Andrew Stanley and Matthew Handley, aka Yolanda Be Cool, were on a plane to South Africa when they heard Rodriguez’s ‘Sugar Man’, which inspired their new single.
“I don’t know how many of the young kids would know Rodriguez, the guy we sampled. He is an absolute legend. We were on the plane to South Africa and thought it was a cool tune and that we would just have a bit of fun with it,” Andrew says.
With their new single, ‘Sugar Man’, Yolanda Be Cool are currently on their national tour with DCUP. The Australian group first made a name for themselves with the global success of their song ‘We No Speak Americano’ in 2010. The song reached #1 in the British, Spanish, German, Mexican, Argentinian, Swedish, Danish, Swiss, and Ecuadorian charts.
Andrew says they have been working on some new songs for a while and are excited for fans to hear them. “We’ve been throwing around sample ideas on and off for the past four years, but nothing ever completely felt right,” he says. “But towards the end of last year, we started making a conscious effort. Once we had about four or five ideas... we just had a bit of fun.
“[‘Sugar Man’] has been received really well. Whenever we play it in our sets live, it always really works and people always come up and ask what it was.“
The duo were unprepared for the breakout success of ‘We No Speak Americano’; and even today still can’t believe the amazing opportunities the song’s success lead to. “It was unexpected. We just rolled with it. We took every opportunity that came our way. We travelled all around the world, played a lot of gigs, met cool people. It was pretty fun.
“We are still getting booked to play crazy shows in weird places we never thought we would go to. We were in Bosnia a couple of months ago playing in this old, abandoned castle. We still pinch ourselves. We feel very lucky and privileged.”
Since they first started, Andrew feels their sound has developed a lot. “We are obviously better in the studio. We still just make house music, but there are obviously sub-genres such as swing house. Everything now is a bit slower and a bit deeper, but a bit more emotional, but it’s still just house at the end of the day.”
“There are underground-house records that are getting played at peak time on Nova in Australia, which is crazy.”
Yolanda Be Cool play as many gigs as possible, travelling all over the world pursuing their career. “We play as much as possible, whether it be festivals overseas or club shows. We have played in some crazy places like St. Petersburg, Bosnia and Ibiza. We did a whole heap of club shows and festival shows over the summer months where we were playing ‘Sugar Man’ every set, so it went really well. We are excited to release it.”
Andrew’s favourite style to write is house music. “It all goes in waves. Over the last couple of years, our sound, house music, took a back seat to the big artists like Skrillex. House music is the stuff we really like and it is definitely resurfacing, especially in the past year there have been some crossover records in the UK. Artists like Disclosure and Root 94 … are all making awesome house music that is crossing over into the mainstream. There are underground-house records that are getting played at peak time on Nova in Australia, which is crazy.”
Yolanda Be Cool Tour Dates
Fri 31 Oct - Zhivago (Adelaide)Sat 1 Nov - The Factory (Sunshine Coast)
Mon 3 Nov - The Bottom End (Melbourne)
Fri 7 Nov - Elsewhere (Gold Coast)
Sat 8 Nov - Woolly Mammoth (Brisbane)
Sun 9 Nov - Beach Hotel (Byron)
Sat 22 Nov - The Sydney Social Soho (Sydney)
This is the original ‘Sugar Man’ by Rodriguez:
