October 14, 2025 — interview by Belicia Luevano and Kimmy Demkovich
We met up with Yin Yin right after they wrapped up soundcheck at Rickshaw Stop to talk about their latest single and the American experience so far over a feast of tacos, burgers and bratwurst at the iconic San Francisco dive bar, Zeitgeist. Over the inescapable blaring speakers sitting at the outdoor picnic tables, we huddled with Remy Scheren (bass) and Kees Berkers (drums) over my phone’s recorder app and got to chatting.
BEL: Tell me how y’all all met.
REMY: We all met because Kees and the original founder of the band that’s not here, were organizing venues, always in Maastricht, generally. And in one venue, they booked a band that would have little people showing up. They made a little bit of a prefix of music involved me and then we did our first show to draw local people. We needed a support act for that band.
So that’s how Yin Yin was created. So it was very unserious, but a very fundamentally creative, interesting project for ourselves. And I think that that’s how in these environments, creative ideas are always made quite quickly, and that’s why they are sometimes more effective. And that’s very organic,
And then Maastricht, where we’re from, it’s this old medieval small town. There are like 20 musicians that like the same indie stuff that we do. And so we all know each other. And we all played in each other’s band, you know. It’s like the gossip scene of Austin.
And we all kind of knew each other and we saw each other play and this kind of formula landed us with the agency in Amsterdam. And this agency created momentum for us, and we just got into the bandwagon. The train was running, and we just hopped on. And we have been on it ever since. And that’s kind of what happens.
And now we’re best friends.
BEL: We were all there at LEVITATION, what was it like playing your first American show? How did it feel? For me, on the audience’s side, it was really fun. But how did it feel for y’all?
KEES: I felt super excited because on Instagram, there has been quite some time that when we post a European tour or when we post a new single or an album, there’s lots of comments from The US, like, “Come to The US. I can get you to Sacramento. I can get you to San Francisco”, you know. So I know there’s quite some people that have been looking forward to it for quite a while. So to make a big long travel to a continent where we have never been and then play the first show is a super exciting idea of course.
And then at the same time, we had a lot of stress because half of the instruments didn’t arrive in the plane. So we had to improvise a lot with, you know, borrowing synthesizers and he (points at Remy) borrowed a bass guitar. And we were basically one hour before the show at LEVITATION, we were at Shaun’s (tour manager) living room, like, getting shit together and pillaging his whole room.
It was very chaotic, but we made it happen. And that made it extra extra extra special, in the last moment you have to improvise and be in a total chaotic mode and then the delivery is extra exciting.
REMY: I would like to add something to that. It was so nice to play in The United States. I personally was the least inclined to come due to the media, we always hear such polar things coming from both directions that are sometimes, I don’t know, shocking. And the thing that I’ve learned from all of the traveling that I’ve done is that all of the people are actually so nice. In America, in Europe, in China, in Japan — there is just a communication link that is wrong.
I think that that is just very nice about my experience in The States. We’re just having a great time and getting to meet all of you.
BEL: So tell us about your latest single, Spirit Adapter. When did it start? What was the journey for the song?
REMY: Well, just we just had a lot of experiences at the end of last year. And then we just all had a few months to write a new album, and we love what we do. But there is a certain intrinsic motivation in ourselves that we want to do stuff better. And I think that in those months, we kind of worked really hard in the writing periods to do the best that we can.
But since we the band has existed already for so long, five years is long for us, and we all don’t live with each other anymore, we’re all just grinding on our in our own bubble. In our own comfortable bubble trying to create as beautiful art as we can with the knowledge that we have. So that’s where Spirit’s first single came from. We all start with an idea, and then we all record it together. We all fuse it up at the end to make a Yin Yin
BEL: We’re there any influences that helped form the single?
REMY: I didn’t know what to write about, but there was something about me that knew this song was gonna be released in Autumn. I think that people kind of always need an emotional boost to get through those times and I wanted to turn cold temperatures into lukewarm, damp temperatures. And the song is more about like rainy weather, but gives it a little sexy twist that you can just put your coat down and go dancing.
So it’s taking your time. It’s about evaporating rain. We turn down the gravitational cycle upwards and it dampens upwards.
BEL: So in your opinion, what makes a good dance song? Y’all are all about dancing what are the elements of a good dance song?
KEES: It’s kick drum. It’s high hat. It’s a nice snare. It’s bongos. It’s bass. It’s funk. It’s disco. It’s adventure…synthesizing space sounds. And, you know, underpants that are a bit too tight, I would say.
REMY: Important, yeah.
KEES: Cheers. Cheers. [Pitcher of beer has arrived and one tequila shot for Bel, we cheers before continuing]
BEL: I noticed, like, in “Dis kô Dis kô”, there’s, like, a little sample from the beginning, and in “One Inch Punch”, there’s one in the middle. Where do you find your samples?
KEES: The one in the One Inch Punch is Bruce Lee, which is of course a famous. And, I actually thought that that sample would be too famous. I knew of it for years and I think that whole interview is very legendary. It’s recorded in black and white in the sixties and he’s just giving a very motivational answer. And I thought that it would be a bit over the top maybe or too well-known quote to use in a song.
But then we did it because it fit very well. And then afterwards, there’s a lot of people saying that they know the quote because of our song. I didn’t expect that. I thought that everybody would be like, “Yeah, you took the Bruce Lee quote, man, so lame.”
The one in the the “Dis kô Dis kô” is actually is just Google Translate. We put “forty eight hours in a disco,” which we also sing later in the song, and then translated it to Thai language.
The song is a nod to Kiki Gyan, who was a seventies disco artist. He had a song where he sang “24 Hours in a Disco.”
