YEO has been kicking goals with his run of singles this year. His latest Icarus is a percussive groove shark that gets you moving before you realise what’s going on. Then just when you think about strutting to the nearest good looking thing on the dance floor it smacks you with a chorus straight from a beach in Greece.
With a debut album on the way there’s sure to be many more tunes to get your sumemr playlist sorted. But how does a producer extraudinare go as live entity? We had a chat with the one and only to ask him just that.
See him live, launching Icarus at Shebeen in Melbourne October 17th with other dates in Sydney - 18th October at the Newtown Social Club and 24th October at the Wooly Mammoth in Brisbane.
As a producer your live show is not your standard drums, guitar set up. Or is it? Tell us about how you transpose your recorded sound live.
We play as a duo, with a laptop running backing tracks. I have Andy on a real drum-kit that triggers samples, while switching between synthesizer and electric bass. The dream is to have a four piece band one day and ditch the laptop. At the moment, we listen carefully to each song and choose the most engaging parts to play live. Then I arrange the backing track using the stems of the studio session.
What do you like about playing live compared to recording music?
It’s a challenge, and another way to share my art with my audience. Like baseball and building bicycles, I find joy in the physical execution. It’s like a test of all the skills I’ve been drilling. There’s more adrenaline pumping through my system since I see a gig as one long recording take where I’m trying to get every note in time. Things can go wrong. I’m walking a tightrope much higher than in the studio, where everything is more controlled.
Do you do anything with your stage set up (lights projections) to enhance your live set?
Our production engineer Corey controls a vision mixer with two visual synthesizers that react to audio coming from stage. I think it’s awesome – he’s awesome! The projections are there to make people feel less self-conscious, so they focus on what’s in front of them, enjoy the music more and forget about what’s happening beside them.
What's the best part about coming to a YEO live show?
You get no bullshit. We’re hardworking professionals, playing to the best of our ability. We left our ego at the door when we schlepped all our gear up the stairs in heavy cases all by ourselves. You’re getting the real deal.
You’re going to be previewing your new album at these launch shows. Tell us about that. Does it mean you will play the album start to finish? Or will you hit play on the CD and sit back and listen to it?
We’ve selected eight songs from the new album to play live for you. They’ll be mixed in with older favourites. Anyone who came to a show last year may recognise one or two, but it’s mostly unreleased stuff.
See YEO live launching Icarus at Shebeen in Melbourne October 17th with other dates in Sydney - 18th October at the Newtown Social Club and 24th October at the Wooly Mammoth in Brisbane.