Years of Denial is the alter-face of French musician,DJ and producer Jerome Tcherneyan and Czech performance artist and DJ, Barkosina Hanusova. With the use of hardware combined with vocals and a plethora of dub devices, YOD are re-visiting the dark corner of post punk, Industrial music movement and rave culture.

Both influenced by Isolationism, they also perform improvised cinematic Ambient sets with the use of modular synths and processed vocals. They draw upon the darker and profound stimulus of experimental music, creating an immersive and dramatic imaginative space.

TF: Tell us something about you. What’s your background? Where did you studied and who influenced you to explore musical processes?

Barkosina: My background is in Drama & Theatre Arts with main focus on Performance/Live Art. Music was always there in many ways since an early age. At first in a form of jams on the mic with djs at raves and then number of collaborations and other random bands, adding bass and mainly vocals. I also had a regular radio show for about three years once a week and haven’t missed one session, I absolutely fell in love with sound and explored so many different genres and eclectic selections. This naturally followed by mixing and djing. With YOD I am learning a lots of new stuff in terms of production and I am very excited about the process and the future. In terms of music influences for me is the one and only Einsturzenden Neubauten, industrial sounds and Blixa’s vocals just really got me and Lydia Lunch’s furious language and performance, essential. The main influence comes from the Czech underground scene where I grew up, the scene was dominated with music, performances, paintings and literature, it was all there and it stayed with me till now. Art in general has no limitation for me and I love to interconnect and apply all possible forms together.

Jerome: I started playing drums in 89 jamming in my bedroom alongside cassettes of The Cure and Public Enemy, Skip a few years and I was studying Jazz and Brazilian percussion, during that time i was also introduced to electronic music via Occult 69, we use to meet and share our music taste jumping from Sun Ra to Basic Channel or Spacemen 3 to Panasonic. My interest in production and thirst for sounds started in the mid nineties, Wordsound Records from New York were taking Dubmixology to a new level while Pete Kemper was heavily processing guitars and abusing analog gear with E.A.R. Techno Animal ‘Re-Entry’ is still a wild beast, Scorn ‘Gyral’ will haunt me forever. I managed to get my hands on a sampler and Space echo and started to experiment recording to cassette as it was the medium of the time. Isolationsm became a life style not a music genre anymore.

TF: You live in London. How does this place influence you as an artist?

YOD: London has always something to offer, it’s very colorful in terms of arts, culture and people. It has been great journey here and the city is an inspiration itself. Also the struggle and the survival comes with it and becomes the material to create. There is a sense of unpredictability and freedom yet it can become tight and limited somehow. All that becomes a subject for creation.

TF: How is your live set up going to be? Any particular equipment? Do you have a particular method while working in the studio?

YOD: Our live set up varies from performances according to the event and venue. We play immersive Ambient sets and club nights so we choose different tools each time. The core of the live set up is built around Ableton live, a modular synth processing mainly the voice, TR 707 or TR 606, Moog minitaur, handmade instruments and Fx. In the studio we usually jam with the EMU SP 1200 and Sequential circuits PRO ONE and develop vocals and lyrics around it.

TF: Which aspects of sound do you examine recently? Is for you important the impression that your music produces on the audience?

YOD: While being in the process of creating, we don’t think of the outcome and the impression that it might have. When we play live, the catharsis of the experience is important, it’s physical and emotional and it depends on the energy we exchange with our audience.

TF: What are some artists, whose work really excites you?

YOD: At the moment, December and Morah are killing it and Ancient Methods is always a treat.

TF: Recently, have you seen any movie or documentary, or heard an album that has influenced the way you make music? What other art forms or music inspire you as a person?

YOD: Nothing influences the music we make except of our process. It’s very essential to be internal, almost isolated from other sources in order to create purely from an unknown place … In terms of inspiration of other art forms, Barkosina’s inspiration comes from performance art and literature and Jerome’s inspiration comes from Barkosina …

TF: Can you tell us more about your next release? Do you have in mind other projects?

YOD: We just released a track on VEYL, a full EP is coming out on Pinkman Broken Dreams and a tape of some live recordings on Death & Leisure. We have also contributed to V/As for Public System Recordings and She lost Kontrol.

TF: Thank you for all Barkosina and Jerome!