interview with Yabgu
Have any of you played in other bands? Yes, I played in other bands also. They were Dungeon of Wizard (Black Metal), Coma (Thrash/Death Metal).
How is it that you started playing music?
I was already good listener on middle school days. I started to music with traditional instrument “bağlama”.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? Mustafa Boz / I could play guitar, bass, bağlama, morin khuur, jew harp. / I’m 27.
Have you had other previous members? Yes, we had.
Did you make music even when you were young? Yes, my bigger couisins were also musician. They effected to me when I was a child.
Where are you from? Turkey.
What year did the band from? From 2008.
What's your style of genre? Turkish Folk / Turkic Metal
What inspires you? History / Patriotism
How often and where do you reherse?
It depends about concerts. At least one time per week. We have good friends have their studio.
How have you developed since you started with the music? Of course. I developed my equipments and my life view also.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Yes, I’m historian and archaeologist. Also I’m graphic designer.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? Yes, we are. We wanna work with foreign agency.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Yes, we think the same with agency. We wanna work with foreign label.
What made you decide to make this music? Nothing… I just felt it and make it.
What are your songs about? History, warfare, homeland Central Asian steppes…
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? In generally, I do all of them.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? I always start to compose music firstly.
Do you compose in a certain inviroment? No, I have no problem about environment. I can work on everywhere. Haa maybe I can be most creative when I’m on trip by bus or train.
Have you done any covers live? Yes, we have. Pentagram/Mezarkabul, Sepultura…
What language do you sing in? Old Turkic Language, Modern Turkish and English.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? Maybe between 100 and 500.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? 18-45
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? We have variations about events themes.
What was your first gig like? We played at Antalya. Southern hot city in Turkey. It was really cool.
What was your latest gig? We played with Mezarkabul on last time. It was university event.
Have you had to cancel a gig? Yes, we had. Once, one organizator used our band’s logo on event poster without our let. It was so strange. I had disguss about that.
Where have you played live this year? Ooze Venue Live Hall
Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We have no plan yet.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? About three years. We have t-shirts, sweat shirts, hoodies, coffee cups.
Where can people buy your merchandise? We have online store: http://www.tisho.com/dukkan/yabgu_4984
What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days?
Sometimes, I could also download music with illegal ways. Cause we can’t find all musics instantly.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this?
Music industry has changed, our life also has changed. Social media and consume system effected everything. Our relations and friendships adapted with that shitty system.
What do you think of my work?
There is too many questions. It makes me nervous a bit. Honestly, I don’t know what is your job. Maybe you wanna be organizator or you are a sociologist.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? I have no idea why I do that. I just wanted to help you.
Do you have any role models or idols? Yes, of course. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Genghis Khan and Max Cavalera…
Why do you think that they exist?
Atatürk is founder of modern Turkey. His name means Father of Turks… Genghis Khan is great leader of our history… Max Cavalera is khan of metal music…
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today?
Honestly, I don’t like today’s metal bands. Old school people still make music like stone. Maybe I am conservative person a bit about music.
What have been your biggest obstacles? Money, money and money…
What advice would you give other bands or artists? I have no advice. Everybody can do what they want and feel.
How do you get psyched for a gig?
If organizators don’t keep their words. And if sound system crew is really amateur. These make me crazy.
Do you have any new material?
Yes, we have. We just finished our guitar records for new album.
What are your web sites?
www.youtube.com/YABGU
www.instagram.com/YabguBand/
www.facebook.com/yabguband/
www.reverbnation.com/yabguband
How can people reach you? [email protected] and also people can write to us from Facebook page.
What are your plans for the future? We just wanna publish our albüm and join event in Turkey and foreign countries. Make good relations with friends and musicians.
Do you have something to add?
Thank you so much for your questions. I hope, it’s good beginning for good friendship. Take care yourself…
