The Living Tombstone
American rock duo

The Living Tombstone
Logo used from 2013 to present
Background information
Genres
WorksDiscography
Years active2011 (2011)–present
Labels
Members
  • Yoav Landau
  • Sam Haft
YouTube information
Channel
  • TheLivingTombstone
Subscribers8.92 million
Views3.99 billion
Last updated: January 16, 2026

The Living Tombstone (TLT) is a Los Angeles-based electronic rock group and YouTube channel, founded as a solo project by Israeli-American producer Yoav Landau (Hebrew: יואב לנדאו) in 2011, and becoming a musical duo with American singer Sam Haft in 2016. The group is notable for their songs based on video games and pop culture media, such as the Five Nights at Freddy's series, Overwatch and My Little Pony, as well as original music. Signed to Warner Music, they have released two studio albums, Zero One (2020) and Rust (2025).

Several of their songs have garnered online popularity, and they have been credited with spawning various internet memes. In addition to their music videos, they have created music for the video games In Sound Mind, Beat Saber, and have created the video game AudioClash: Battle of the Bands. Music publication NME has referred to them as "the internet's biggest gaming band."[note 1]

Career

Background

Yoav Landau (born April 4, 1992[2]) founded The Living Tombstone in 2011 as both a YouTube channel and a musical project.[1][3] Landau, originally from Israel,[3] was involved in the online fan community of the media franchise My Little Pony, where he created remixes of the songs featured on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.[1][3] After one of his remixes garnered several thousand views, Landau created more songs of the franchise before eventually shifting his focus to various video game communities, creating songs based on video games.[1][4]

Five years after forming The Living Tombstone, Landau moved to the United States where he met vocalist Sam Haft (born 1990[2]).[1][3] Haft had previously been involved with other musical projects in the past, such as the comedic music group Sam & Bill.[3] Landau and Haft sent each other their songs before eventually collaborating on music, with Haft becoming an official member of The Living Tombstone.[3] The pair wrote songs such as a remix of Super Mario Odyssey's "Jump Up Superstar" in which Haft contributed backing vocals, and the original track "My Ordinary Life" which was cited by LA Weekly as their most popular song.[3] Both Landau and Haft worked on the worldbuilding for The Living Tombstone, including the characters, story, and lore surrounding the group's music and videos.[1][3] The attention their music received online caused Warner Music to notice the band, and the record label signed The Living Tombstone.[1]

Content and musical style

The Living Tombstone's content consists of both original music and homages to various video games and pop culture media, several of which became popular online.[1] One of the group's first video game-related videos was a trilogy of songs for the first three games in the Five Nights at Freddy's series.[1][5] The trilogy went viral on YouTube with each song accumulating hundreds of millions of views;[5] the first video in the series reached over 68 million views by 2016[6] and over 372 million views by 2024.[7] Houston Press listed the trilogy as one of the best songs based on the horror game.[5] The trilogy's success led the band to develop a cult following amongst the game's fandom. Rolling Stone credited the band with launching a subgenre of Five Nights at Freddy's themed music inspired by hyper-pop.[8] The first song was later used for the 2023 film adaptation in the credits, likewise for the second song with 2025's sequel.[9] Shortly before the film's release, the band released a gothic remix of the first song.[10] After the film's release, the song reached the top 5 of Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart, peaking at #4, previously only charting on the Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart.[11]

In 2018, The Living Tombstone's song based on the hero shooter game Overwatch, "No Mercy", went viral on social media.[12][13][14] Originally released as an animated video from YouTube channel Mashed in January 2017,[13] the song describes two players on the same team arguing about their choice of characters and its contributions to the team's repeated losses, mainly due to the lack of a support character in the team.[note 2] The song features the refrain "I'm Already Tracer," which became the subject of numerous videos made on social media platform TikTok in which users recorded themselves lip-synching to the song.[12][13][14] The meme attracted negative attention as it was the subject of various "cringe" compilations on social media. Outlets such as Kotaku, Polygon and The Daily Dot noted that such compilations soon became rooted in misogyny, with comments disparaging those who created such videos miming to the song alongside mocking women who play video games in general.[12][13][14] Gita Jackson of Kotaku also offered criticism for the song's production and vocals; however, she noted its catchy melody and relatable lyrics.[12]

Other songs of theirs that have become viral include their remix of various My Little Pony songs[16][17] and a remix of "Spooky, Scary Skeletons".[18][19] In 2012, The Living Tombstone remixed the song "Discord" from the Eurobeat producer Odyssey/Eurobeat Brony, which accumulated over 40 million views on YouTube and was used in over 500,000 videos on TikTok in 2021.[16] In 2013, Landau made a remix of Andrew Gold's 1996 song "Spooky, Scary Skeletons," which garnered over 90 million views on YouTube.[18] The remix was also listed by The Daily Dot as one of the most popular songs of 2019 on TikTok,[19] and as one of the best Halloween songs by USA Today.[20] The band also created another remix of Gold's "Witches, Witches, Witches" song in 2023, which was released on a new vinyl pressing of Gold's album Halloween Howls: Fun & Scary Music.[21]

