In Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction Samuel L Jackson plays no-nonsense hit-man Jules Winnfield. In one memorable scene Winnfield asks burglar Yolanda, “We’re not going to do anything stupid are we?” Yolanda mistakenly angers the killer to which he says, “Yolanda, I thought you said you were gonna be cool!” Tarantino’s film has made its stamp on pop culture history, and has given birth to the famous pseudonym for Australia’s so-hot-right-now dance duo.
“We needed a name,” laughs Johnson Peterson, one half of YOLANDA BE COOL. “We came across a reference to what we consider to be one of the coolest scenes in one of the coolest movies by one of the best directors... and it wasn’t taken!”
Peterson, with fellow production partner Sylvester Martinez, started making waves last year with the success of catchy dance hall tune Afro Nuts. D-Cup, also signed to Yolanda’s label Sweat It Out, remixed the track and was to work with the pair again on their biggest tune to date, We No Speak Americano. “We thought it would just be a fun party track we could play in our sets,” says Peterson of the song’s run away success.
We No Speak Americano has peaked at number four on the ARIA chart, has been thrashed on the Js, and with its commercial viability has, at time of writing, just hit #1 in the UK charts. The track samples Neapolitan single Tu Vuò Fà l'Americano and is famously sung by Jude Law and Matt Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley. Yolanda be Cool remain humble about their meteoric rise. “More people come to our gigs, which is good, and I guess we get more gigs,” says Peterson.
Johnston Peterson only started his production career a mere five years ago after growing up on a diet of old school hip-hop. The infectious party tech of Yolanda Be Cool is quickly rising as a popular genre for the summer party season; merging the serious nature of techno with a note of revelry.
“We’re comfortable with midget house, batty house, quirk house, non serious techno,” says Peterson of their signature sound. “Teki Latek, one of the pioneers of our sound, said ‘We like hard stuff when it’s creative and groovy, and minimalist stuff when it’s not boring or serious.’ We kinda agree.”
Although past memories of the duo’s trip to Canberra remain surreptitiously hazy, the pair is undoubtedly looking forward to their Foreshore nod, especially after their flawless Warehouse set earlier this year.
“We are doing Splendor in the Grass and some club shows then heading back to Europe for August and September,” says a busy Peterson. “Then the Parklife tour and then we have a very exciting tour of Latin and South America planned for October… Not to mention Foreshore!”
Catch Yolanda Be Cool will be commanding the fields of Commonwealth Place with the likes of The Temper Trap, Tiesto and Calvin Harris at this year’s Foreshore Festival on Saturday November 27. Tix are $127.85 + bf from Ticketek.
