"The Riff Should Sound Great On A Fucking Acoustic Guitar"

"If I need to put on some modulation or tricks to make a riff work then the riff’s not good enough.” The statement is stark yet profound, but for YOB vocalist and guitarist Mike Scheidt, of arguably one of the most profound doom bands in the world, crafting good riffs is the epitome of what makes their music great. “The riff should sound great on a fucking acoustic guitar. It should just work… at that basic level. If different kind of effects and weird things can add a lot to it then great, but for me I just want songs that work.” Scheidt’s songs are obviously working, as YOB’s most recent record, Clearing The Path To Ascend, has been universally lauded, but, if the band has been kicking since 1996, why has it taken so long to reach Australia? At this point Scheidt is introspective. “It took us a long time to get to Europe too. I mean we just released our sixth record by the time we got to Europe. We always moved really slow.” 

"Once in a while you’ll have a moment where your tone is perfect. You go ‘Ah oh my God!’… and then it goes away.”

The reality is a mirror image of the band’s trundling sound, but there’s reason embedded within YOB’s history that explains why their international exposure is branching out slowly. “I mean, ten years ago, twelve years ago, fifteen years ago doom shows had very small crowds even for the big heavy legendary bands. There just weren’t big shows. We pretty much had to max out our credit cards to go on tour and you lose your job. For all of us in YOB with kids and stuff it just wasn’t a scenario.” It may come as a surprise, but YOB have never written a record for the purpose of getting out on the road. “We’ve never really done anything that wasn’t at our pace. The music that we’ve written has been primarily to satisfy ourselves and satisfy that inner need to write and play… Everything that’s good, that’s come to us, has really come to us out of that music. It’s come out of us working on our rehearsals and living our lives.” If you had been on the line the authenticity in his voice would’ve burnt a hole through your heart.

Scheidt has collaborated on the design of his own distortion pedal, which he has found “works really well with a number of different kinds of amplifiers,” but on finding the perfect guitar rig, “I don’t think there is any guitarist out there that is going to tell you ‘Oh I have the perfect rig, it’s the perfect one hundred per cent everything I want.’ We’re all way too neurotic and hard to please for that. I think it happens sometimes if you’re lucky; once in a while you’ll have a moment where your tone is perfect. You go ‘Ah oh my God!’… and then it goes away.”

While Yob will perform material old and new, the duration of their set is not absolute. “Usually we will play for an hour… sometimes we play for an hour and half or even an hour and forty-five minutes… It’s usually at the request of the people there.”