Artist description YAM. What’s in a name? A yam can be called a sweet potato, and vice versa, but they’re not really one and the same. And what do you label a band that has elements of electronic ambience and funky grooves but also rocking and catchy power-pop-style melodies? Is it funk, electronic, pop or rock n’ roll? Like the yam, this band is hard to define until you get a good taste of it. Yam’s music is as much of a surprise to the musicians who make it as it is to the listener or audience. Yam brings together members of Seattle bands, former and present (Greasy, Conifer Bog, Din, and Mars Accelerator) and “veterans” of New York and Chicago/ Champaign, IL “scenes” . Combined, their influences create pop that isn’t just, rock that’s not always, and even dub and disco-y grooves that aren’t bound by definition. Listening to their self-released 5-song EP, though the influences seem eclectic, there’s a certain rhythmic interplay, electronic atmosphere, and strong melodic vocals throughout. Does Yam sound like something else? With “everything new under the sun”, even the members of Yam can’t figure it out: “Stereolab with the cork out of its butt?” “Everything But the Girl with loud guitars”? “The Stranglers mugging Styx in a dark alley”? “Queen after they stopped hating synths?” “The Bee Gees if Odessa was the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever”? “A Super Furry Animals that can’t speak Welsh?” Maybe the moogs and the vocal stylings recall a different era, but Yam is no retro act. And you’ve got to have some sense of humor and irony to mix hip-hop beats with prog-rock ambitions and Beach Boys harmonies. There’s something daring here: the mixing of disparate musical elements; the brave or crazy urge to not worry about sounding like anything else out there; and a commitment to pop hooks and rock n’ roll energy regardless of style changes. So what’s in a name? This Yam, by any other name, tastes only as sweet as the bite you take out of it. CONTACT: e-mail: trans_yam@hotmail.com booking: (206) 328-4910

Music Style Pop Rock

Musical Influences Can Queen Roxy Music Super Furry Animals Guided By Voices Chrome Stereolab Styx Love Genesis The Teardrop Explodes

Similar Artists Super Furry Animals Guided By Voices Stereolab

Artist History Formed in the fall of 1997

Group Members Mary Genova - Bass Mathew Payne - Vocals, Drums Mitch - Keys, vocals, trumpet Tim Walsh- guitar

Instruments Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar, Synthesizers, Trumpet

Albums Yam

Location Seattle, WA - USA

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