Established in 2012, Cool Company is a very DOPE Brooklyn based writer/producer duo composed of vocalist Yannick Hughes (aka Cool Yan) and producer Matt Fishman (aka Fat Matt). The duo recently released their visual for the track "Howling", which appears on their latest project "Summer Daze", available for stream/download here -- Bandcamp. We touched base with Yannick and Matt to learn how the guys formed Cool Company, get a better understanding for how their music is influenced by their Brooklyn surroundings as well as how their "Howling" video came together, and much more. 

Carlton Boyd

How did you guys meet and what led to you deciding to form Cool Company?

M: Yan and I met when we both joined the high school choir. Fast forward to college, where we started experimenting with creating music together.  I had been making beats for a few years and I convinced Yan to try his hand at writing over one of my beats.  By the third song we made, I knew that this was something we should be taking seriously.

Y: Yeah I remember in choir I would listen hear what Matt was doing and follow his lead.  Not much has changed.

What does the name 'Cool Company' mean?

M: Cool Yan is a sarcastic bastard, whose behavior can sometimes be mistaken as "cool".   Thus, he became known as "Cool Yan", leading us to adopt the name "Cool Company" when we became a team.  We also view Cool Company's scope as extending beyond just the 2 of us, as a collective/label.

Y: I always thought they called me that cuz I can't stand when it's too hot out, but I guess that explanation works just as well

Would you say that your music is influenced by your surroundings in Brooklyn and NYC in general?

M: There is definitely lots of vibrant life going on all around us in the Brooklyn community that we continually draw inspiration from.  The Bushwick scene in particular is flush with talented musicians and collaborators.  Sometimes inspiration can be as simple as spotting a beautiful Dominican girl in a sundress walking down our street. ;)

Y: Yeah we actually wrote a good portion of one of our upcoming singles while on the way back from a party where there was a plethora of inspiration.

From start to finish, describe how a Cool Company song comes together.

M: Usually I'll start a fresh beat and Yan will start freestyling some melodies/ flows while i build up the groove and arrange the structure of the composition.  We flush out the ideas and cut away extra material until we have the structure finalized.  The polishing usually lasts a few weeks/months and involves a lot of input by our manager Johnny, who also wears an A&R hat in our songwriting process.

Y: It's a sort of rolling process so at any given point we'll have a bunch of tracks we're working on that are in all different stages.  You know, gotta take a break every now and then for the sundresses.

Your new video "Howling" is incredible; what was your artistic vision for the video and who directed it?

M: Thanks!  The video was directed by the talented David Gogokhia, a Georgian (the country) filmmaker and friend.  He has an impressive portfolio of music videos and films, and we solicited him to direct a video for Howling.
The concept came from the dark nature of the song.  The visuals evoke loneliness and a natural sadness that we associated with the overall tone.

Y: I personally wanted to do this whole thing with me and a real wolf but it turns out wolves are dangerous AF and not that easy to come by around here so we had to settle for a beautiful girl instead.

Why should someone buy your latest EP "Summer Daze" and why should this same person come to a Cool Company show?

M: There are a lot of recycled ideas in music, and we feel we're bringing a fresh flavor to the mix.  We're not here to chase trends, we are interested in expressing ourselves as artists and sharing it with like-minded fans.
By picking up a copy of our EP, you're directly supporting the Cool Co creative pipeline that delivers music from us to you.
Why should you come to a Cool Company show?  To dance your ass off and experience the songs with an added dimension.

Y: ...and you should come to a show cuz that's also where we play some of our unreleased/soon to be released tracks like our upcoming single "Why You Gotta Make Me Do It" which will be available on all major listening platforms June 24th!

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