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The Joy of Collaboration, How to Ethically Consume Music In Light of Spotify's Monopoly, and the Beauty of Your Hometown Gas Station With Yin Waster

May 30, 2024

14 min read





Left, Griffin Mang (lead singer, lead guitarist, he/him) and right, Gabriel Huff (drummer, he/they/she) of Yin Waster in front of Edelweiss Tavern in Avondale, Chicago. Photo Credits: Sam Tucker



We had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Griffin Mang and Gabriel Huff of Yin Waster this month to discuss their music that they refer to as “gas station folk”, the music scene of Chicago, the D.I.Y. venue they have just opened called Rock and Roll House, and a myriad of other topics. 


Yin Waster started in 2016 in Michigan as Griffen Mang’s tool to release the songs that kept creeping out of his brain with gusto. He took inspiration from two piece bands and continued to record and release his music while living in Michigan. “I played a couple of shows in Michigan where I’m from,” says Mang. “And the repeated comment I kept getting was; ‘This is really cool, but I would love to hear it with drums.’ Cool, I have strangers coming up to me saying that this is really cool, but drums would be banging, like, okay, I should get a drummer! I moved to Chicago, did one year of school, didn’t find a drummer. My sophomore year [at Columbia College Chicago] I put up this sign that was, well, what’s the word-”


“Sketchy?” Offers up Huff.


“Yeah! This sketchy sign that just said I was looking for an avant garde, experimental drummer. They kept taking down the signs and I kept putting them back up, just thinking; ‘Oh well, the drummer will come eventually.’” 


“I just started my freshman year there,” Huff says then. “And loved albums like To Pimp A Butterfly and…other stuff. I saw [Griffin’s] sign and was like ‘Oh, hey, I could do that.” So, I texted Griffin asking; ‘Hey, is this Griffen Wang?’ To which he replied ‘No, it’s Mang.’ and I said ‘Oh.’”


Undeterred by name mix ups, the duo began to practice relentlessly. Mang had been itching to add more experimental drumming to Yin Waster. “My favorite drummer is Sunny Murray,” Mang says. “Who believes drums are textural and not made for time keeping.” Huff, who came from a more traditional soul and groove background of drumming, had not been what Mang was anticipating. Yet, after a few sessions together they threw the rule book of what they should be doing out the metaphorical  window and just jammed together, letting each of their unique sounds climb out of the instruments they played and meet in the small, cramped recording studio they first started playing in together. 


“We did our first recording in this really cramped drum room,” Mang explains. “Gabe was facing the wall and my amp was facing the other wall and we were just looking at each other sideways and it definitely immediately built a fast sense of comradery. Like, we’re going to get sweaty in this little room at 8:00 PM on a Tuesday.”




Griffin Mang (Left) and Gabriel Huff (Right) enjoy PBRs at Raging Opossum Press’s headquarters in Avondale, Chicago. Photo Credits: Sam Tucker



Mang had been recording and releasing songs for a while before Huff joined, and already had four or five EPs out and in circulation. However, soon after meeting, they began working on the EP they both consider to be Yin Waster’s official debut-Old Long Since.

“Which we recorded in a slightly bigger room next to the small room we had first played in,” Huff points out. 


Old Long Since was recorded from that slightly bigger room, as well as in dorm rooms. They would record individual pieces of the EP separately, with Mang focusing on lead and rhythm guitar and vocals, and Huff focusing on drums. They would then come together to see what they had and combine the pieces into one song. 


Even after recording it separately, Old Long Since proved to be a task to record. “We only had one mic for the first album,” Huff said. “We would have to do everything separately so each instrument could get its turn with the mic.” After recording each part of each song separately again, they could come together and make the song, then arrange those songs for Old Long Since.


“We don’t do that anymore,” Mang says with a laugh. 


No, now the recording of Yin Waster albums looks much more collaborative, which is how the band recorded their most recent album, Staticshifter with popular songs like “Punk Drug Dealer” and “I’ve Been Living By The Ocean.” On their songwriting process now, Mang says: “It’s been more of me being like ‘I wrote this last night. I don’t know if it’s good.’ Then we’ll just workshop it. Whereas before it was a lot of ‘here’s some chords and Gabe records drums,’ now it’s been feeling much more intertwined and collaborative.”


“We rehearse twice a week,” Huff says. “Griffin will normally send me something asking for my thoughts on it and I’ll be like ‘Sure!’ Then he’ll ask me if I listened to it and I’ll be like ‘Oh, I forgot.’ So. I’ll listen to it, like, five minutes before rehearsal. We’ll spend forty minutes sometimes just doing the same song over and over again, getting it right for both of us.”


“We’re getting our grooves together,” says Mang.




Gabriel Huff (drummer) pretends to bite down on a growing habanero plant in the garden of Raging Opossum Press’s headquarters as Griffin Mang (guitarist, vocals) looks on. Photo Credits: Sam Tucker


In terms of what musicians and albums have influenced them in their own writing, Huff takes the lead, citing the album To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar as one of the most influential albums for them. Vampire Weekend comes next as a major influence. “A lot of disco and old funk too,” Huff says. “And I think you can hear that.”



Mang then goes on to explain his influences. “The bands that really started making me want to play music were AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, really all those dad rock classics,” he says. “There’s a burned Office Depot CD my dad had that had all those and like…some Public Enemy and Eminem too. Then it was The Doors, Velvet Underground, The Grateful Dead, and more contemporary bands like bands in our local scene or garage bands. House music [was also influential] because you would have the drums being so simple and groovy, but then you would have these really melancholic chords on top. I really liked that juxtaposition. Also bands like The Dead and Phish were really inspiring to me because they were mostly independent, and it was this realization, like; ‘Oh, you can make a wonderful wealth of music without a label or anything.’” 


Outside of these inspirations to themselves, the collaborative nature of the Chicago music scene and the many bands found within have served as consistent inspiration for the members of Yin Waster. Bands like Sin. or OUX, folk bands like Two Cell and Light Blue Lines (“Shout-out Violet!” Huff says at Light Blue Line’s mention), fellow two pieces like Heet Deth, or the garage psych band Ryan Borens and The Forever Band have all served as major inspirations for the band.  


“Chicago just has one of the best scenes right now,” Mang says.


“There’s a lot of great bands releasing great albums right now,” Huff continues. “It’s just a super diverse scene.”


And it’s true. Mang goes on to point out how even just seeing a show in Chicago is super unique. “There’s such a genre diverse lineup at shows here,” he says. “Like, we can be on the same bill as a punk band, us as a folk band, and there’s a 99% chance people are going to dig both just as much, even if they’re all there to see the punk band. There’s so many bands I’ve seen on mixed genre bills, and that’s just so cool. Like, I can go see a show this week then go see [the same band] play the following and have a completely different experience.”


The Chicago music scene, and art scene in general, has been described as very collaborative where art scenes in other cities in the United States may seem more competitive instead. The members of Yin Waster liken some of this to the mixed genre bills that happen throughout the city. Bands that would normally not cross paths come to play venues together for screaming fans, their sonic combinations leading musicians to collaborate and make unique and transgressive sounds living outside the restrictions genres often put upon them. 


This is especially felt in the local Do It Yourself (D.I.Y.) scene that both Griffin Mang and Gabriel Huff are proud supporters and members of, to the point that they have opened up the apartment they share to D.I.Y. shows, calling their new ragtag venue the Rock and Roll House. Though with it being in their apartment, don’t expect to find it on Google Maps. DMing Yin Waster on Instagram will be your best bet to see a show there.



“Marvin Stumbles, The Trees Will Return, and Julia Morrison all played in our apartment,” Mang excitedly exclaims when recalling shows played at the Rock and Roll House. “Part of [starting the venue]  was because we wanted to give our friends a show to play at, but another part of it was wanting to give my friends a show to play at where the commute is six steps for me. It’s all about giving and receiving in the end.”


Huff and Mang had always dreamed about throwing house shows if they were to ever live together. After throwing a housewarming party in their new home when they finally did become roommates, they knew they had the capacity to host shows there. The first one they had was Marvin Stumbles, Yin Waster, and Seneca. Inspired by their good friends who ran Iguana House, they thought, why not continue?


“We had bands we knew who would be like; ‘We wanna play with you, but we don’t have a venue,’ or ‘My friend’s coming to town, we’re looking for a spot to play.’ So, we started doing shows in our apartment. I’d be like; ‘You can play in my apartment!’ If we could get thirty people in there, with seven dollars a ticket each, then all the bands can leave happy.”




The band Pescaterian At Best plays Rock and Roll House. Photo Credits: Gabriel Huff


Rock and Roll House has only grown from its beginning stages, with shows now turning into art fairs as local visual artists come by and sell their wares, or tattoo artists set up shop in Mang and Huff’s kitchen. As different mediums of body art, visual art, and music collide, Rock and Roll House becomes a great representative of that intrinsic drive to collaborate and create that is found in the Chicago art scene. The shows themselves have slowly been growing in popularity too. While still having some shows with low turnout, Mang and Huff’s apartment starts getting cramped during other concerts they host. “Yeah, there’s some shows where we’re at capacity,” Mang says. “It’s like; ‘Hey, people need to start going out for cigarettes!’”


