How I Met Yukon Blonde

Back from a huge North American tour, Yukon Blonde's singer and guitarist takes some time out for Youthink.

It’s been a crazy year for Vancouver-based indie-rockers Yukon Blonde. Along with releasing a new EP, the band is just wrapping up a huge North American tour and even had its name dropped on prime-time television! I recently got the chance to sit down with the band’s very talented and charming singer and guitarist, Jeff Innes (pictured second from right) to talk about life on the road, the new EP and what fans can expect from the band’s highly anticipated full-length album.


YT: You guys are in the middle of an extensive North American tour. How do you keep up the energy for all 60 tour dates?

JI: I don’t know (laughs)... I actually wonder that all the time. Sometimes we don’t... I guess it’s kind of like anything, like doing sports or whatever, the more you do it the more you’re used to it. Also, we’ve learned to take care of ourselves on the road, which is a big thing, you know? It sounds silly, but eating right, exercising, we don’t just get hammered every night; we have to be on our game. 


YT: How did the idea of the Fire//Water EP come about?

JI: We’re recording a new record right now and we just a had a ton of songs recorded, 15 songs, and the songs that didn’t really fit with the majority of the rest went onto the Fire//Water EP. 


YT: How do the four songs on the new EP differ from what fans can expect to hear on the full-length album?

JI: The full-length record is a little faster... we kind of experimented with different textures and different sounds, and some songs have like a late ‘70s post-punk sound, it’s all very cohesive. The Fire//Water EP 
sounds a little bit like that, but more like our old record. 


YT: So when you’re not performing or driving to the next city, what do you like to do to unwind?

JI: Watch a lot of shows. (laughs) I’m a big HBO show fan. I play a lot of Scrabble online... that’s pretty much it. 


YT: How did you react to being mentioned on How I Met Your Mother?

JI: It was great. I was actually really excited and it’s like everywhere, you know, and that’s pretty crazy. A lot of people are saying, “They’ve set you guys up to be like a Canadian iconic band, and it’s a big deal.” And I feel the same. It’s really crazy. We’ve just finished shooting a music video and recording an EP, but we’ve heard more about this How I Met Your Mother mention than anything we’ve done. So, it’s kind of like, “Hey, well we also did this video…” (laughs)

Yukon Blonde's video for Stairway.