Y!KES are a brand new alternative four-piece backed by two rhythmically trained assassins & fronted by two clamorous psychopaths. They will be releasing their debut single ‘Uncanny Valley’ on the 8th February 2019, the first of five singles scheduled for this year.
The single, produced by singer Joby Fitzgerald and Magic Garden Studio’s Gavin Monaghan, is an exhilarating exhibition of the band’s ability to combine fuzzy riffs, coarse vocals, catchy Britpop inspired melodies, frantic drums and cutting lyricism. The accompanying video is a grotesquely humorous representation of the songs intense themes of isolation and stigmatisation, as well as a showcase for their extreme energy and theatricality. This is a band who are primed and ready to break down the doors of the UK rock scene this year. Following their debut Birmingham and London dates with ‘WAVED’ (The former of which sold out), the band are now about to embark on a run of national dates, this including the ‘Arch Nemesis Tour’ with VEDA.
We managed to catch up with TJ Weston (Drums), Liam Howard (Guitar, backing vocal), Joby Fitzgerald (Lead vocal, rhythm guitar) and Matt Ford (Bass) as they talked about their upcoming single and more!
So how pumped are you for the release of your debut single Uncanny Valley?
We’re buzzing for it. Uncanny was one of those tunes that we were vibing off so much when we were writing it and the more we were adding in terms of noises and riffs the bigger it got. It’s got this repetitive trance at the heart of it that captivated us from the get go so we can’t wait to watch it suck listeners in in the same way.
Can you tell us something about the single no one else knows?
The bear (played by UPRAWR DJ and Dearist bass player Rich Foster) in the video was completely blind. We ordered a bear costume and ripped the mouth out to replace it with the teeth, but the only way we could make it look convincing was for there to be completely black fabric at the back of the mouth, which is where you see through from inside the helmet. So the scenes where he’s eating cereal and throwing a tea bag into a mug and playing drums etc he couldn’t see a single thing. The director had to literally shout directions at him during the exterior scenes to stop him walking into pedestrians and ponds. It was mega daft.
Can you tell us anything about the further four songs you are releasing this year?
The second of the batch is gonna be released extremely soon. This band is a lot more visual than anything we’ve done before so all the videos are gonna be quite out there. If UV is our dark, gritty video then the next singles definitely our comedy one. All the singles are totally different, one of them’s a dance tune, one of thems a ballad. So we’re essentially gonna be releasing them all as separate pieces that all link together visually and production wise. Kind of like a mini Y!KESverse that shows off the breadth of what we can do as a band.
What’s different from Blank Parody apart from the name?
Blank Parody was constricted in ways this project isn’t. I think we’d all got focussed on this specific type of sound and look and it was all a bit too simplistic maybe? We always had a lot of theatrical aspects in our videos and sound, so I guess Y!KES is taking that to its limit. Sonically we’re a much less nicer sounding band now. We’ve been self producing as well as working with the legendary Gavin Monaghan (Magic Garden Studio) and the results been something that’s much more raw and experimental than where we were at before.
So you have a few tour dates coming up, what ones are you most looking forward to?
We’re doing a bunch of shows with a guy who we think is a total dick (VEDA, we’re plugging him because we have to. Not because we want to). The ‘Arch Nemesis’ tour is taking us to our first gigs in places such as Leeds and Nottingham. The biggest of these will be Liverpool at the almighty EBGBs, we’re super hyped for that one. We’re also pretty stoked for our home town show at the Sunflower Lounge, where we’ll be playing with our mates in Dearist and Drool. It’ll be awesome to catch up with a bunch of mates and play to a room full of people!
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
We’d have to say BMTH. We’ve been all over the latest album, it’s absolutely killer. In previous projects we’ve been pinned to a certain sound and now we wanna move into other territories and influences with Y!KES, so to see a band of that scale breaking free from their stigmatisations is really inspiring. The creativity and passion is unrivalled and totally unexpected which is why they’re one of the biggest bands in the country right now.
Will you likely to be playing at any festivals this year?
We can’t say too much at this stage but yes, we’ll be at a couple of festivals! With us being a brand new band we thought we’d find it challenging to get a couple of these in the bag but so far so good. There should be some big updates coming on this so keep an eye out for more info!
What do you all get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
TJs usually firing someone with a nerf gun or putting furniture together wrong or doing something else ridiculously eccentric. Jobys probably cooking something really tasty, his hot sauce he’s working on at the moment is mega. Liam and Matt are frequently found knocking about UPRAWR chatting bollocks. Every now and then we all have a game of monopoly and have a row. Other than all the band chaos we’re just generally enjoying life’s rich tapestry.
TOUR DATES
24th February – The Slaughtered Lamb, London
06th March – Northern Guitars, Leeds
08th March – EBGB’s, Liverpool
18th March – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
21st March – Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham
24th March – Fiddlers Elbow, London