Brother duo Everyone You Know are back with with their powerful new single “The Drive”, a relaxed, lo-fi track that explores the various facets of young men navigating their way through life.
Taken from their upcoming sophomore EP “Look After Your Pennies”, the single comes with a sense of familiarity, the rave-ready sounds authentic, organic, and vintage EYK. A sonic conglomeration of punk and rave energy, guitar riffs and hip-hop, all infused with satisfyingly percussive baseline beats and thoughtful lyricism, this is an EP you won’t want to miss going into summer.
Speaking on the track, Rhys – one half of the duo – said: “I wanted to write a tune that was quite simply a moment in time. A little window into a young adult’s life…. Bar the last verse, I feel like everyone has been in that car with their pals, and if you haven’t, this tune will make you feel like you have”. Brother Harvey added: “I wanted to make something completely different to anything we’d done before yet still taking influence from the artists and tunes we usually take influence from…. The whole process from making the beat to vocals was no longer than 12 hours.”
Read our interview with the boys below. To read more of our ‘New Noise’ series, click here.
How did you first get into music?
HARVEY: Music has always been a huge part of my life, growing up I got into DJ’ing through my Dad as he had decks in the house, then for my 13th birthday I got Fruity Loops which is what started everything really.
RHYS: It would be hard to say really. Music has always been a massive part our lives. All our family were into their music. Our old man used to DJ in a sound system, so my first introduction to music was messing about with my dad’s decks when I was younger.
When did you realise you wanted to be musicians?
HARVEY: I never thought about being a ‘musician’ or making a living out of making music, all I wanted to do was make beats and DJ, thats all I knew really.
RHYS: I’ve written lyrics since I was really young. It’s always been something I have been infatuated by. I started producing and actually recording tunes at about 16. But you never really think anything will come of it. But I/we were just so obsessed with making music that we never stopped.
Your family have been a big influence on your sound; I read that your dad is a big music fan who was heavily into jungle and hip-hop when you were growing up – did this help manifest your sound?
HARVEY: Yeah our Dad loves his 90’s east coast hip-hop and jungle music, my Mum (Zoe) on the other hand is massively into her house music, Frankie Knuckles, Adeva, A Guy Called Gerald etc. Without my Mum and Dad playing this music when we were growing up I think our music, especially the production wouldn’t sound how it does.
RHYS: Yeah our Dad being into Hip-Hop and Jungle has definitely been a key part in manifesting our sound. But all our parents, including him, are into loads of different genres, so we grew up having a good education in music. And I think that’s been one of the most important things about creating our music, being able to draw inspiration and influence from a variety of sounds.
Who did you listen to growing up?
HARVEY: Majority of stuff I listened to growing up was stuff that my Mum & Dad were listening to or playing round the house. One of my favourite albums growing up was Ready To Die (Biggie Smalls). Every tune on that was, and still is, a different class. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (Raekwon) was another favourite of mine. One of the best hip hop albums of all time…
RHYS: Literally everything, Artic Monkeys, Jehst, The Prodigy, Frank Sinatra, Biggie Smalls, Wu-Tang, Oasis, Sam Cooke, The Streets, Kano… All our family are massively into music, so I grew up listening to everything and anything.
Your songs really deal with being young men in suburbia – finding work, going out, weekday reality and weekend escapism; clubs / pubs. Are you influenced by where you live and your surroundings?
HARVEY: Our friends, family and where we’ve grown up have a huge impact on our music, without those three elements Everyone You Know probably wouldn’t exist.
RHYS: I would say the music is more influenced by the people around us and the experiences we have had, or seen others have. We both live in small towns outside London so there ain’t too much going on. It’s the people that make things happen.
Your music is reminiscent of Slaves, The Streets, early Chase & Status etc – who would you say you are influenced by?
HARVEY: For me when it comes to production I take a lot on influence from the stuff we grew up on which I mentioned earlier, the rave scene, hip hop, jungle, to name a few.
RHYS: I think we probably draw influence from everyone we grew up listening to in one way or another. Lyrically though, I would say it’s the stuff that happens around me (and the people around me) that influence me to write songs, rather than other artists.
What’s your process like when you are compiling a project – do you have to eliminate tracks, or do you build tracks specifically with a whole project in mind?
HARVEY: To be honest we’re constantly making music so if we come up with something that we feel is a strong track but isn’t right for a project we’re working on then we will bank it for a project in the future.
RHYS: We are constantly making music, so we would always have a big catalogue of music to choose from if needs be. But we prefer writing music for specific projects. That way every tune is coming from the same place and feels like a moment in time.
Do you give more importance to the lyrical / songwriting side of your music, or the production side of things? Or both!
HARVEY: Without the music there would be no song and the same if there were no lyrics. Rhys needs me and I need him for it to work. Without the vocals or production it wouldn’t be or sound like Everyone You Know.
RHYS: Both are equally as important. We wouldn’t have the sound we have without either element.
Your aesthetic is very Reebok, Stone Island, sportswear with a 90’s edge – do you give much importance to fashion and style?
HARVEY: Yeah I think its important take pride in how you look. You don’t wanna blend in, you wanna stand out from the rest and make people look. That said I see some people wearing things nowadays that just look fucking ridiculous. As for Reebok and Stone Island, we’ve grown up with those brands and have worn them since we were kids.
RHYS: Yeah our fashion and style is something we are both big into. I think every doughnut is dying there hair pink and wearing the same clobber as everyone else just to fit in. And if that’s what people wanna do, that’s absolutely fine. But for me it’s me important to wear what you wanna wear because you like it. The cut, the fit, the colour all of that. Not because everyone else is wearing it.
Do you like performing live?
HARVEY: Love it. I get a buzz out of performing that I get from nothing else. Hearing a crowd singing back the lyrics to one of your tunes is an unbelievable feeling.
RHYS: Love it. There is no better feeling than seeing a crowd enjoying a tune you’ve made.
What’s a stand-out gig you’ve done?
HARVEY: Berlin was class and is one of my favourites but I’ve gotta say our first headline show in London. Our home town, all our mates and family there, was a wicked night that I wont forget.
RHYS: I would say our London headline show was the best for obvious reasons. But we played a gig in a 40 capacity venue called Pilgrims Pit in Stoke and that was a good laugh. The venue was the size of a front room and there was a Stag do in there, all off their nut trying to grab the mic and that. Made for an interesting show.
What’s next for you?
HARVEY: Get our next EP out, carry on gigging and making tunes.
RHYS: We have quite a bit coming up to be fair. We have our next few singles and videos coming out. All that and our performance at The Great Escape next week!