What’s it like throwing a show where you live? Well, Mang and Huff do a lot of cleaning before the show, which has made it so Rock and Roll House has been described as the cleanest D.I.Y. venue in Chicago. “We’ll take it,” Mang says proudly. There are definitely messes, and the duo recounts nights where sometimes people have gotten a little handsy while the folk music plays, leading to them seeing troubling sights when opening the door to their bathroom. Generally though, Mang and Huff recount each experience of running their D.I.Y. venue from their apartment with broad smiles and laughter, clearly enjoying the experience.


They both describe the music of Yin Waster as gas station folk. What does that mean to them? Well, everyone has their hometown gas station. It’s the place your parents would fill up the car, where you’d buy sodas as a kid and steal beer from as a teenager. The gas station represents that childhood nostalgia, a certain place in time and a peace that comes with it. Yin Waster does the same with their folk music, thus labeling themselves as a gas station folk band.


“It’s the idea that you’re at a gas station at 3:00 AM and in some sort of state,” Mang says. “It’s the place you walk into early in the morning when you’ve been up so long you feel strung out, or maybe you are strung out. It’s the notion that everything is a little fucked, but homely. You’re on edge in a comfortable way.”


“You know what to expect when you walk into a gas station,” Huff says. “And yet, every single one is different.”






Griffin Mang (Left) and Gabriel Huff (right) at a Shell Station on Belmont Ave in Avondale, Chicago. Photo Credits: Sam Tucker



Significant moments in Mang’s life have happened at gas stations as well. For their EP Medi, the album cover was taken of the last gas station in Death Valley, California before a large stretch without one. “My uncle was on his deathbed,” Mang said. “And the quickest way to get their was through Death Valley. Five minutes into Death Valley, my aunt called us and told us he kicked the bucket. My dad and I are big Doors fans and were listening to ‘When The Music’s Over.’ It was, like, oppressively sad, and almost cartoonishly over the top. Listening to this song about death, going through Death Valley, while going to see someone who just died. We stopped at the gas station and my Art School ass took a photo of my dad holding my mom as she was crying, then took a picture of the gas station. Gas stations are hopefully not always going to be there since the O-Zone is practically non-existent, but [right now] they are always here, whether you’re drunk or your uncle’s dead.”


Yin Waster has already played many amazing shows, playing a transformative show in Akron, Ohio that inspired a whole album for them, a show at the historic Chicago venue Beat Kitchen, and a show in the Chicago River put on by the musician Lawrence Tome. On one of the cement cylinders that protruded from the water, they were able to roll up with a gas powered generator and their gear on a dinghy to set up a stage to play their music for the cars passing by and the people watching from a bridge.




Yin Waster plays a show from the Chicago River. Photo Credit: Gabriel Huff 


Despite some of their amazing shows already done, Yin Waster hungers for more, daydreaming of the days where they can play at venues in Chicago like the The Riviera, Salt Shed, Thalia Hall, and even Sleeping Village, near the headquarters of Raging Opossum Press. “I’ve just seen so many cool bands play there,” Mang says. “I saw my first Heet Deth show there, and I saw Robot Civil War and Babe Report at that show.” The night before this interview, Babe Report had been playing Sleeping Village again, this time with Old Coke and Ringo Deathstarr. At this realization, Mang laughs. “I’ve done all of those at least once when I was nineteen,” he says.


When asked if there were any local Chicago bands they would like to shout-out, Huff is ready with an answer immediately. “All of them!” they say. “If they exist, listen to them. Just go through everyone we’re following on Instagram. If we’re following that band, go listen to them. Go follow everyone we’re following because they’re fucking cool people. Go check out our Spotify Radio too. All the bands that come up on that are great. Sin., Indigo Flood–which I’m in–Wild Daisies, and Friendly Faces–which Griffin is in. It’s just kind of turned into Yin Waster and the other bands the two members, or our friends, are in.”


The mention of Spotify leads to a conversation about the ethical consumption of music. As Spotify has nearly monopolized streaming, and has declared to pay their artists even less, many people may struggle between listening to their favorite artist on the convenient app, and wanting to distance themselves and their money from the corrupt corporation. In a world where Spotify has such a chokehold on the music industry, how can someone support the bands they like and consume music in a way that doesn’t uphold predatory business practices?


“Bandcamp,” Mang answers. “Bandcamp is always the best. Buy merch and come to shows too. All of our stuff is for free download on Bandcamp though, and as long as I’m living and able to, I will keep it that way. Some of the most life changing music I’ve ever listened to was for free on Bandcamp, and I want to give back. If you want to support us, buy a cassette, come to a show, buy us beer. I’d rather someone do a one time purchase of our music on Bandcamp or YouTube and get the revenue from that than Spotify. I mean, I do appreciate all of our Spotify listeners, and we do promote on Spotify. And it’s cool, and I listen to music on Spotify. I’m not saying you’re a bad person if you [use Spotify], but I also buy a lot of music on Bandcamp and hope to–in some way–cosmically even it out. I use Spotify to find music, and if I like it I can buy that on Bandcamp.”


