1. Who makes up Eddy meets Yannah and who does what in the team?
• Jana Valdevit is a song writer, programmer, beat maker, musician, and vocalist.
• Eddy Ramich (with his DJ/music selecting skills) gives the final touch when it comes to the form, choice of the sounds, or missing elements.
• Together we function as a production team.
1. When did you guys team up and how did the idea name come about?
• Jana: In early 2000 in Zagreb. We weren’t really like-minded, but I really liked the music Eddy was playing. Eddy saw in me great material to exploit; singer and a musician in one.
• I showed interest in programming soon, Eddy taught me how to make beats (on the first album it’s obvious that I was new in it), infusing my brain with fresh broken beat. What connected us mostly in a working and human way was an urge to make music and lack of open minded music circle in Croatia at that time (luckily that has changed till now days). Except for few enthusiastic but inexperienced individuals; the most progressive projects were acid jazz oriented and did not show any interest in even hearing something new.
• Soon after we got a chance to do some remixes together; we needed a project name, so Eddy made this one without much thinking (he could have been more creative, I guess).
1. With such an interesting team dynamic, how do you guys make it “work”?
• Jana: After many years of working together, we created some kind of working harmony, each carrying a certain role at a time. We are both aware of each other’s qualities and through the years; the creating process has become smoother, as we learnt how to react when disagreeing, without causing a dispute. I couldn’t describe us like this few years ago though.
1. How do you manage your working relationship? Do you often have difference of opinion when working?
• Jana: I wasn’t much of a party animal till my early 20s, therefore didn’t know much about club music (shame on me). He might get offended by this Eddy was kind of not aware of all aspects of music and sometimes he seemed narrow minded to me.
• The thing is that I got my musical education in music school and from my jazz addicted brother, while Eddy got his knowledge in clubs - DJing from his early days and eagerly following all that is fresh in music.
• Basically we were both ignorant to what we haven’t got and this caused many pointless arguments. In last seven years I think we both spread our horizons, our music taste became very similar (very wide spectrum) and we grew up a bit, so today we think of our differences as a positive aspect.
1. Would you be able to say what genre of music do you specialise in?
• Jana: Not really. We both love the variety and freedom of today’s music, though I have to admit I’ve never thought so many house music will be made in our modest studio. It goes in phases.
1. What is the biggest event you’ve ever performed at? What would be your ultimate performance and where?
• Eddy: It’s hard to say, there were bunch of important shows, and sometimes when you get booked to a big festival; at the end it’s an average experience. So it looks like that some of coolest shows where in small clubs like at Raw Fusion in Stockholm or at Room in Tokyo or Plastic People in London.
• Anyway two shows that I remember very well from this year are:
In Osaka as Eddy Meets Yannah; where we played completely different stuff from what the crowd expected and they went bonkers. It was a proper heavy bass set.
A big festival in Croatia where I played with Simbad for 5 hours - all styles, a back to back set in front of 1000 people. In the end the crowd started to climb on our stage and wouldn’t leave. That was a classic one.
1. Give us a breakdown a day or night in the life of Eddy meets Yannah? What’s the preparation like (whether it’s working in studio or leading up to an event and what happens afterwards)?
• Jana: I wake up around 7am (I’m a morning person), make coffee, go the study/studio, turn on the computer and start working on headphones (cause we live together and Eddy’s not a morning type).
• I turn on the speakers around 11am, Eddy wakes up because of the noise, and when he finally becomes aware of the world around him; he gives his impressions about what he hears.
• Sometimes he’s very constructive and gives good directions, sometimes he just says he likes it, sometimes he simply doesn’t like it. Sometimes I wish I didn’t ask at all.
• Due to other things he works on (organization of events, DJing, radio etc.); most of the time I work by myself, but at the end his few tips and tricks or just his enthusiastic reaction to what I made bring a new piece to it’s completion. What happens afterwards? We usually eat something. As for the gigs, it depends where the gig is - if it’s a casual one then we’re also casual. If its unknown territory, then we prepare mentally for it (I tend to freak out inside). Eddy is definitely much bigger pro when it comes to being on stage. Afterwards we drink something.
1. What about time with family and friends – how do you manage that?
• Jana: I wouldn’t say there’s anything to manage - we lead quite a normal life; loving our families, visiting on weekends and holidays and hanging out with friends.
• Zagreb is not a big city, so there isn’t that “I’m too busy to have a social life atmosphere”.
• When I’m thinking of our friends and families, I would even dare to say that we fit into a category of very happy people, if there is such a category.
