Turkish rock star (Model), producer, musician and sound engineer, Burak Yerebakan has been living in Los Angeles since 2015. He is the lead guitarist for the band Yard Of Blondes, the producer and guitarist for Crook, and ready to launch his solo electronic project from his recording studio in Los Angeles, The Wakeful Room.
A new single called "Light in the Night" is coming out on December 15, 2022. I had the opportunity to meet him between two sessions to find out more about the new solo project he's been cooking up:
Where does the name "Wakeful" come from?
“Wakeful means 'awake' and 'aware' at the same time. As a creative person like all my musician or artist friends, there is a state of mind that I find myself in sometimes, you are so inspired or there is an idea running through your brain that you can't fall asleep if you are in bed and you have to get up and write it down or record it if it is a song idea. So I call that the 'wakeful' state in which you are 100% productive, efficient and creative.”
What has the process of creation / artistic direction been like ? How long did it take for you to find the direction ?
“I've played guitar for many years in lots of bands and projects. So I am actually very much used to being a part of a team, creating and performing that way. When it came down to creating a music project that includes only me, I had a hard time deciding which direction to go at first but eventually I realized I had to do most of the work electronically. Spending years being inspired by great electronic music artists, I realized that the vibe I like to create and feel fits better with the tracks in the Melodic House/Techno genre and Electronica. I'm also pretty familiar working in Ambient / Electronica with my other project Crook, so I had to focus more on the Melodic House side of things to begin with.”
About the first single "Light in the Night," what have been your inspirations and influences?
“After spending a few months listening to some new electronic music releases I realized that I am about to find a way to express my feelings and tell my stories in a specific sound. I had so much material that I could use from the past few years but instead I started fresh and worked on new ideas that I think I could fit in the Melodic House world. "Light In The Night" was one of them that I felt was easy to start with. I listened to a lot of Stephan Bodzin and was very inspired after I watched Jeremy Olander here in LA a few months ago, and those are just a couple of names that kept me moving during this creative process.”
Burak is currently working on a live electronic and DJ sets to stream and perform throughout 2023. “I will be performing and releasing DJ sets throughout 2023 on my
twitch page and
Soundcloud. My goal is to play as many sets as possible this year and eventually go back to my hometown Istanbul later in the year and perform there too. But for the first half of the year it's gonna be some local clubs and private parties in Los Angeles.”
Burak will be releasing a four track EP in 2023, called “Wakeful”, along with a series of single releases, so stay tuned.
www.wakefulmusic.com.
@wakefulmusicPhoto by Vincent Jacob @happyaccidentphoto
