Why? Open Up On Illnesses, Influences And The Future

In our quest to keep up with the best new music around, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk to Why? The now 6-piece band, have evolved from their core of Doug, Josiah and frontman Yoni, to not only doubling their band size, but probably their fan base too. On a surprisingly dry night in London, the band stopped to talk to Contact Music ahead of their album launch.

The catalyst for many of Yoni’s expertly crafted lyrics stem from his own health struggles, and this had a hand in the production of their new album, Mumps, etc.; “This album was really, really hard to make, mostly because of health issues I would say,” explained Yoni, but he added the caveat “I'm doing great now. I feel great, which is great," which was good to hear, and he’s certainly displayed his current vein of good health with a string of lively performances across Europe, especially at The Electric Ballroom, London, where the band launched their latest album.

One topic scarcely elaborated on by the band is their influences, primarily because they’re so hard to pin, but Josiah offered up some explanation for their ascendance to the musical arts. “Our Dad played. He played music. He started teaching us how to play the drums, and, you know, when you're little, you do something that you're pretty good at, and we liked it." And Yoni likened his father’s influence to a “spark” which “slowly grows over time.”

Reviews for Mumps etc have been mixed, with some giving it a measly 2.8, and others giving it a 9/10. But what does the future hold for WHY? Somehow, we can’t see them selling out stadiums, but what are they looking for in the years to come? “I think we're all interested in having careers in music well into our lives," explained the multitalented Doug. “Yeah,” added Yoni, “I don't know how things will evolve. I don't think any of us are really keen on getting random desk jobs, or something like that. We'll probably carry on in the arts, but who knows how things will evolve. “Maybe I could grow old and have a little quiet studio somewhere and make paintings or something."

Read the full interview here!