Krewella Discusses Rainman And Their New Sound In An iEDM Exclusive In

The Krewella sisters Yasmine and Jahan Yousaf have been laying the heat on their fans since 2007. Best known for their hit singles like "One Minute" and "Alive," their performance has always been one to remember.

With such heavy hitters under their belt, the girls now explore new styles and passions within their musical presentation. Though the loss of their producer a few years back created some controversy, Krewella still strives to maintain originality and to consistently drop bangers for a vast audience around the globe.

As someone who bumped Krewella's dub tracks on a regular basis, I was thrilled to be invited to interview them before they stepped to the decks at Electric Love Festival in Salzburg, Austria.

iEDM: You’re about to hop on the main stage at Electric Love, a 3-day camping in the beautiful Salzburgring, Austria. How do you feel?

Yasmine: It feels really good! This is our second or third time playing at Electric Love. Last time we played it was an amazing crowd and we just peaked. It looks even bigger. I think this is one of those festivals that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The stage is insane!

Jahan: I feel good! We love this city! I remember the first time we landed in Salzburg, I was almost in tears thinking “this place is so beautiful!” It reminds me of The Sound of Music, the landscape is gorgeous. We love it here.

iEDM: Your new 7-track EP New World just came out about a month ago, how would you say these tracks differ from your classic bangers like “Killin It” and ”Come and Get It"?

Jahan: As an artist you’re always evolving and that’s something we embrace because we would get bored if we had to stick with one style. And as human beings we’re evolving. The music reflects that whether it’s the songwriting, the subject matter, or the actual physicality of our vocals. We’re definitely incorporating more eastern sounds. We’re half Pakistani so we wanted to honor our roots with this EP, and that’s something you'll hear more in the future. It’s still electronic though!

Yasmine: We’re still trying to make energetic, fun, emotional music.

Jahan: The essence is still there, it’s still us, and we’re still writing the stuff. The energy, emotion, and passion is still there.

iEDM: You just played at Balaton Sound in Hungary last night, and you have a few more European appearances this summer including internationally anticipated mega-festival Tomorrowland in a few weeks. How do you feel that the vibe differs between music festivals here in Europe vs. festivals in America?

Yasmine: That’s a hard one. We always get asked “where is your favorite place in the world to play.” When we’re in Europe, we feel like we can play a different kind of music. We can go harder with the hardstyle, hard techno, UK hardcore, and drum and bass. It’s hard to say though because then there are places like Denver where people lose it over bass music. It’s a bass city. So, we know when we come here [Europe] that we can just let it all go and play as hard as we want. It’s really exciting.

iEDM: You start your North American tour in September, are there any cities that you’re particularly excited about? Why?

Jahan: Denver.

Yasmine: Definitely Denver. We’re not even just saying that because you’re from Denver. I remember on The Sweatbox Tour last year we brought the live band to a small venue and it was such a different experience for EDM kids. They got to go into this tiny dive bar to see Krewella DJ with a punk rock vibe. They were super open-minded which so amazing. So we’re really looking forward to Denver.

Jahan: And Chicago.

Yasmine: Obviously Chicago. And we’re going to a lot of middle-America which we don’t get to do a lot of.

Jahan: Like Kansas City!

Yasmine: Oh yeah, Kansas City rages so hard!

iEDM: What ever happened to KrewLife?

Yasmine: Krewlife might make a comeback someday. We’ve talked about it, it’s just on a very long hiatus because we’ve been focusing on some other stuff.

Jahan: Honestly at one point, we were all just fucking partying and going crazy on the road. It was great for content. Yasmine and I have had our moments, like last night we went to bed drunk on some champagne and some crazy Hungarian liquor that we don’t know the name of. But we take it easy now because we work hard and we sing and we wanna be doing this for a while. You can feel your body wearing down. Even today I had like 3 glasses of champagne and 1 shot last night and I feel like I’m getting old.

iEDM: We all know about the Rain Man ordeal, so we don’t need to get too far into it… but we would like to ask, how has life changed since then?

Yasmine: So much. That was three years ago. It was a rollercoaster ride in the beginning, but Johan and I have always had each other. So now we’ve settled into making music just us two. We always talk about it, horrible things happen that wreck you. But you have to look at it as everything happens for a reason. Preston is still out there making music and he’s killing it. We’re loving what we’re doing so you have to believe that it all happens for a reason. We’re just on different paths.

Jahan: I think we’re more excited about our music now more than ever, and we wouldn’t have gone through this evolution, and our state of being wouldn’t have evolved if this didn’t happen. And I’m sure he feels the same way too.

iEDM: Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans?

Jahan: Yes! We have our North American tour in the fall, but before then we’re releasing our New World Pt. 2, and we have some cool collabs for you to look forward to.