“One time I was at Cafe Mustache,” he continues. “Someone recognized me and bought me a round of beer and we talked about music for forty minutes. I mean, you buy me a beer and tell me I’m good at music? That’s more than Spotify has ever done for me.”

During Raging Opossum Press’s interview with Yin Waster, we took some time to ask them about specific songs they released too:


Q:Your most popular song is “Hey Jim,” who is Jim? What’s it about?


Mang: “It’s a hodge-podge of a few bad relationships–both platonic and romantic–that I had, and it’s supposed to be that feeling where you see that person who you know is so bad for you, but at the end of the day it is just genuinely good to see them again. It’s flawed, like all people are. The reason for ‘Jim’ was because it was super COVID times, and I was listening to a lot of The Doors, My Morning Jacket, who Jim James is the lead singer, and I was watching a lot of The Office with my parents and there’s that character Jim. So, I just kind of wrote it in and it stuck.”


Huff: “I have a distinct memory of listening to the demo before there were drums to it just over and over again on the Pink Line home from work. I was just listening to the lyrics and going ‘damn.’”




Gabriel Huff (Left) and Griffin Wang (Right) in an alleyway in Chicago. Photo credits: Sam Tucker


Q: One of my personal favorites is “Cowboy Chords,” what was the writing process of that?


Answer: 


Mang: “Tonstartsbandht were a big influence for me, they’re a cool psychedelic two piece, and they have a lot of linearly composed songs with this change, and I wanted to write something like that. Then the joke is that, in guitar, you have these super basic chords that everyone knows called cowboy chords. It’s the classic ‘C,’ ‘D,’ ‘G’ progression. The idea was that the chords get simpler as the song goes on. You start with these weird, atmospheric chords, then move to a nice melody you can sing along to, and by the end you’re just sitting on an ‘E.’ It’s the idea of coming home to the cowboy chords for resolution. Lyrically, I wasn’t doing too great at the time and it's a reflection of that.”


Q: What was the inspiration behind “I’ve Been Living By The Ocean”? Is there a story that goes with it?


Answer: 


Mang: “I was living in this studio apartment near Lake Michigan when I wrote that song, and have always loved ocean imagery. I’m also a big supporter of just making climate change…less. Whatever actions I can take to make our earth a healthier place. One night, I was walking along the lake and realized that, if everything goes as scientists say, my apartment will be underwater. I then started writing lyrics down and had this dark thought of, like, drowning myself before everything gets worse and wrote that into the lyrics. I often get torn up about the environment, and I feel like a lot of people I talk to are like ‘Yes, we do have to do something about that, but that’s far off.’ I don’t know if we have too much more time actually. Things aren’t going that great. While I am an optimist, that mindset is where those lyrics came from. We have to enjoy every moment we have, because a few more moments may be all we got left. And I wanted a song that was really rockin’, you know? I wanted a rock song and a song that called for environmental change.”


A question I like to ask artists, when I can, is what element do you assign yourself and your art. When Mang and Huff were asked this, and asked to assign each other an element, both got thoughtful. 


“I think Yin Waster is pretty earthy,” Huff says.


“Yeah,” agrees Mang. “I mean, I’d say it’s fire in the colloquial sense. But yes, elementally earth.”


When asked what elements they would assign one another though, the answer differed from the steady earth element they had answered for their music.


“I associate [Griffin] with air,” Huff says. “You’re very light, always going somewhere, always going around. I think you’re airy.”


 “I would say water for Gabe,” Mang said. “Very loose. Gabe’s kind of like a lake you grew up near, just always there. The tide is high, the tide is low. Some seasons are rainy, some are dry. That’s Gabe. Water.”


“Ah,” Huff says with a big smile. “That’s so sweet.”

 

We had a wonderful time full of laughter and smiles during our interview with Yin Waster. You can find them on Instagram under their handle yinwaster, and you can see them perform live at Sleeping Village on June 23rd, 2024. 





Griffin Mang (Left) and Gabriel Huff (Right) goofing around on the couch at Raging Opossum Press’s headquarters. Photo Credit: Sam Tucker


By Sam Plauche

Founder, Chief Editor, Journalist. For inquiries, reach out to sam.plauche on Instagram.

Published May, 2024


Raging Opossum Press is an independent publishing house and arts journalism press located in Chicago, IL. You can find us on Instagram at ragingopossumpress or our website https://www.ragingopossumpressllc.com/ All inquiries can be directed to our email ragingpossumpressllc@gmail.com








May 30, 2024

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