I’m not sure how I stumbled upon a Dublin based duo called YAWA (formed of Tim D’Arcy and Harry Keyes), wherever the message came from, I’m so glad it did as after checking out their back catalogue, I sent over a bunch of questions for an ‘Introducing’ feature on the site.

We covered loads of topics including the origin of the band name, dream festival lineups, their recording process, TikTok and living in Dublin, read on for all this and more!

You’re called YAWA, you’re a duo from Dublin, you’ve played at Whelans in Dublin, tell our readers something that not many people know about you.... (you'd best include your names too!) 

As you said we’re a duo from Dublin, we’re both 22 years of age and we’ve been releasing music for just under 3 years now. Besides all of the information on our website and other forms of social media, there isn’t much else to know besides we love what we do and music has really brought us together in such a unique way and we want to connect t with as many people as possible through it! 

If I were to describe your sound, I’d say that it was a fusion of indie/alt pop with a sprinkling of electronica, what do you think? 

I think your description is pretty accurate to be honest. We try our best to amalgamate as many of our various inspirations as m much as possible and we’re constantly exploring new styles and artists to aspire to. Big names like Bon Iver and Tame Impala are examples of artists who we really aspire to and try our best to incorporate as many of their features as possible.  

You’re based in Dublin, what is it that you enjoy about the city?  

What we love most about Dublin is how friendly everyone is. There’s always been a great culture around live music in the country and we feel that it’s a great culture to kickstart a career in music.  

Would you like to move somewhere else to see how it compares?  

Of course, both of us love to travel and the ability to travel with music and perform everywhere and potentially settle somewhere new with it for a while is definitely within our interests going forward! 

Describe the current ‘scene’ in Dublin  

The ‘scene’ in Dublin is really cool at the moment. There’s so many amazing upcoming artists from all genres of music all over Dublin (and the country) which is really exciting. We are just so excited to continue to become apart of this scene and hopefully push our music to a much greater audience beyond Dublin! 

You’re called YAWA, tell me about the name, where it came from and its meaning to you (were there other names on the table at the time you chose it?)  

Long story short, Tim was in the gym and the word ‘Away’ was written on the walls behind him which resembled ‘YAWA’ in the mirror. Sounded cool to both of us so we thought - ah yeah let’s go for it. Probably not the coolest way of coming up with the name but if more people ask I suppose we can always find a fake meaning for it to make ourselves seem slightly more intellectual! 

You currently have 9 singles out, has your approach to songwriting changed from #1 to #9?  

The songwriting process hasn’t changed but the approach is a constantly changing thing for us. We always try to write about different things that are happening in our lives, things we can relate to and string those themes with our other musical inspirations and striking the perfect balance between all of those is where we find ourselves most of the time.  

What sparks a new song, is it a melody you come up with, a phrase or a sentence that makes you think that you could expand it into a song?  

For us it is normally a cool guitar or vocal idea which then spurs on to so much more. The most exciting part of a song for us is getting that main melody down and jamming away in the studio finding verses, choruses, counters melodies and different rhythms to culminate a song. This is easily the most fun part of songwriting for us! 

Please choose one of your songs and break it down for me, I would like to know the meaning (if there is one) and any other key points of the track  

I suppose the most interesting story of one of our singles is ‘Moovy’.

It explores a rocky/confusing relationship between a couple, fused with an anecdote of one of Tim & Harry’s favourite films - Inglourious Basterds. The struggle of the man in the anecdote, who is clearly in the wrong for whatever he may have done, perfectly describes the character and situation of Hans Landa, that of being in the wrong yet being so unaware as to why.

We felt that the emotions surrounding this theme was incredibly exciting to explore and put our own perspective on it. The character of Shosanna Dreyfus inspired many of the lyrics also in the essence of her escape. We felt that the feelings surrounding one’s escape for their life in the literal sense as well as in the sense of a relationship was also an interesting aspect of the song and creates new levels to how people may interpret the lyrics for themselves.