BEL: So you just doubled it?
KEES: So we doubled it. And it’s an ode to him, Kiki Gyan. A genius who died very young.
BEL: Speaking of disco, what makes a perfect dance party?
REMY: I think that would be Regulate by Nate Dogg and Warren G. That song five times in a row. Only that song.
KEES: That’s the perfect dance party.
BEL: That song and pants that are too tight?
REMY: Underpants. Pants are very loose.
BEL: Yall have been in America for like a week now. Any inspiration or influences from America yet?
KEES: We’ll Remy bought a great guitar within 5 minutes in Portland.
REMY: I’ve been looking for this kind of similar instrument, but a bass version. And then I saw this guitar and it’s three times more expensive and I just bought it. And I don’t know particularly how I’m gonna get it back, but that’s a problem for later me. So we’ll see.
KEES: There’s nice vintage stuff like microphones and amps and speakers and instruments that are quite rare in Europe that we found here for very cheap prices and all over the place. Can’t wait to visit America in a private plane, you know, and we can stuff it.
REMY: Yeah. But besides the materialism, it is very impressive to see how you all live in such a free landscape. Because in Europe, it has existed for such a long time with smaller roads and more regulations to make such societies work. And with all of you, it’s just different. You just have more space.
So that just gives a different artistic nuance about how things feel. So I understand that the music here developed the way that it developed. If I feel the connection with nature and the landscape of America versus Europe.
KEES: I think even the American influence is already very strong in Europe. You know, what we buy on vinyl, what we see on television, the movies. So actually, the American influence we had living in Holland is maybe even stronger than the influence we experienced here because the stuff you see and hear from far away, you create your own dream idea like, oh, this must be like that kind place and those kinds of people. And actually being here for the first time, it makes me realize that we’re actually quite the same.
BEL: What’s next for 2026?
REMY: Thank you for asking, first of all. We’re releasing a new album on January 16. And this is close to the Chinese New Year, which is a coincidence. It’s an anomaly of the planets that have aligned, which we are very happy about.
And after that, we will do a very big European tour. So we have a lot of shows, then the festival season starts, and then we’ll see whoever wants us. And then we’ll go to Asia, and then 2027. We’ll come back to you guys probably.
BEL: Those are all the questions I have. [Nods to Kimmy]
REMY & KEES: [Chanting] Kimmy! Kimmy! Kimmy! Kimmy! Kimmy!
KIMMY: Your first album, it debuted like nothing else. For me, it was powerful, hypnotizing. It was immaculate. What is behind the name, “The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers?”
KEES: The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers is about being the underdog. We still have a lot of musical heroes. And there is quite some competition to be able to, as a band, become so successful that it becomes your profession. And so when we were making that album, we still felt like the rabbits that will hunt the tigers who are the big giants up there. And if the rabbit is smart enough, it kill the tiger.
The story is based on Tibetan folklore. And also where we are from in The Netherlands, it’s like, considered to be less of a cool artistic area.
REMY: We’re the least coolest people of The Netherlands, basically. And that also had something to do with the title.
KIMMY: I know that there is Southeast Asian influence in your music. What draws you to that and to pentatonic scales?
KEES: I think it has something to do with the whole way of making and listening to music that is from The US and Europe. It is so saturated with so many bands that at some point, we’re kind of tired of that whole sound. Then for me, Afrobeat, like Felacuti and stuff like that was the first time I heard a different kind of music that I’m used to. I mean, I love Nirvana, I love all the Tupac and Biggie stuff, we watched MTV all of the time. Then you’re super curious and you start digging for more music, and at some point, you get bored in a way. And then through the Internet and some world music festivals, we got to see acts from Japan and Thailand. And that was such a different vibe that was super interesting.
So then we went on the Internet and on YouTube, searching for the most weird stuff that had like 200 plays on a YouTube video and videos that had only the Thai letters. You couldn’t even read it. It was a quest to get the most unfamiliar kind of music, to hear something completely new. And that had an influence on us. And it’s not that we are playing that kind of music, but we kind of took some tastes and inspirations from that.
REMY: As a tip to other musicians, I think due to the Internet and globalization, there’s an infinite knowledge base of music that you can access. You just have to have enough of an incentive to to look for something in particular.
KIMMY: Are there any Asian bands that you recommend that we might not have heard of?
KEES: Rhere are a few, but their names, I cannot pronounce. There’s also some Yin Yin playlists on Spotify. We haven’t updated it in so long.
REMY: But we should.
KEES: Yeah, we should. We’ll make a new list. Good reason now.
KIMMY: Do any of you play the Gujang?
REMY: I bought a Gujang as a present for Kees for 4K. It was actually really funny because there was a very commercially important show that we had to do and we Kees didn’t wanna do it and he did it anyway.
And then as a consolation price, I wanted to buy him an instrument. So I delivered the harp to the hotel, but it arrived way too late. When we’re on the way back and get the notification that the harp has arrived at the hotel. I had to pay way too much money to have it arrive at Kees’ house. But it’s a beautiful harp. It has five notes up to 12, so it’s pentatonic.
And that’s why it’s it’s it sounds the way it does. It’s origin’s lie in China, so you can’t really play any wrong notes on it. So Kees’ is a quite rhythmic guy, he’s a drummer. If you have a feeling for rhythm, you can play it quite easily. There’s one song, “Ascending to Matsu’s Heights,” where Kees plays it on the album.
KEES: It’s the last song and the last album. But unfortunately, it’s too sensitive to bring it on tour. Otherwise, we would have it on stage. But it’s a wooden, beautifully crafted koto kind of instrument. It will de-tune very easily and we were very afraid that it will break in the van.