The group's music has been labeled as electronic rock, alternative rock and pop rock, with influences from EDM and Middle Eastern folk music.[1][3][12] Landau has also stated that genres such as complextro, dubstep, drum 'n bass and electroswing have inspired the band's musical style.[17] The band has been regarded as an audiovisual project.[3] Their music and aesthetics have been compared to Gorillaz and Daft Punk, along with Lindsey Stirling's videos.[1][3]

The group has two studio albums; Zero One, released on September 4, 2020, and Rust, released on May 30, 2025. For Zero One, music videos were released for the three singles that supported the album, including a CG-based music video for their song "Chosen" created by animation studio The-Artery during the COVID-19 pandemic.[22][23] On January 31, 2025, the band announced their sophomore album's lead single "Be Alone" would release on February 7. While initially being announced for a 2024 release, Rust was released on May 30, 2025.[7][24]

Game development

The Living Tombstone has also contributed music for video games. In 2021, the band created the soundtrack for the indie horror game In Sound Mind from Israeli game studio We Create Stuff.[25][26][27] Their contributions to the soundtrack were praised alongside the game, with several outlets noting that the poignant and reserved compositions added to the dark atmosphere of the game.[26][27][28] The same year, the Living Tombstone collaborated with game studio Big Boat Interactive to create the music-based strategy game AudioClash: Battle of the Bands.[29][30][31] Described as an amalgam of various rhythm games, the role-playing games Pokémon and Dota and the Scott Pilgrim comics, the gameplay consists of assembling a group of musician characters to compete against rival bands.[1][31] The game was released on Steam in early access in late 2021.[31][32] The group has also contributed DLC tracks to the 2019 rhythm game Beat Saber,[33][34] as well as some music for the 2010 Half-Life 2 Mod Nightmare House 2 and the soundtrack for its upcoming remake releasing in 2026.[35][36]

Discography

Studio albums

  • Zero One (2020)
  • Rust (2025)

Tours

  • Tombstone Summer Tour (2024)[7]
  • TLT World Tour (2025)[37]

