Band Of The Week #171 - Yonaka
This week’s Band of the Week is YONAKA, who have just released their highly anticipated mixtape ‘Seize The Power’ - which is a collection of incredibly honest tracks about empowerment, hopefulness and acceptance. We had a chat with lead singer Theresa Jarvis on how the release came together.
Hey there Yonaka, how are you? So your new mixtape is out now - how does it feel to have it out there?
Hey! All good over here! Feels so good to finally have this body of work out =]
It is called ‘Seize The Power’, is there a meaning behind that?
The mixtape is about knowing who you are and the power and individuality that you have inside you, and not letting anyone take that away from you. We lose confidence in ourselves as we grow but remember who you are and take chances in life.
Where was the mixtape recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are happy to share with us from the creative process of making it?
It was recorded in our home studio so that included vocals, bass, production which at the time luckily was a basement flat, so noise wasn't an issue. Then we recorded the drums, guitar and piano at The Distillery studio which was beautiful and nice to get out of the same four walls our whole life was based in for a while.
With each release, whether it be an album, EP or mixtape, your music takes a whole new direction while still holding on to that ‘Yonaka energy’ we all love. So how does a Yonaka idea start? And when do you decide it is finished?
We try starting it differently quite a lot to try and spark some fresh ideas so will start on the laptop, or with a piano, vocal, riff or beat we change to find something new. We love making music but it has to sound different to what we've done before or there's no progression and it's just not what we want. It's not exciting if we have already done it. If we write the song and produce it then it's Yonaka =]
What are the key themes and influences on the mixtape?
Key themes are empowerment, strength, aggression, and the sense of trusting where you are is the right place. It was influenced a lot by life experiences, also other peoples art for instance Get Out is inspired by the movie Girl, Interrupted and the name Seize The Power was inspired by Picasso.
The mixtape features collaborations from Jason Butler of Fever 333 and Barns Courtney, how did those come about? And what do they bring to the tracks?
Don't they sound so good!! Aghhhh so happy to have both these artists on the mixtape. So we toured with Fever 333 when we did the Bring Me The Horizon tour, and we just fell in love. I would go on stage with them and sing one of their songs with them, and we were like "we really need to do something together some day" and then there was “Clique”... I sent it to Jason and was like "what do you think of this, would you be keen?" and he was like "fuck yeah”, and he really just makes the track - he's too sick! Then with Barns, we have been friends with him for a while and he's just wicked, and he heard Anthem because we have the same mgmt and he wanted to get on it - obviously we were like 100%, and honestly his voice just completes the track and it's beautiful.
There is a huge theme of empowerment within the mixtape - which artists empower you at the moment?
Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Brockhampton, Limp Bizkit, Tyler the Creator, Miley Cyrus, Lizzo.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the release? If so, which one and why?
"I'm bigger than the world when i'm well" - Raise your Glass. I just love this lyric because you can feel invincible when you feel good; nothing can touch you, it's such a beautiful feeling and it's what we should feel more often.
You recently played the Download Pilot, how was that experience for you?
It was wicked, we had a couple sound problems but honestly I think it added to the show because the crowd was just great and we made it work together. I felt comfortable on stage like I was where I was supposed to be. We can't wait for the next show.
Now the mixtape is out there - what next for you?
We have a tour that we will be announcing very soon supporting a band we love, we have R&L Fest, 110 Above Fest and a couple other shows =]