Lil Yachty did not want any men to be part of his band for his Field Trip Tour. The Quality Control Music artist explained why he opted for an all-women backing band in an interview with Grammy.com.
“My life is surrounded by women — my two assistants, my mother as a manager, a lot of my friends are women,” Lil Yachty said. “Women really help me throughout my day. I just think that women are so powerful. I feel like they rule the world. They are the most important aspect to this world and they don’t get enough credit or shine, especially Black women. So that was my aura behind it. I just wanted to showcase that women can shred just as good as men.”
The rapper-turned-rocker hired bass player Téja Veal, drummer Monica Carter, guitarist Quenequia Graves, keyboardist Kennedy Avery Smith and two vocalists: Lea Grace Swinson and Romana R. Sainti. Lil Yachty praised the band members for their adaptability.
“They’re all so talented, so they all learned it very quick,” he said. “I gave [the music] to them early and gave them the stems. When it was day one, they all knew the songs. Even my new guitarist that came in later than everyone, she came in knowing the music.”
He added, “The rehearsal project for this tour was a little different because I’m reconstructing the whole album. I’m moving everything around and changing all the transitions and trying to make it trippy. So it’s a process of me figuring out how I want to do things. But they’re so talented and so smart, all I have to do is tell them what I want, and they’ll do it instantly.”
The North American leg of Lil Yachty’s Field Trip Tour runs through early November. European dates are scheduled for late November and December.