were School of Rock and Kicking & Screaming. I’ve seen those movies like a million times.
LUNA: What do you want people to take away most from the album? What do you think would be the best setting for a first listen?
YOT CLUB: I hope they’re able to listen from start to finish. I feel like it has a better flow to it than my past albums. I always like to enjoy a new album after all my work and stuff is done, so I don’t have any looming anxiety. Sometimes, if an artist I really like drops a new album, I’ll wait a couple of weeks to listen to it just because I want to wait for the right time.
LUNA: Are you excited to go on tour? Can you tell us more about it and about the openers?
YOT CLUB: Yes, I’m so ready to be on tour. I miss it so much. Last year was a lighter year in terms of shows, so I’m glad to be back in an album cycle. I picked the openers myself, I’m a big fan of Renni and zzzahara and I’m flattered they’re coming along.
