It’s easy to underestimate the power of words, say Whyyes - INTERVIEW
“My songs are autobiographical sadly, which makes it hard to perform sometimes, reviving old feelings and emotions. But guys create beautiful arrangements, and I start to forget the initial idea and focus on harmonies instead. ”
You live in Prague, what brought you here and how do you feel about living here?
Coincidences, mostly.
Now seriously, we all came to Prague for work and studies. We find this city beautiful and full of nice people, places and opportunities.
How do you find the music scene in Prague?
Photos by Rony Thilakan
The music scene here is very diverse, praguers play all kinds of music, from classics and jazz to punk and electronics. Apart from WHYYES we also have side-projects in different genres, and our music always finds its listeners, in Prague and in other Czech cities, and it’s great.
What artists influenced you? How would you identify your conscious and unconscious influences on your latest EP?
We were mainly inspired by Khruangbin, Crumb and Men I Trust. You can definitely hear the influence of Khruangbin in the first song on the EP "Nikogda", with repeating pronounced bass lines and floating guitar melodies. The second song “NVL” has a bit of a Blonde Redhead vibe but make it russian shoegaze. And “Easy” is just an -easy- song with rich arrangement of synths and textures inspired by Radiohead.
What part do your BeloRussian and Czech roots play, if any, in your songs?
We think it gives us access to a wider variety of art, which means more to be inspired from. There’s this great band from Belarus that we love called СОЮЗ, and there’s nothing quite like it.
Are your songs autobiographical or do they come from your imagination, or both?
They are autobiographical sadly, which makes it hard to perform sometimes, reviving old feelings and emotions. But guys create beautiful arrangements, and I start to forget the initial idea and focus on harmonies instead.
Easy live & Acoustic at (A)VOID sessions:
You performed ‘EASY’ for us. Where and when did you write the song? What is the story behind it?
You know, there is a good expression in Russian that would help me describe this song best: “Слово не воробей: вылетит - не поймаешь.” which translates as “A word spoken is past recalling.”
It’s about how sometimes you can underestimate the power of words and forget what impact it can have. So Easy.
“So many ways to say, many ways to show
Many ways to blow what you already own”
Do you listen to much music on Spotify, and if so, what are the top releases we should check out?
Kafka. - Nejsme sami (our bassist’s side project #screamo)
White Russian - New Romance (our vocalist’s solo project #electronic)
We want to also give a shoutout to these amazing local bands:
Manon Meurt #shoegaze
God and Eve #art pop and jazz fusion
February #post-punk
You have a very distinctive visual and performance style. How did you develop this?
Our bassist is a developer, an easy task for him, haha
But anyway, black is always cool. We wanted to look -easy-.
What do you think it is about this album that has struck a chord with people?
We think because the songs are so different, everyone can probably choose one that will speak to them, whether they prefer instrumental (Nikogda), more of a weirder vibe (NVL) or a chill tune (Easy).
And finally, if you had one wish for 2021, what would that be?
We’d love to be at and play concerts again. We have new material and are ready to play once everything is back to normal.
Right now we are preparing a future release, which will be a full-length album. Make sure to follow us @whyyesband not to miss out when it happens!
