YETI

Yeti have just returned home from a sell out tour across Europe and Asia supporting Oasis. This talented quintet is made up of John Hassall (former member of the Libertines), Harmony Williams, Andrew Diean, Graham Balcow and Brendan Kerey. They class themselves as the most unprofessional band in the world, yet have gained quite a following over the last twelve months. With a new album out next year, I predict that you will be hearing a lot about them in 2007. We talked to Harmony Williams about forming the group, touring with Oasis and their fear of flying.

Q: How did you form yeti?

HW: When John was in the Libertines, and it was going a bit AWOL, he wanted guitar lessons to make him more proficient as a lead guitarist. I was teaching guitar at the time and he happened to get recommended to me by a friend of his. Andy, our lead guitarist was another of my students. Graham I knew from drinking and Brendan was the bassist who used to play at the same venue with John back in the days of the Libertines.

Q: Who are your main influences?

HW: Kronenberg. No Guinness I think actually.

Q: What about musically?

HW: We are all very eclectic and have very different tastes within the band. Andy likes a bit of country. John is a lover of The Move, Graham likes Led Zeppelin and my personal influences are They Might Be Giant.

Q: How would you describe your sound?

HW: I'd describe it like The Beatles. Some of our songs have a 60's sound similar to the Beatles. What they were doing back then was kind of country, and we have a country thread going through our music.

Q: What was it like touring with Oasis?

HW: Oh it was great! We are the most unprofessional band in the world and we were slumming around from Vienna to France in the mystery machine from Scooby Doo, trying to get from one place to the next. We are also always late for everything.

Q: Which has been your favourite country to perform in?

HW: I'd say Blighty! I prefer playing in Britain because then I don't need to get on a plane.

Q: You're not scared of flying are you?

HW: Well, a little. Not as much as Brendan. You should see his palms when we get on a flight. We had a terrible time going from Las Vegas to LA.

Q: Go on, tell us more?

HW: We were very late, as always, for the plane and they wouldn't let us queue jump. As we were running through, Graham got stopped. The lady shouted (in a high pitch American accent) 'We've got a Ringer' and it turned out he has some foil in one of his pockets. Finally, we got on the plane, when the announcer said that the computer had crashed. So Brendan said he was going to get the bus to LA. Graham managed to persuade him that everything would be fine and luckily it was.

Q: What did you miss most from being on the road?

HW: I love not knowing where the hell you are from one day to the next. It keeps you on your toes. It's often very funny when John says 'Good evening Nottingham,' when we are actually in Leicester. I miss that.

Q: If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be?

HW: That's a tricky one; we could collaborate with The Beatles. They could write a number one hit for us.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about the new album you are working on?

HW: We were working with Craig Silvey, the producer and he is great. He works with The Coral and worked on The Magic Numbers first album.

Q: What has it been like to work with Craig Silvey?

HW: He's great. He's American but a good kind of American. He's a laugh a minute and we had lots and lots of fun. In fact, quite often to the detriment of actually getting any recording done. We trundle in at midday and don't start recording until 6 in the evening. We're getting back together next year to re-record some bits and put down a few new tracks.

Q: So it's due out in 2007?

HW: That's the plan. We have a couple of labels interested in us so it's just a question of figuring out who is best for us. An independent is my choice because you get more money.

Q: Are you looking forward to your EP launch?

HW: It's for our fans really and to remind everyone that we still exist. There are some pretty good tunes on there. Hopefully it's going to bring us back into the public eye before we hit them with the album next year.

Yeti are launching their new EP, One Eye on the Banquet at The Water Rats in London's King Cross. You can enter our competition to win tickets to the EP Launch Party