YIP YOPS

interview Jorge Perezchica

JORGE: What has the experience been like to play Coachella and how did you prepare for the 2 weekend festival?

ISON: It’s been great, it’s been a pretty hectic week. As soon as we got the call it was just straight to work. Just getting everything ready in position to just take advantage of this. As soon as we got the call, I just went straight for the camera, let’s capture the moment you know, got to get that on video.

MARI: It’s a much larger stage. It’s a much different playing experience than any other venue we’ve played. So getting used to that stage and learning how to fill that space, I think it took the first weekend to build up on it.

ISON: Just being able to go through the process, because a lot of the first weekend was trial and error. “Where do we go? Who do we talk to you?” There was a lot more stress because it was crunch time. We had to get everything in place to take advantage of it. That was a lot of the first weekend, just making sure that we were ready. And then the second weekend, we had a whole week to prepare. We knew who to talk to we’d already kind of started forming relationships with these people and we were comfortable with the stage. We were able to look back on our performance from the first weekend and critique and we’ll maybe just walk the stage a little better.

JORGE: So, in general you got more insight into the whole process.

ISON: It’s a completely different experience that none of us have been through before. We’ve been going here for years and we’ve always gone with GA you know. So we were there to watch the bands, whereas here as an artist, we look at these bands as kind of friends and peers. Just being able to have that connection with these people and these types of people not just the band’s but just the crews as well. Being able to meet them and see how they work together and behind the scenes of their productions is just is pretty inspiring to us to talk to.

MARI: The bands that are bigger with us basically, with more experience just time wise in the industry has been helpful as well. I think those conversations have kind of almost guided us just by seeing how they work together and what little tips they’ve given us or what they think is good that we’ve done. Stuff like that and it’s been a great thing.

JACOB: And you know talking to some of the artists that we admire is really inspiring and really humbling. Just to know like these people are just people, you know, they’re just artists and they worked their way up. I skipped a whole week of school because we were working on our set. And I’m excited and I’m not excited to go back to school. I’m curious to see how it’ll be going back if there’s a difference at all.

ISON: Yeah, I mean it’s always been a big goal of ours as a band to play Coachella and you know that we’re here, it’s just like, what are we gonna do with this, you know. It’s obviously a huge opportunity and it’s just making the best of it. We’re not here just to party it up and go see our favorite bands. It’s about like networking, building connections. First and foremost we’re building relationships with these people who are now colleagues. You know, it’s also getting this band to the next level, making Coachella the launchpad for the rest of our careers. We want to make clear that this is a big opportunity not a lot of bands get to have, not a lot of bands get to show what they can do and we’re really appreciative of that — but this is in no way the peak of anything.

JORGE: I noticed your parents have been very supportive, they are always at the shows. How much has their support had an impact on you guys as a band?

ISON: You don’t see it very often. And I think it was a very unique situation that we’ve all found ourselves and not just with each other but with the support of everybody’s parent. All the parents and everything just being able to take us to LA shows at 2 o’clock in the morning and having to go to work the next day. I think the reason why they do it is because from early on they saw the potential. And they were just along for the ride.

JORGE: What is the biggest challenge for you as a band?

ISON: I think constant urge to progress. It’s just the progression. Being able to progress and wanting to progress is probably the most important thing. And I think that’s where a lot of bands either fall or you know rise. I think we naturally want to progress like we’re never satisfied very easily with a lot of our stuff until we progress.

MARI: We’ll work as hard as we can, we’re not just whining. How do we progress? How do we do it? Lets start.

ISON: After we get to the point where we feel like we’ve progressed to where we want to, we’re like, “Okay, now we know why we’re here.” It never stops. It’s always ongoing, always pushing. And I don’t think that ever will stop us for as long as the bands are together. I feel a good example of that is Coachella, like we just played two Coachella shows. And I feel like after both shows we’re just like fuck yeah. The feeling is just like, we’re hungry for more, we want to do this more often. We want to be playing other big festivals like this and this is just the first of many. We want to climb to get to where we want to be.

MARI: And talking about difficulties, that is that mental space which I think we’ve all been feeling quite a bit. It’s just like that space that you’re pushing with everything you have. But whenever you’re pushing just isn’t budging yet and then you get a breakthrough like this. And it just takes you to that next level.

JORGE: What advice do you have for kids that are watching you guys and are interested in pursuing a music career?

ISON: Write your own songs. Start writing, because there’s a lot, there’s some bands out there that have the talent but you know, they’re not writing, they’re not writing anything. You can only play covers for so long, you know. That’s something that we had to go through as a band starting early. It was hard in the beginning, because just saying, “Oh you know, we’ll write songs.” It’s a little open ended and not the easiest thing to do for a lot of people. But it’s just a necessity if you want to do it. And just be just be honest with yourself. There’s no, there’s no gain in BSing yourself, because you can’t BS yourself through this business. Just watch your back and write songs and your age doesn’t matter.

MARI: You can do the same thing if you’re 30 or if you’re like 12, it doesn’t make a difference.

ISON: Follow your dreams.