Sitting on Stacy, a local band composed of San Diego State alumni, are currently taking the United States by storm.
The three-piece band made up of Hoyt Yeatman (vocals and guitar), Kyle Hart (bassist and vocals) and Trevor Smith (drums) are on their first co-headlining tour with The Aquadolls while traveling via van.
Meaningful and relatable, the California-based rock/alternative band with a ska/surf vibe doesn’t label themselves in one category.
“We don’t want to stick to one genre all the time, whatever sounds good, whatever feels good in the moment,” Yeatman said. “We’ve really gotten into mixing and mastering, writing lyrics and we’re all really good friends.”
Originally from Ventura, the band members said coming to San Diego was something of a dream for them all, along with playing at venues such as the Irenic, Che Café and SOMA.
“We went from playing smaller club shows, college shows and house shows to like playing an amphitheater,” Yeatman said.
Last year the band toured six or seven venues with the Jonas Brothers and had a lot of fun on stage.
“The North Island Credit Union Amphitheater, that was the first show we played with the Jonas Brothers on and it was terrifying,” Yeatman said.
While San Diego music fans may have heard of this band before, they may not have known about their SDSU roots.
Yeatman graduated in 2020 with a degree in business marketing (IMC) with a minor in music global composition. Hart followed a year later graduating in 2021 with a communications degree. There they earned their degrees and learned life lessons that help them today.
“I’m the one who didn’t go to SDSU, but I did go to a different Cal State, California State University Channel Islands, which kinda looks like a smaller version of SDSU,” Smith said. Graduating with a degree in political science and a minor in international relations in 2021.
Deadlines, professors, other students and working on the spot all contributed to what they carried on into their lives after school. Their classes and extracurriculars at SDSU helped them learn how to mix and master a track, which they use when in the studio creating a new song.
“Honestly, that’s come into my life so much, we mixed and produced our whole record that’s coming out soon,” Yeatman said. “If I didn’t learn that at SDSU, I definitely wouldn’t have mixed it.”
They earned notoriety over time by playing at countless college house parties while attending SDSU. The band found themselves meeting other musicians and playing at more gigs which helped grow their fanbase.
“The whole music scene in San Diego is really awesome,” Hart said.
Before going on tour, the band released new singles such as “This Summer’s Day” and “Ellen.”
The members explained how the process of writing a song in the studio differs and it doesn’t always work. While some songs work right away, others can take months to perfect.
“When you go to sit down and write a song it never works, you have to work with some inspiration you’ve had,” Hart said.
The band works together, jamming and throwing out ideas working off of any bit of inspiration such as a melody or riff.
As the band recalled their best stage moments, they reflected on their memories. Wearing inner ears and listening to fans sing their songs back has an impact on them.
The band recalled a show as the Jonas Brothers’ opening act; in Sacramento where there was a technical malfunction and they had to act on their feet.
“We’re about to play and we’re in front of thousands of people and they started playing ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA and it starts blasting over the speakers,” Yeatman said.
After a few minutes, the issues got resolved and the song was cut off and Hart opened the show with a drum solo.
“I was so scared, it was the scariest moment,” Yeatman said.
Sitting on Stacy returns to San Diego on April 16 where they will be playing the main stage at SOMA.
“We’ve been playing at it for so long and it’s just a cool place, everyone goes so crazy there,” Hart said.
