YABAI!

About

YABAI! originally formed when band leader Phil Smith returned to Burlington VT after living in Japan for 2 years. He hadn't written any songs or even played music on a regular basis in 6 years, and the idea of forming a band was nebulous at best. He was reconnecting with his friend Scott Barrett for dinner, and the topic of making a band came up -- Phil said that he would love to have a band, but drummers were so hard to find, to which Scott said that HE was a drummer and would love to start playing music together. Flabbergasted, Phil agreed and the two started to talk about it more seriously. From there, Phil and Scott recruited their mutual friend Eric Winebrenner to bust out his bass from high school, and after a few jam sessions in which all 3 of them shook off some of the rust, they recruited Mitch Bergeron as a lead guitarist. After putting together a few covers and a handful of original songs, some of which existed long before YABAI!, they fell into a groove of writing and performing catchy, high-energy indie rock songs with a hint of emo in their pedigree. Once their sound was well-formed, they emerged from the basement and released their first single, Simplify, on the day of their first show. Since then, they've become active in the Vermont punk and alt rock scene, and they have been recording music and playing shows all over Vermont on a regular basis. Look out for them on a local bill! Their first album, Out of Touch, is out on 4/3/2025.

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