Florida band Yärdij talks about their upcoming EP "Something Along The Lines", their musical influences, and creative process
Yärdij is a five-member, female-fronted ensemble from Florida. Since the group’s startup, Yärdij has quickly garnered statewide recognition and success, despite being a relatively new band. Since the group’s startup, Yärdij has quickly garnered statewide recognition and success, despite being a relatively new band. They have performed at Florida’s Sunfest, rocked the main stage at Florida Music Festival and were the regional winners of South Fl Hardrock Rising Competition. According to lead vocalist Deja Elyze “Our goal isn't to embody a certain genre or attract a certain people; it’s to simply make good music”.
We connected with Yärdij to learn more about their second EP "Something Along The Lines", find out how the band was formed, find out who inspires them musically and much more.
Carlton Boyd
What does your band name Yärdij mean?
Our manager used to own a spot called The Junkyard in Hollywood, FL. It was literally a junkyard but the spot brought out various artists based out of Miami- dancers, recording artists, etc. It was a huge success and the band wanted to carry a little piece of that magic with them. So we based our name out of The Junkyard.
How did you guys come together for form the band?
Deja had known Drew for years. They had been friends since middle school and had finally decided to start a band. Drew dropped his marine science class senior year and decided to opt for an easier one. He joined "guitar for beginners" (even though he already played) and that's where he met Alex (who also obviously played). Alex introduced Drew and Deja to Nick- a long time friend of his. The original drummer, Ricky was introduced by Deja. Ricky was a producer who Deja had worked with in the past and drums happened to be his first instrument. When Ricky left the band to pursue his production, our manager was at the studio with her other artists, The XIVth, and met Jordan. He started tapping his pen and she pretty much knew he was the guy right then and there.
Tell us about your new EP "Something Along the Lines".
Something Along the Lines is a sophomore EP and we really wanted to capture a more developed sound. We're a relatively new band and still figuring things out but we put our all into the music. The songs are passionate and relatable.
Do you have a favorite song to perform or one that really gets the crowd lively?
Well everyone in the band shares that experience with a different song. As for the crowd, we generally get the best reaction from Down. We usually kick off our set with that song and it gets the crowd into a good mood.
Who are some of your musical influences?
All of us come from different backgrounds of music. Deja and Drew come from a more jam based style of music, Nick and Alex are really inspired by hard rock and punk, and you can hear Jordan's technical background along with hip hop and electronic vibes.
What's your creative process when it comes to song development? Is there one member of Yärdij that does a majority of the songwriting/production or is it fully a collaborative effort from start to finish?
It's different every time! Almost everyone in the band has come with some sort of skeleton or idea and we build from there. Then some songs were created from some jam that everyone was present in the room for. Just depends on how we're feeling.