In the Studio With Yeah Whatever

Those of you who know the movie Lost Boys also probably know that a sequel was released this summer. But did you know that Vancouver's own heavy rock band, Yeah Whatever, has some of their original tunes and a cameo appearance in the film?

Vampire buffs may recognize the soon-to-be household name from their songs in the TV show Blood Ties, Yeah Whatever's first claim to fame. This wicked local band consists of Evan Allen on vocals, Mike Witherington on guitar, Rob Breti on bass and Tony Rabachuk on drums – four hard-working rockers on the road to success.

I met up with the boys at the legendary Mushroom Studios in Vancouver as they were busy recording their sophomore album and we talked about everything from their influences, to their new album and their future plans.

YT: Who are your musical influences?
Evan: "A lot of new school 'cause I'm the youngest in the band so a lot of my influences are like Disturbed and Rob Zombie. And then these guys are all old school."
Mike: "For me the only other band I've ever heard of is Black Sabbath. Is there any other band? (laughs) Ozzy, Van Halen, Judas Priest, that's what I grew up listening to."
Evan: "So we have the old school meeting the new school and basically coming together, making something new happen."
Rob: "That's the idea with all our different styles of songs. We got the balance happening – acoustic, heavy and not-so-heavy, radio-friendly, pretty songs, not-so-pretty songs, a bit of everything."

YT: How did you come up with the name for the new record, Hell is Full, and how is it significant to you guys?
Tony: "There are kids killing kids, and there's a lot of bad action out there and it's not like getting hit by a car or some accidental death, these guys are on purpose killing people and they are going straight to hell and that's it and it's getting full and we gotta put an end to it and society's gotta come to grips."
Evan: "Basically where do all the sinners go when hell is full? Well they can't go there to hell so they're still here."

YT: If you guys had one piece of advice to give any new rock band or artist what would that be?
Rob: "Don't get discouraged."
Evan: "Never give up. Sign with our label."
Mike: "Stay together."
Tony: "Just follow your heart, man. I mean, if your heart says you wanna do it and you got someone in the band that's dragging you down then just like any relationship just move on."
Mike: "And don't listen to the negative people who say, 'Oh you'll never do it 'cause they're just jealous and they don't wanna see you succeed 'cause they can't do it. But when you meet celebrities or people in bands who you've
admired usually they're like, 'Yeah, yeah yeah!' and they're all into it 'cause they've been there and they've done it themselves. TheyÃ're usually positive."

YT: What have you been working on most recently?
Rob: "This summer we had four songs on the Lost Boys 2 movie, our songs are on the soundtrack and we also have three songs coming out on the Blood Ties Season One DVD and some of our music videos on both DVDs."
Mike: "Along with the release of the new album."
Evan: "And we have also started our own label, Very Dead Records, and we'll now be distributing our songs. So two years from now Yeah Whatever will be a household name."

Clearly Yeah Whatever is a hard working band with a lot of projects on the go. All this exposure equates to good news for their fans and, after all, Yeah Whatever is all about the fans. Be sure to check out their new album Hell is Full.

You can find Yeah Whatever online at:
www.yeahwhatever.ca
www. Myspace.com/yeahwhatever
www.facebook.com/yeahwhatever