Oh Yeah is a music duo, composed of Jay and Rich. Their latest EP “Sleep On It” out on Nastyfunk records was recently featured on Beatport, and includes remixes by Volkoder, Gabe and Jef K, with soulful vocals by Joel Culpepper; quite a solid release to say the least. These talented Brits sure have their own way of doing things and their deep house and disco vibes never disappoint. Back in 2015, their Single “Nothing but the Beat” became a disco anthem, and the video that came with it was a huge success. We sat down with Oh yeah and learned a couple of their production tricks, talked about gigs, Nu disco and Ibiza tapas!
Rico: How did you come up with that name “Oh Yeah”?
Oh Yeah began life as a catch phrase of ours when either one of us did some thing new, funny, cool, adventurous, basically anything… to this day I’m not even sure if it’s a sarcastic oh yeah or not
Rico: Your song “Sleep on it” is fantastic. Let’s talk about the production process. How long did it take you to make it?
Sleep on it was one of those tunes that just happened. We’d done some other stuff with Joel and Rich had the beat already done. We played it to Joel and he rolled it out in a few hours. I (Jay) just sat there in awe and did pretty much nothing but agree it was sick. We then spent another couple of weeks tweaking and Joel came back in to re record. For me it’s an indicator of the Oh Yeah ‘laid back’ approach to our creations. We have a rule, if we don’t go back to a tune within a month or its inception we fuck it off. This one we couldn’t leave alone.
Rico: What sound or genre do you guys prefer being associated with?
Jay has spent his career bouncing around many genres. Things like dnb and hip hop are very insular and therefore often restrictive in terms of what you can then produce. I always wanted Oh Yeah to be about vibes. That’s it. We create vibes. Call it what you want. I’ll leave it down to Beatport to decide
Rico: I saw that video of “Nothing but the Beat”, it looked like a lot of fun. How did you get the idea of making it?
Was a laugh at first, 14 hours later it was pretty fucking long.
In all seriousness it was a fun day. Id worked with Beth the dancer on guitar hero and she was free-styling backstage to disco… which was around during the same time as the release. I then started coming up with the concept. Our manager Tom found the venue and our director Arran ran with our idea of a girl going off to dance in private. The switches in cuts are that between her daydream and real life. They then merge and it’s down to the viewer to decide the line.
Rico: What is the best advice you can give to an up and coming DJ or producer?
Don’t give up… pig headed resilience is really the only way
Rico: What is the best dish you should eat before you play at a show?
Tapas… gotta be light on our feet. Plus Ibiza is our spirit island
Rico: What is the dish you wish you did not get before you played at a show?
Steak… it seems like a good idea at the time
Rico: What should we expect from Oh Yeah this year?
We have a few more releases coming on File Under Disco., a remix of a great Situation track coming out on Our Records /Chopshop and we’ve been working hard on our next bunch of tracks. Expect a bit more of an electronic a flavor
Rico: In case there is anything that we may have missed, is there anything else you would like to share with your fans?
We have a few shows lined up. Keep posted on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialOhYeahMusic.
Words by Rico – Rico is a Tour Guide, a Tri-Athlete and a go-go Dancer. Originally from Paris, he is part of a music duo named Wolf Story.