Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: Hey, I’m from a small town in Germany called Göttingen where I started playing in a band when I was 13 years old. I always wanted to be part of this band. The moment their bassist left I pretended I could play the bass, so they’d let me join. I changed positions quite often from being the singer to being the keyboard player. I finally landed at the guitar, where I felt comfortable. I couldn’t play the guitar back then since the only instrument I had learned was the piano. I practiced like a maniac and after 2 or 3 weeks I replaced the guitarist we had before. When I started writing my own songs for the band and we played our first shows I realized that there is nothing more exciting to me than writing songs and playing shows so after school I thought I might give it a try. This was 4 years ago and probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: Oh, that’s a tough question. I listen to a lot of different music styles. I had a huge metal phase when I started playing the guitar but lately, I’ve gotten softer. These days I listen to a lot of pop and indie music and some singer-songwriter stuff. Ed Sheeran is probably my favourite right now. I can add Twenty One Pilots, Giant Rooks, Imagine Dragons, Taylor Swift, but on other days I like to listen to Tool, Architects, Linkin Park. There are days I’m into melodic Techno like Monolink- My all-time favourite is Abby, if you don’t know them check out their ‘Hexagon’ Album, it’s brilliant.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Yukee’?
A: First, I would say “Linkin Park” and “Bring me the Horizon”. Strongest I’d say Ed Sheeran. When I decided to go solo and realized it’s quite singer-songwriter-ish I thought I should go for the ‘first name last name’ artist name. It felt kind of boring though and I didn’t want to limit myself too much style wise. With YUKEE I feel like I can publish whatever genre of music I want to write under the name, without people getting confused.
Q: You have just released your first single, ‘Dopamine’. Is there a story behind it?
A: Yes. I felt quite stuck in my songwriting at the end of 2021, but I really wanted to debut solo and stop being dependent on a band. So, I decided to go to Latin America for 3 months to write new music. To take a break from everything just enjoy the beautiful nature, learn a little bit of surfing and Spanish and focus on my songwriting. What I didn’t know was that I had taken the main reason for my ‘writers block’ with me: My phone. When I figured out how strongly I was influenced by my phone in my day-to-day life I decided to turn it off for long periods of time while writing new music. One of the first songs I wrote was ‘Dopamine’ and it’s dedicated to the life I want to live but don’t because I’m distracted by my phone all day. It was the first out of all the songs I had written all alone that I felt like it’s worth sharing so it turned out to be my first single 🙂
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: I think albums are dead. At least for new coming artists like me I think it’s smarter to focus on releasing singles till people know about you and start caring about your album. I released albums with my bands before. I think it’s a waste of time and money if you don’t have a big audience since albums tend to drown in the 3 seconds attention span of today’s consumer culture. That said, I’d love to make an album one day, so I’ll spread my music around the globe till I have an audience for it. Starting in January 2023 I’m going to release one single each month for one year and see what happens… Maybe by the end of the year I managed to build an audience that might want to listen to a full album and then I will make one for sure!
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: That’s hard to tell with just one single out. But right now, I’d describe my sound as quite organic and handmade. We didn’t do a lot of sampling on Dopamine and I recorded all the instruments myself except for the bass which my best friend played. The Guitar is my favourite instrument, so my music is mostly guitar based. I also recorded the drums and percussion elements and did a lot of vocal harmonies.
I hope that people resonate with the lyrics and the meaning of my songs, but I also hope that just the sound of the music and the melodies make people feel something. A lot of times when listening to music, I don’t listen to the words at all but just follow the melodies and enjoy where they take me. If I can take people on a journey just by putting on my music and closing their eyes, I’m super happy!
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: Right now, it’s still quite hard to make a living off my music, I totally rely on busking right now, so I’m super dependent on the weather, my health and the mood of the people on the street. But music is giving me so much emotionally that I wouldn’t change with any other career. If one day I can have kids and a family without being worried about money too much that would be amazing, but for now I’m surviving and able to make money for food and the studio so I’m good!
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: I just grab the guitar and play something. If I like it, I’ll start humming melodies along and suddenly words pop up, I write them down, more words, more melodies and there you have a song. If I don’t like it, I’ll play something else, till I like it. Sometimes I face walls where I don’t know how to continue. On good days I can break through those walls and finish the song. On bad days I get stuck in my head too much and overcomplicate things. Then it’s time to take a break or work on another song. Usually, those problems are solved a couple of days later. The most important thing for me is just to keep writing. As long as I spend a good amount of time writing I’m sure something good will happen. Since I’m a perfectionist my expectations sometimes get in my way. When this happens, I reset my goal from writing a great song to just writing any song or even writing a bad song. Sometimes those turn out to be the best.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I’d say insecurities with my voice. A good friend in school once told me that I’m bad at singing and I should stop. It’s absurd how deep that hit and how long it kept me from singing. Singing is such a great and liberating thing and it’s sad how much time I spent just singing under the shower and at home because I was scared people wouldn’t like it. Therefore, going to the studio and recording my voice as a lead singer for the first time was fucking scary.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud, or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: It’s the same thing. Recording and releasing my first song as a singer. So far, I gained almost 10k streams on my song ‘Dopamine’ on Spotify which surpassed all my expectations, and I got overwhelming responses from both friends and strangers. This feels so good and I’m so happy that there are people out there who enjoy listening to my music. I mean that’s what I’m dedicating my life to and seeing that it works and people liking what I do feels amazing!
