Interview with The Late Yetis

Nol, front man and guitarist from The Late Yetis shares with me the secret of their mysterious band name, their influences, day time jobs and the bands love for retro anime.

Where did the band name come from?

The name of the band - inspired by music from the late 80's, rap, pop- we didn't want to be too obvious so named it on a cool magical, mysterious  yetis.

Frontman; Nol

So  do you believe in yetis?

We love mysticism, folklore so yes.

The new Ep (to me)gives resembles American music like Nickleback, NIRVANA - what are your influences?

Myself and Rob grew up in 90's and had Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Morrissey around us and the best of hip hop.  The other two members were brought up on Blink 182. Between us we like to mix it up and not conform to one formula.

Who are the band?

Nol is a musician, originally from Brunei and does martial arts, they write collectively. Nol makes the skeleton but they work together bringing the organ's and soul together.

Rhys Wiliams grew up in Libya, a synth player who directed and produced the last video and has suggested animating versions of the band and they have discussed making a Daft Punk esque video. 

David Bell is a huge Dragon Ball Z fan. Via word of mouth they get heard and offered gigs to preform at. Have followed the Camden circuit, east London, North West...

Jake the drummer also manages a music promotion company called Anivian and is currently organising the release of the EP show/twitter/ soundcloud/ bandcamp.

Rob the guitarist's forte apart from making music is a great cook, butcher by day and musician by night. He does pop up restaurants here and there. He's just great!

David Bell, originally from Malaysia is manager of a restaurant and the biggest DBZ fan and very family orientated.  

They want to build the music career together and ultimately play music for a living. They are prepared to work hard and make it to preforming full time.

Previously you released an album before Ep, shouldn't it be the other way around?

Super Saiyan Mode!

We had two different members back then. Our former drummer produced it and went to Brunei. Jake took over after.  The second attempt is a lot darker rather than pop-py. The first album like most was; fresh, excited, happy go lucky and then the ep had happened after a long journey. Some of the members were going through a rough time and music reflected it.

Musically started from Goku to Super Saiyan.

Wait you watch anime?

Brought up on retro classics like Fist of The North star and Vampire Hunter D and the elephant in the room Akira. I even subscribed to a computer video game magazine which sent me a Manga membership card.

Have you thought of doing Soundtracks for anime/ video games?

We would love to look into these sort of avenues as me and Dave Bell ( a huge Dragon Ball Z fan) childhood was filled with anime and we still play video games when we have the time. Also Rhys has toyed with the idea of making animated avatars for the band members.

Working on any future projects?

I will think of ideas, save them to my phone, and always brainstorm them with the boys. This is down to different influences from the band,we all listen to all genres of music alongside rock.

Looking at underground music becoming commercial like Muse, how do you feel about this stigma on bands?

I feel they got better, got more noticed, and then they progressed. 10-15 years ago you wrote stuff,  you would look back now and wonder 'why did i write that?' Matt Bellamy is a genius using classical music and rock with bits of electro, and very good at conducting it.

Any last thoughts?

Thank you to Andy from Steaming Kettle being an old friend from school, for supporting us.

For more news from The Late Yetis follow them on Facebook.

Buy their new Ep from itunes.

Watch The Late Yeti's latest video Blood Driven here below.

Nineworlds: Gaming beyond the West - live blogging

It was refreshing to see perspectives into characterisation in gaming in regards to diversity.

The majority of games protagonists follow the majority be it caucasian or Japanese looking characters.

We only have the power to bring diversity in our own customisable avatars in mmo games and some free roam rpgs. As it has bern argued that in for example a female protagonist in Assassin's Creed unity was too hatd to animate yet using one in a previous gane in the series, it is hard to understand the challenges or prejudices.

As technolgy has developed and we have photo close graphics - minotitirs are bring noticed as not being accurate or used at all. This would not have bern a problem in gamrs like ping pong or tetris.

Mobile games are easier to market snd highly profitable as they use fruit, animals instead of humans as candy crush or bejewelled do mot offemd people and therefore easy to localise.

Games also reflect popular culture and different mediums such as movies, books etc so as pop culture chamges, games hopefully chanfe alongside it aswell.

It is always interesting to look into historical accuracy in games which Taren Matharu (author of Summoner - the novice) went into detail such as world war 2 games with the high statistics of black amd south Asian soldiers where none are shown. Not even a mention or reference to a name, it is alk predominantly American with a few British. Proportions are not correct but is it fair?

The game Sunset by Telltale games follows a black house keeper of a dictator in 1970. Commercially it didnt make a lot of money but with their own miney from previous successful titles they made the game with their own free reign. Crowdfounder and kickstarter campaigns help gauge interest and support independent game studios yo make unique games.

Never Alone proves cultured games with diversity have appeal to the worldwide audience. It has stiries based in the north pole from eskimos and give us an insight which was the aim to be educational and proves to demonstrate so.

Some of the recommendations from the panelists of a good representation of diversity in games are:

The Walking Dead
The last of us
Assassin's creed
Yukuza 3

For more information on Nineworlds Geekfest or to buy tickets for the next con in 2016 go to their website:

https://nineworlds.co.uk

For live updates from the event and others follow me on twitter and facebook.

@aisha_anime