Notes

  1. ^ "When someone mentions 'passionate' online communities in 2021, you may find yourself recoiling in horror. Yet, as the calming smiles of Yoav Landau and Sam Haft populate my Zoom window, I'm reminded of the early 2000s – and friendlier fandoms. Listening to the excitable duo reminisce about their formative years, it's hard not to think that these very online pals could be any message-board-lurking '90s kids. Except they're not – they're the internet's biggest gaming band."[1]
  2. ^ In Overwatch, a player may only choose one hero character in the team at a time.[14] Support characters generally serve the role of healing other characters in the game,[14][15] and have been described as "a role male players usually assign to women (or assume that women prefer)" according to Polygon.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Regan, Tom (October 23, 2021). "Brony bangers and fanatic fandoms, meet The Living Tombstone – the internet's biggest gaming band". NME. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "The Living Tombstone performing at Emo's Austin in Austin, Texas". texreview.com. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Callwood, Brett (December 15, 2022). "It's Alive!: The Living Tombstone Is Creating Worlds For Its Fans To Play In". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  4. ^ Jonathan Alexandratos (March 31, 2017). Articulating the Action Figure: Essays on the Toys and Their Messages. McFarland. p. 67. ISBN 9781476664279. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Rouner, Jef (June 11, 2015). "Five Songs Inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's". Houston Press. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  6. ^ Guinness World Records 2017 Gamer's Edition. Guinness World Records. November 15, 2016. p. 47. ISBN 9781910561690. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Brunner, Raven (October 10, 2024). "The Living Tombstone's Sam Haft Was in 'Disbelief' over Sold-Out Nationwide Tour: 'What If Nobody Likes Us?". People. Archived from the original on October 31, 2024. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  8. ^ Jones, CT (October 30, 2023). "'Five Nights at Freddy's' Started as a Video Game — But Launched a Musical Subgenre". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  9. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 27, 2023). "'Five Nights At Freddy's' Frenzy Fires Up With Around $7M+ In Previews – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  10. ^ Colangelo, BJ (October 27, 2023). "Does Five Nights At Freddy's Feature Music From The Living Tombstone?". /Film. Archived from the original on November 1, 2023. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  11. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (November 9, 2023). "The Living Tombstone's 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Debuts in Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart Top 5". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  12. ^ a b c d e Jackson, Gita (November 21, 2018). "Popular Overwatch Fan Song Has Turned Into An Excuse To Mock Female Gamers". Kotaku. Archived from the original on January 28, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  13. ^ a b c d e Radulovic, Petrana (November 3, 2018). "'I'm Already Tracer' critics tear teens down just for having fun". Polygon. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e Vincent, Brittany (November 26, 2018). "Overwatch Tracer memes invade TikTok with cringeworthy clips". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  15. ^ Nichols, David; Perillo, Sophie (February 25, 2020). Urban Australia and Post-Punk Exploring Dogs in Space. Springer Singapore. p. 294. ISBN 9789813297029. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Haasch, Palmer (June 10, 2021). "A song called 'Discord' is going viral on TikTok, but not all creators realize it's a fan-made 'My Little Pony' song popular among 'bronies'". Insider. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Reynders, Nike (February 22, 2012). "There Are Grown Men Who Are Obsessed With My Little Pony". Vice (in Dutch). Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  18. ^ a b Feldman, Brian (October 16, 2019). "How 'Spooky Scary Skeletons' Became the Internet's Halloween Anthem". Intelligencer. Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Bonfiglio, Nahila (December 14, 2019). "TikTok's 20 most popular songs of 2019". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  20. ^ Clarke, Mary (October 20, 2023). "The 10 best Halloween songs of all time: 2023 edition". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  21. ^ Cavanaugh, Patrick (September 15, 2023). "Andrew Gold's Halloween Howls Getting New Vinyl Release From Craft Recordings". ComicBook. Archived from the original on September 18, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  22. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (August 25, 2020). "The-Artery Builds a Neon CG Future for The Living Tombstone's 'Chosen'". Animation Magazine. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  23. ^ Sarto, Dan (August 31, 2020). "The Living Tombstone's Blistering 'Chosen' CG Music Video". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  24. ^ Edwards, Lewis Noke (July 15, 2023). "Gear Talks: Sam Haft". Mixdown Magazine. Archived from the original on December 23, 2023. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
  25. ^ Weber, Rachel (March 22, 2021). "In Sound Mind is an indie that brings new meaning to the term psychological horror". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  26. ^ a b Hoeger, Jonas; Sattler, Philip (March 22, 2021). "Previewed in Sound Mind: A Horror Beyond the Mind". PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  27. ^ a b Reich, Aaron (September 29, 2021). "'In Sound Mind': New Israeli video game released for PC, PS5, Xbox". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  28. ^ Wolinski, Peter (November 14, 2022). "In Sound Mind review". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  29. ^ Chandler, Sam (June 11, 2021). "AudioClash: Battle of the Bands shreds it to the top of the charts with new trailer". Shacknews. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  30. ^ Denzer, TJ (August 9, 2021). "AudioClash: Battle of the Bands Gameplay & Interview". Shacknews. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  31. ^ a b c Skrebels, Joe (June 11, 2021). "AudioClash: Battle of the Bands Is Auto Chess With Rock Stars – IGN Expo". IGN. Archived from the original on January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  32. ^ Pipomantis (June 12, 2021). "The Living Tombstone band unveils AudioClash: Battle of the Bands". Gamekult (in French). Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  33. ^ Meyer, Thomas J. (March 8, 2022). "Beat Saber update adds new mechanics and six more songs for free". Android Central. Archived from the original on June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  34. ^ Stockdale, Henry (October 30, 2025). "Beat Saber Prepares For Halloween With Spooky Scary Skeletons Shock Drop". UploadVR. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
  35. ^ Romano, Sal (August 21, 2024). "Nightmare House: Reimagined announced for PC". Gematsu. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
  36. ^ Wilson, Mike (August 25, 2024). "'In Sound Mind' Devs Announce Remake of 'Nightmare House 2' Mod With 'Nightmare House: Reimagined' [Trailer]". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
  37. ^ "Gig: The Living Tombstone World Tour 2025". The Music. Retrieved August 14, 2025.

Further reading

  • Alexander, Julia (November 2, 2018). "Reaction to TikTok's Overwatch meme misses the original video's intention". The Verge. Archived from the original on November 2, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  • Shearon, Andrea (July 30, 2021). "AudioClash Interview: Exploring Pokemon, Scott Pilgrim, And What Makes This Battle Of The Bands Rock". TheGamer. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  • Castro, Bárbara (October 26, 2023). "Five Nights at Freddy's tem cena pós-créditos?" [Does Five Nights at Freddy's have a post-credits scene?]. IGN Brazil (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  • The Living Tombstone's channel on YouTube
  • The Living Tombstone on Bandcamp
  • Official website
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