And after hearing what they had to offer I just had to ask them to be my Band of the Week. So here they are, in interview format, for your pleasure.
What is Yoshi? Is it a concept? Are you a real band or DJs? Who's in Yoshi?
Yoshi formed in 2006, as a group of friends we played in various bands for a number of years. In an effort to create something new and distinctive we decided to start a new project, where the music would extract influences from a range of different genres. Yoshi’s music is an unusual mix of Disco, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk and Indie.
The Yoshi album is being written in the studio at the moment and is being constructed much like a lot of dance and hip-hop music is produced. That means working with a lot of loops, samples, drum machines, and keyboard parts.
The concept behind the band and the material has purposely been intertwined with video gaming, as we want our music to reflect the massive influence video gaming has had on us and on popular culture.
Once we had the bulk of the album written, we started to work on recreating the songs with a live band. After a lot of rehearsing we played our first live gig in Edinburgh in late July 2007 to coincide with the official launch of our debut single ‘Headphones’.
Where does the the name Yoshi come from?
Yoshi is the name of the bass player’s dog.
Who writes your songs? Tell us about your debut single "Headphone".
The songs are written as a collaboration between the different members of the band. We record a lot of stuff, try things out, keep what works and get rid off what doesn’t. We use a lot of samplers and computers as well as old analog synths. Our intent is to create up-beat, feel-good party music. The band’s song writing and live performance feature three part harmonies over analog synth and drum breaks, mixed together with dirty guitar and 8-bit computer game samples.
The single was released digitally and as a limited edition CD and 7” Vinyl through Fwoosh Records on the 20th of August 2007.
The single “Headphones” is a pretty straightforward guitar riff over a percussive drum break, which deliberately sounds pretty nineties. We used a squelchy filter sound on the bass. The vocals are really dry and in your face.
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