We recently connected with Yesterday’s Donuts and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Yesterday’s thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Right now, the most current project we’ve released, our newest EP, “The Fly”, holds the most meaning to us. Songs off of that record had been in the works as early as 2021, and through the loss of an old drummer, and subsequent acquisition of a new one, we were able to flesh out the remaining songs and finally record and release them. We really struck gold with our new drummer, Steve, who had prior experience with recording and producing, so it’s a great relief we didn’t have to pay any outside studio to get our tracks down. It’s also a huge plus as since Steve is in the band himself, he had an excellent grasp on the type of sounds and mood we wanted to achieve with our EP. I’d say this newest release is the best our music has sounded, not just through our recording and composition, but our genre as well, which to most people is hard to classify.

Yesterday’s, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Kelly, I’m the bassist for Yesterday’s Donuts. The other members are the aforementioned Steve on drums, Louis on lead guitar, and most importantly Dylan, who serves as rhythm guitarist, lead vocalist, and the founder of the band itself. Dylan started the group from the ashes of another project, albeit with an entirely different lineup, in the late spring of 2015. Dylan and I went to the same high school, and I met him near the end of my freshman year. Eventually, his then-bassist had to drop due to being accepted to his dream school, and another bassist was soon picked up. This lineup released the “Frankensteined” EP in March of 2017. By the fall of that year, they had since replaced drummers, and lost their lead guitarist at the time, continuing on as a three-piece. Around the year anniversary of the EP’s release, their second drummer had also left, leaving just Dylan and the bassist, who took it upon himself to jump on drums, which is where I come into the story of the band. At the same time as my tryouts, Dylan had met Louis at the coffee shop the latter was working at and hosting open mics at the time. I had my first show with the Donuts in June of 2018, with Louis joining in officially at our next show that July. The four of us recorded and released our first album “Too Much Noise, Not Enough Space” in February of 2019. That summer we gained a lot of momentum through our live shows, only for it to be halted by the year of 2020. We didn’t let current events stop us in meeting up and writing new material, however, and we soon got enough material together to make another album. This batch of songs was released in October of 2021, in our second album “What’d You Expect”. During Christmas of that year, our old drummer bowed out, leaving just Dylan, Louis and I to meet up in various parks and work on new songs, as well as just hang out and jam for the first half of 2022. That summer we got ahold of our savior, our light at the end of the tunnel, our new drummer, Steve, and after a whopping 3 tryouts/jam sessions, he was officially in. We had our first show with him in August of that year, and have been going strong since. We started recording our latest EP in September of 2023, and eventually finalized everything to have it released as “The Fly”, in March of this year. Our only goal now is to keep improving our sound, as well as play as many shows as possible, and if we could make a little bit of money while doing so, why not?

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Personally, I’d just love to get our name and music out to as many ears and eyes as possible. My main motivation for music comes from playing live. I thrive with the energy and atmosphere that a live crowd brings, and the rowdier the people, the better. Gaining fans is all about who you play in front of, as you never know who will be in that sea of heads and thrashing hair. I don’t seek international fame, as quite frankly the idea of it scares the daylights out of me. But if the band as a whole can reach a spot of comfortability with money and we’re all still happy with the music we’re writing, that’s when I know my goal will have been achieved.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Definitely the period we had between drummers. While it was nice just having the three of us meet up once or twice a week to just hang out and catch up, we all eventually gained a mutual itch to get back out in front of a crowd. As I said before, I think we struck gold with finding Steve, both in how dedicated he is to the band as well as how much of a monster he is on the kit. We all truly feel that he was the greatest fit for a band like us, and I’m sure he’d wholeheartedly agree if you were to ask him. Not to mention the absolute roar of the crowd on our return show. We hadn’t even started our first song and had just finished plugging in our amps and mics, the house music died down, and the pretty lights started flashing. I just remember hearing them cheer and getting the dumbest grin on my face. Then we ripped for 30 odd minutes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/yesterdaysdonuts
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yesterdaysdonuts/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@yesterdaysdonuts?si=74TYCSuTtSWE86Pe

Image Credits
Photos by Brooke Salas, Matthew Hernandez, and Esteban Uribe.