Yip Yip Interview/bio

Seattle | Nigel Weaterman

Yup Yup, from Florida its Yip Yip. This duo of out there electronic gurus are performing March 2 @ the Comet Tavern and March 3 @ Rotture. Yip-Yip are Brian Esser and Jason Temple.

- formed in March 2001.

- has played shows with acts like Lightning Bolt, Xiu Xiu, Animal Collective, Man Man, Numbers, Glass Candy, Xbxrx, Buckethead, Why?, The Gossip, and more.

- has toured with An Albatross, Mixel Pixel, The Cinema Eye, Honeyhander, The Show is the Rainbow and Zom Zoms.

- was chosen by Orlando Weekly as “Best Electronic Act” in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

- has played over 200 shows in big clubs, small clubs, houses, backyards, high schools, colleges, museums, libraries, and garages.

- has toured the East and West coasts of the U.S. and Canada.

- was banned from Canada for one year.

- records at their house in Winter Park, Florida.

- does all of their own artwork on their albums and merchandise.

Where does the name come from?
People think it is from sesame street, cause that’s what those aliens said, but it was actually just a random thing jason thought of as a band name

Where did you meet?
We met in high school. we had some of the same friends, and eventually we met and later started doing music together.

Have the costumes and theatrics always been apart of the live shows?
Yes. Actually when we first started, we didn’t play instruments live or anything, it started as a goofy “performance art” thing and then eventually we turned it into something we could do live.

Is this the farthest you’ve toured yet?
Farthest north would be montreal, and farthest west would be seattle.

How long have you been working with saf records? what have been the benefits?
We’ve done two albums and a split seven inch over the past couple years. the biggest benefit is that we are getting our stuff out to a much wider audience than what we were able to do with cd-r releases in the past.

What’s your preconceived idea of the northwest?
Nothing bad, i think we were just worried that the snow would be totally crazy, but we’ve already hit a bunch of it in the mid-west, so we aren’t as worried. I am glad we get to see the northwest again, it’s been almost two years since we’ve been there.

Have either of you been to seattle or portland before?
Yes, we came to both of those places on our last west coast tour, it was the summer though. can’t wait to be back!

Once upon a time, there were two teen-age Yips named Jason and Brian. Word. These weren’t just ordinary boys. These Yips could jam and wail. It beat like this: in church, at school or just kickin’ it on the street, these boys were hard core with the serious gear, the freshest tunes and the moves that were down by law.

One day, it occurred to Jason and Brian that maybe all this treacherous kickin’ and jammin’ could really put them over. As in throwin’ down on wax. But, like, these Yips were just homeboys from Orlando, Florida. They had no juice.

“If only we could dip to Dorothy’s Kansas.” the homeboys joked, “We could chill with ‘The Mentor’ and get some def tips on how to make our music get off.”

Yo – so check it out: “The Mentor” was just down the road and the Yips knew if they didn’t go for it now they might not ever have the chance again. Word. They found “The Mentor” and he understood their Dream. He said, “You believe in yourselves and so do I. We must look to the Sun for light shall bring us many treasures. I can lead you to BunnyLand (that’s SAF, you dig) and there you will find all you need. But you must be down to work hard and be determined to win. If you believe you will succeed.”

Well, as always, “The Mentor” was right and now the two Yips with a dream, from Orlando, Florida, have become a reality – Hittin’ It Hard – YIP-YIP

!