The Living Tombstone's Sam Haft Was in 'Disbelief' over Sold-Out Nationwide Tour: 'What If Nobody Likes Us?'

The singer-songwriter also shares that the band's second studio album has been pushed to early 2025

The Living Tombstone is nearing the end of their first nationwide tour – which was a surprise hit!

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, singer-songwriter Sam Haft, who leads the electronic rock band with creator Yoav Landau, recalls being surprised when tour stops across North America began to sell out.

"I was in disbelief," he tells us. "Which is interesting because my music partner had no anxiety about that at all. He was like, 'No, people are going to come see us.' I don't know. I'm a very naturally anxious person, so I am a major people pleaser. I'm like, 'What if nobody likes us secretly?' "

Haft explains that the Los Angeles-based group decided to go on tour after they did a successful test run of three shows in Southern California in October 2023. "We did that trio just to see if people would show up because we had never done the live band thing before," he says.

But when those three shows sold out, the band knew it was time to plan for something bigger. "Our tour was initially going to be, I think, eight to 10 dates and [now] we're going on 30 or something," he recalls.

Since June, The Living Tombstone have made stops in places from Harrisburg, Penn. to San Diego, and Haft notes that all have sold out except for their first show. The band will play their four final stops in November, which include Montreal, Toronto, Detroit and Columbus, Ohio – two of which are already sold out.

Amid the tour, the music group is preparing to release their anticipated second album, Rust, which is expected to drop in early 2025 after initially being announced for 2024. "It's being pushed to the beginning of next year, in part because it's so important to us to really get it done right," the singer-songwriter says. "It is not like we are on any deadlines. We have our own creative latitude. We are not accountable to some label head who's going to be like, 'This is the day!' "

Related: Paula Cole Says The Masked Singer Forced Her to 'Examine My Judgment and My Snobbery' (Exclusive)

Haft shares that the second album will be very different from their debut, Zero_One, which was named after Landau's "tombsona" in the band. The new album, on the other hand, will shine a light on his own character. He describes their first work as being "about self-actualization and change, and the things you can control about yourself and the things you can't."

Speaking of album two, he says, "This one was a challenge because we tried to not tread on any of the same ground. So what we tried to do was look externally and look at the things that are beyond our control."

Considering the band’s origins in making music inspired by video games and pop culture, Haft would be remiss not to recognize the role that fandom has played in their success. For instance, he recalls being asked by Blumhouse and Five Nights at Freddy's video game creator Scott Cawthon to lend their 2014 hit song inspired by the video game (which has over 372 million views on YouTube) to the 2023 movie adaptation.

"They invited us to set, which they didn't have to do, but it meant so much to us and especially Yoav who made the song himself 10 years ago by himself in his room, at his computer, not even thinking twice about like, 'Oh, who knows what this will be?'" Haft says of the experience. "To watch that wash over him, as his friend, was just an incredible moment to watch. To really watch someone you love’s dream come true in front of their face is so cool."

In retrospect, the singer-songwriter has learned to "embrace being a fan" through his work in the band and as the songwriter and composer of Vivienne Medrano’s webseries Helluva Boss and animated series Hazbin Hotel.

Related: Green Day 'Demasters' Dookie by Putting Each Track in a Vintage Electronic Item — from a Teddy Bear to a Toothbrush

"I was born at just the millennial age where there was still a bit of stink on being a nerd and being a geek and having to be ashamed and bashful about loving stuff," he says. "There was a lot that I had to unlearn as an adult, like the specter of being cringe... We were all so caught up in these weird anticipatory shame cycles that I had to learn how to rid myself of as much of that as I could to become a better fan and to better embrace what it is to be a fan in terms of writing."

Haft’s projects share more than just its fanbase as the creative teams are also intertwined. He met his Hellaverse co-writer Andrew Underberg, whom he credits for introducing him to the world of music production, in high school. He then ventured into comedy music writing and later met Landau at a karaoke party and got involved with The Living Tombstone. His music writing partner then introduced him to Medrano and he got involved with Helluva Boss.

Related: Lionel Richie Announces New Memoir: 'A Soaring Celebration of His Life and Legendary Career' (Exclusive)

Coming full circle, Haft eventually brought Underberg on to work with him on a K-pop song for a 2023 episode of the webseries, and they were both invited to work on Hazbin Hotel when it was picked up by Prime Video and A24.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Haft feels that he has grown immensely as a songwriter, particularly through his work on Medrano's two shows, both which have plenty of exciting stuff in the works. Helluva Boss is gearing up to release the second half of its star-studded third season, which will see John Waters and Harvey Guillen in anticipated guest spots, and Hazbin Hotel recieved a speedy Season 2 renewal after breaking streaming records with its release in January.

"I used to go into writing a song thinking like, 'Oh, how will I find inspiration for this?' " Haft says of his music-writing evolution over the last year. "Now I don't feel the need to go take a break and go looking for something else. It has created a creative discipline and a willingness to be playful. It has rid me of a lot of self-judgment and has allowed me to just play freely, creatively."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.