Other references throughout the song are also seen in the form of Aldo Raine and his ‘basterds’ takeover of Paris and the scar resembling fear and bringing one back to darker days. These references give the song depth and different ways people can interpret them we hope will create excitement and anticipation upon the release. While the connection may not seem obvious to some, we are confident that many will spot the references and excited to see people finding out how these two stories intertwine harmoniously.  

  

Tell me about your recording process….

Our recording process is extremely simple as it goes. To date, we have recorded most of our stuff down in a remote area in a place called Wicklow just outside of Dublin. It’s a really special place for us and it’s definitely where we find we write the best stuff. Everything that’s done is done at home basically with our laptop, interface, monitors and live guitars. The goal is to keep building upon our studio with new equipment and to keep experimenting with new sounds but as of now we love our set up and the simplicity of it! Tim is the producer for us and does a fantastic job, his production only gets better and better with each single we put out and we find it’s one of YAWA’s key strengths! 

You mentioned that you were looking forward to playing more gigs in 2023 as well as some festivals, please share some experiences with us from your time on the road this summer (key festival appearances, funny stories, stand out moments etc...)  

Tim was abroad this year in Davis, California which prompted me to fly there and spend time together this summer. This was essential for us finding a new creative direction to work towards together and meeting as many new people as possible was also a huge inspiration for our music. We have some cool gigs lined up for the next while and hopefully next summer will involve a lot more gigging and festival appearances! 

In a photograph on your website, it appears that you are cutting hair using a wood saw, is this common practice in Dublin these days? (It’s been a while since I was there!)  

No absolutely not and we don’t recommend you try it either! This was a great example of us doing funny or wacky stuff in our photoshoots to catch your eye and it seems as if it’s worked! 

You are a duo, who is responsible for which instruments?   

We are indeed! As I mentioned before everything you hear on our Spotify bar vocals is played by Tim and Harry sings. When we perform live Harry Plays rhythm guitar and sings and Tim plays lead guitar.   

Have you ever considered becoming a trio or a quartet?

As of now, not particularly. We really like how things are going and want to build upon that but it could definitely be an option in the future! 

I read through your ‘Tech Rider’ on your site which is a great idea when applying for shows so that the stage or venue manager knows what to expect, have you considered the use of pyrotechnics and smoke machines to add a little more ‘pzazz’ to your shows?  

It isn’t something we’ve thought about a whole lot but is something that could definitely be an option going forward! We’re definitely more focused on our own performances and making sure the sound is of best quality which probably takes over most of our attention but in the future we would love to add some pyrotechnics to add more “pzazz” as you say! 

What are your Saturday Night and Sunday Morning records?  

Saturday night records - The Slow Rush by Tame Impala and Ready For The Weekend by Calvin Harris (always good party tunes) and as for Sunday morning records - For Emma Forever Ago by Bon Iver and Not Waving But Drowning by Loyle Carner.  

If you were asked to name 3 headline acts for a MASSIVE festival, who would you choose for which slot (Friday, Saturday & Sunday – acts can be dead or alive)  

I think we’d pick Daft Punk, Calvin Harris and the Arctic Monkeys. They would just be insane live.  

What’s next for YAWA, is there a debut album on the horizon, future shows, tour, tell me everything that our readers would need to know.  

Next on the list for us is to basically gig as much as possible and try to connect with as many people as possible. We also have an EP which we are currently working on which we are really excited for so stay tuned! 

I see you have a TikTok account with some great stats on, do you enjoy creating content for this channel?  

TikTok is a lot of fun and a great platform for musicians to spread their music in a unique way. It does require great effort which we want to become more consistent with because we have seen how helpful it can be in terms of connecting with a new set of fans.  

Where is the best place to keep up to date with your music and whereabouts?  

The best place to keep up to date with us is definitely our website thisisyawa.com which holds links to our Spotify page, Instagram, TikTok etc.  

Lastly, would you rather be able to communicate with animals or be able to speak EVERY language in the world fluently?  

Speak every language no doubt.  

We’d like to thank Tim and Harry for sparing their time to sit and respond to our questions, we know it’s very hot and sticky at the moment and we hope that they didn’t melt during the process! If you’re in the Dublin area, why not check their website to see if they have any local gigs and get along to support them!

Interview by Steve Muscutt