The "Grim Reaper of Global Warming".....Life and death and every breath between.....it's the 28th August 2005 and Yani & Pete, two members of YEP, were in Louisiana to immerse themselves in the Black Gospel Music Culture with 42 others from Australia and New Zealand, and found themselves trapped in a New Orleans hotel with Hurricane Katrina bearing down with its supercharged force.
Their prayers for help were answered as two young courageous members of the group went into a frenzy of searching and negotiations in the dead of night to secure available seats on the last convoy of twelve cabs that were to leave the Big Easy en-route to Memphis and safety.... As the miles receded in the rear view mirror Pete pulled out his trusty Harp in the key of E and started to wail.... Yani sang gospel songs all the way into Memphis to keep the driver and themselves awake... It was truly a race from the devil...!!
Their hearts go out to their courageous cab driver Wayne, the leader of the convoy, BJ and all the others who turned straight around in Memphis, refuelled and sped back into the eye of the killer storm to try and save their families, houses and loved ones....BJ and Wayne and the other 10 drivers were greeted by devastation and suffered terrible losses, disease and fear. It's to their immense bravery that we dedicate the song HURRICANE. It was written to tell the story as a testament to their bravery. Subsequent to that catastrophe YEP became acutely aware of the effects of global warming and wrote several more pieces as wake up calls to the people of the planet. LISTEN TO THE WORLD and OUR CHILDRENS CHILDREN may be safe if we act now!
YEP produce a wide tonal and melodic spectrum and recently focused on writing some songs about GLOBAL WARMING after two members of the band were trapped in the path of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.....(see full story in "Influences - left side bar).......YANI the lead singer is a versatile and much loved Australian performer who turns her diverse vocal talents to various styles from blues, ethnic, gospel, choral, rock, pop and country – you name it and she can sing it. Her technical chops include directing and vocal arranging for 30 piece choirs down to advanced voice lessons for professional singers. She is the singers singer! .........PETE is a recording engineer, harmonica payer, uke strummer and short order cook. He will build you a house or recording studio or even a new song. Once a carpenter always a builder – if you want a house of sound! ......EMERY is a composer, lyricist, arranger, guitarist (acoustic, electric, lap slide, slack key, ukulele, bass), keyboard player and producer of YEP. Hear his work live here at MySpace. *Songs recorded at Un-PC Studios, Brisbane, Australia - Engineer: Peter Cox. *Songs mixed and mastered at ALCHEMIX Studios, Brisbane, Australia - Engineer: Tim Baker. Special thanks to Chris Anderson for playng the twin didjeridoos on "Heartland Down Under".
Hi Yani Emery and Pete! Im amazed to find out about you. Im quite a lucky guy. Because of myspace, "my happiness is slowly creeping back" (a powderfinger namedrop). Ive had an emails from James Rein, and Aaron Meyer, and add requests from Ghostwriters (Hirst), Deep Forest, and Lian Lunson. Its like being at a party at the high end of town. Not bad for a boring scientist!
My roots are similar to yours. I lived in Iowa 2004-6, and there gathered some strong influences of the soul kind. Ive not done any music since age 25, but am being encouraged either that way, or back to art, by my relatives who see how science gets you down.
Ill have good think whether theres anyone I could tell about your songs. Looking up the peace train, which stars Ghostwriters for a start. Also maybe contact GoddessFi from my friends panel, shes the one who told me about Peacetrain.
Hi Emery and gang
great to see you up and running, hope to catch up at one of my Brissie shows before you head off to the USA. My EP is almost ready for pressing!???
Catch up later.