1. Given your insight into what’s good on the music scene (and for you), what do you think the trend for the upcoming years will be? What trends have you seen in the type of music you make?
• Jana: Eddy’s better with forecasting and to be honest I don’t have a clue. Anything that is not irritating noise. Or maybe undefined irritating noise is the new thing. (BTW I heard people commenting on dub step like that). I like it; it gives a great new touch, especially on how it has blended into house music. Everyone is influenced by everything, so are we and our production at the moment. These are very exciting times in music.
1. How many groupies do you get? And are you happy with the number of groupies you are getting? This goes to the both of you.
• Jana: I don’t get any groupies! What’s wrong with me? Just kidding!
• I guess the music circle we’re in doesn’t get you groupies in a sense of people stalking you, fans rather come and show their appreciation in some polite way (or am I just comforting myself?)
• As for Eddy, he’s turning popular among ladies in Zagreb. He’s doing push ups lately - maybe that’s the reason.
1. Have you had any awkward moments with fans of your music whether on a personal note or when performing? Have you performed at an event that made you go”WTF???”
• Jana: One that just crossed my mind… A year ago in Kyoto after a gig; I went to some back room in the club to rest my eyes for a bit, and some guy came out of nowhere thinking I was Snowhite (I guess) and started kissing me.
• Human perception is funny, cause if it happened in Croatia; I guess I would start punching a guy, but this goofy Japanese dude didn’t make me angry. I just waved him off laughing.
• Oh… I don’t understand the need of some people to scream KCUF YOU when they’re REALLY enjoying the set, but they really do exist. WTF???
• Eddy: From time to time there is always a weirdo in a crowd, but the most annoying one was the time when a guy was coming to the DJ booth and was pushing the needle away from the turntable while I was mixing. After he did this for the 4th time; I grabbed him and kicked him out of the venue. Since then I’m not DJing anymore in an Arsenal t-shirt. (i have realized that I get always into trouble when I wear that tee.
1. What’s in store from Eddy meets Yannah? What aspirations do you have?
• Jana: For club tracks to be bangers, for songs to cause goose bumps, to progress our production vice and to always have appetite for fresh things.
• After 3 albums and many other releases; we finally got to the point where we really know what we’re doing, diagnosing flaws as soon as they appear and having a clear picture of a final product.
• I guess we finally (that goes for me especially) realised that making music requires a craftsmen’s’ approach, we’re not doing it only for ourselves, but to give an impulse to a listener - whether if it’s the dancing one or an emotional one. Many new tracks/songs were made in last few months, some definitely not Eddy Meets Yannah sounding. There are club tracks influenced by numerous new genres, some couldn’t be more obvious but still fun housy tracks, some cheesy but moody love songs, some don’t know how to classify - tracks in meters like 6/4, unsymmetrical 9/8 (it’s not all about 4/4 anymore). This is why we decided to create some new name projects and not focusing only on Eddy MeetsYannah. Anyhow we’re going to surprise ourselves.
2. Please give us more information on your latest album Fiction Jar. How does the album differ from the past work you have done?
• Eddy: It’s our third album and we are most proud of it. From beginning till end we are satisfied with how it came out. Musically, it’s an album that closed the Eddy Meets Yannah first three albums chapter. Now we’re working on a lot of new stuff that will sound slightly different to our previous work and there is lot of beat stuff in the pipeline.
1. You’ve worked with some class acts (like Capitol A), what would be your ultimate collaboration?
• Jana: J.S. Bach, I wonder how his music would sound like if he was contemporary. I wouldn’t mind working with David Bowie though. With all the artists that can do what we can’t ourselves (and those are many). Making music is the prettiest game in the world.
1. Who do you regard (aside from yourself) as a performer that’s making strides in the industry?
• Eddy: At the moment I do fancy lot stuff that’s been made by people like Ramadanman, Mosca, Jamie XX, Kink, Hud Mo, etc and of course always into stuff by our friends Zed Bias ( he is on fire at moment and is helping us a lot with our new stuff ) , Seiji, Simbad, etc.
1. How may people get in touch with you should they be interested in working with you or stalking you or maybe for a signed autograph?
• Jana: We’re quite approachable, whether it’s work or stalking - there are lot of windows in our flat. We’re also able to write. I’m not much of an Internet freak, but Eddy’s on Twitter and I have very inactive FaceBook page, so anyone with a request, suggestions or offer for free of charge house cleaning can contact us.
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