Yeo

Describe your music.

If I were to describe what I hope my music turns out to be, I'd say pop-driven tunes that still have an interesting musical production aspect to it. Although I am a bit of a muso nerd, I've learnt some valuable lessons about songwriting, very importantly that you can easily overdo anything when it comes to creativity. These days I'm trying to write things that are catchy, easy to memorise and easy to tap your foot to.

Who’s been a big musical influence for you?

Different artists influence different songs I write, seeing as I am a bit of a genre hopper. For example, 'Backflips' I think has a lot of Ben Folds in it, while 'Two Sides' and 'Different' show my respect for Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams. In terms of personal musical development and how its been influenced, way too many artists come to mind. Everything from Jeff Buckley to Mike Patton. Lately I've been listening to a lot of drum programming people like J Dilla, ?uestlove and the Platinum Pied Pipers -hence my increase in confidence with my own programming.

How do you start writing your songs? On the computer? Guitar?

Cool riffs usually just come out on guitar or on the keyboard when I'm screwing around, so I try to record them straight away before I forget them. I program a quick drum beat, loop it and record my idea in time with it and this becomes the central 'hook'. I tweak and build on that, adding new sections as I go.

Tell us about the local music community in Brisbane.

I don't know if I'm being socially ignorant, but I think the Brisbane music community is TINY! Everyone knows everyone so its easy to network and meet people. Its very easy to help your peers and help yourself get a name out there. It feels like the degrees of separation are very few and everyone seems to also be hooked up to Myspace... which is totally killer for being a whore.

What have you got planned for the future?

I'm studying at the moment (aiming for the stable future), but for the long-term I plan to hone my songwriting and production skills to the point where it can support me financially. Who knows what will hopefully come...the path of the poor musician is a hard one to follow. As hard as winning the lottery.

Australian music is…

...not to be underestimated. We have many world class artists in our locale that are sitting there undiscovered. Get out there and check out stuff you havent heard before! Is there anything Australian's aren't good at?