Crowdsurf & Turf Meets: Yellowstraps.
Yellowstraps are an incredibly talented duo from Brussels, Belgium. They recently played one of the First Fifty shows for The Great Escape as they are one of the artists returning in May 2020 for the festival. They have released an EP with Majestic Casual and have 741,051 views of their performance for Youtube giants Colors. We caught up with them before they came for their first ever UK performance.
You guys have been working hard for a while now and have played a lot of European shows, particularly in France and Belgium and your hometown of Brussels. How were the early days playing shows and what has changed from then up until now?
We used to play more acoustic shows in the beginning, there weren’t any electronic elements or influences at that time. We used to play only small shows in our hometown and then we started to play more but it was mainly in small venues in the Dutch part of Belgium. The audience was sick though.
Has your appearance on Colors given you more interest from around the world and a wider audience?
Yeah definitely. Colors is such a big channel, we always thought that artists that were on Colors were stars or something haha. When you have a show on their channel you kind of look like a “big” artist because you are between all these sick artists (Jorja Smith, Schoolboy Q, Skepta, Daniel Caesar, Jordan Rakei, …) People really loved the “Rose” track and it was unexpected to see such great feedbacks.
As well as Colors, you also worked alongside another huge music platform on Youtube - Majestic Casual. How did this come about, how was it working with those guys?
Actually, we just sent them a message on Facebook haha. We said that we were planning on releasing an EP and we would love to collaborate with them at some point. They answered and said that they really liked our project and we were totally down to collab on a release. The fact that they replied was already super unexpected and the fact that they loved the project even more. It was nice working with them, they are really nice people. Pushing and supporting small artists to have a bigger audience is amazing. We really have a lot of respect for them.
Soon you’ll be playing your first show over here in the UK, how are you feeling about the upcoming First Fifty Showcase and The Great Escape festival?
We’re feeling good about it. We’re excited to see how the vibe is going to be and to discover London because we never went to London actually.
What music did you guys grow up with? What did your parents listen to?
We used to listen to Norah Jones, Katie Melua, Corinne Bailey Rae, Coldplay, Phoenix, Arctic Monkeys, Linkin Park…
Apart from other music, what else influences your music?
I think the place we used to live at our parent’s house. It’s so quiet and surrounded by nature. It’s really peaceful.
There is a lot of love for ‘Rose’, is your upcoming music going to be of a similar nature?
Yeah definitely. The vibe will be quite similar but with some surprises. We are really excited to release the new project.
What do we have to look forward to from you?
We have new single coming by the end of the year and a new EP in the beginning of 2020.
Quickfire Questions:
Where is the best place to eat in Brussels?
You do a great job of spreading the love for the Belgian music scene. Which Belgian artists
should we be checking out?
Abrahamblue, Ashley Morgan, Dvtch Norris, Swing, Blackwave, Blu Samu…
Does either of you have any other talents?
We used to skate a lot when we were kids until 16 years old something like that.
Yvan is also a graphic designer. He makes all the visuals for our musical projects.
If you were curating a festival, who would your three headliners be?
Tom Misch, King Krule, Tyler The Creator.
What’s the best way to listen to you & support you?
You can check our music on Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Bandcamp and you can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.