Yolanda Be Cool: Mentalmen

By Josh Liew  •  19 Jun 2012 in Interview

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It’s been almost a year since the guys from Yolanda Be Cool has sat down and talked to us here at JUICE. So when they decided to spin in Malaysia again last Friday 15 June at Zouk, we snagged the opportunity to catch up with both Sylvester Martinez and Johnson Peterson, and chat about them and their undertakings for the past year or so…

How’s life been since ‘We No Speak Americano’?
Sebastian It’s been busy. We’ve been on the road and around the world a few times. This is our second gig in Malaysia; our first club show here, which we’re really excited about. The last one was more of an event, the Hennessy Global Art of Mixing. There’s been a lot of other club shows and studio time as well. And we’re very excited because we’re just about to release our debut album.

What’s the title?
S This is the first time we’re mentioning it, so you can be the first to have it on print. It’s called Ladies and Mentalmen. We wrote twenty tracks; we’ve called it down to our favourite ten, and maybe a bonus track or two. That’s going to be released before the end of the year.

You just released one of your latest singles, ‘Le Bump’ featuring Crystal Waters. How’d that go?
S It went really well. We were super excited to meet her and honoured to be working with her. It was a good, fun follow up track after ‘We No Speak Americano.’ It’s just been picked up by Victoria’s Secret in the USA actually, which is a funny fit with the Bump and all. It’s featured on their Pink campaign. So yeah, ‘Le Bump’ is going really well.

What is your best gig so far?
Johnson We were lucky enough to play in Amnesia last year, which is in, one of the biggest clubs in Ibiza; a club that we’ve been going to for years. It was pretty awesome to get to play there; be on the other side of the decks. We always feel lucky that we get to go to amazing places. I had to travel from Ibiza to Madrid to London to get to Bangkok to get here. You can say that sucks, but at the same time, it’s pretty amazing. It’s all good. We’d be very silly to think that we don’t love it.

Second  time in Malaysia. Why come back?
J Why eat ice-cream again? Because it’s good.
S We wanted to play in Zouk from the minute we saw the club. We stepped in the club, our good buddies, Blink and Goldfish, they’re residents here. We were excited to come back and do our very first club show.

What is the weirdest thing that you guys have seen in Malaysia?
J The thing that comes into my mind straightaway, which isn’t that weird, is fish head as a meal. Fish head curry. That’s not so weird, but for us in Australia it’s kinda weird. I imagined that it was more of a dinner that cats would eat. What happens with the bodies?  Do they eat them elsewhere?

Why hide your face in photos? What is the concept behind that?
J We’re just not very attractive.
S We just wanted to…
J We hadn’t decided the look for our hair.
S It was all about the music really, that’s why we didn’t want to show our faces; and just to create a bit of mystery.
J We couldn’t afford a mask.

Random question, if you could be anyone or anything for a day, what would you be and why?
J My first choice was Kelly Slater, but then I was thinking that if it could be anything, maybe I’d be God. Well then at least I could know if I existed or not. Because if I don’t become anything then maybe, there’s no God, and if I do then at least, I know that there is a God.
S That’s pretty good. I’d probably…
J Maybe you could be Satan. That could be quite fun.
S Yeah, could be good.

Both God and Satan behind the decks, just how we like our parties!

Stay cool at www.yolandabecool.com