YONAKA are the new breed of rock! The high-energy, passionate band from Brighton consists of Theresa Jarvis (vocals), George Edwards (guitar), Alex Crosby (bass) and Rob Mason (drums).

In addition to their debut album Don't Wait 'Til Tomorrow which dropped in 2019, they have already released EPs Heavy (2017), Teach Me to Fight (2018), Create (2018) and Welcome to My House (2023).

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Artist Bio

Sometimes you have to go through the shit to emerge victorious on the other side and fight your way through the proverbial tunnel to find the light. And this is the exact journey that Brighton’s Yonaka have spent the last year navigating, and ultimately, conquering.

Now coming out the other side armed with a new lease of life, they are ready to share a story of empowerment and perseverance that is set to rival the greats. All packaged up into some alt-rock bangers, of course.

Starting their story a few years ago when they met at Brighton university, vocalist Theresa Jarvis, bassist Alex Crosby, drummer Rob Mason and guitarist George Werbrouck-Edwards instantly jelled, quickly building their name with raucous live sets and a seamless merging of pop, rock and hip-hop inspired beats.

As the word spread, the group soon found themselves being hailed as the next great rock outfit by the likes of NME, holding their own (and then some) across the country as they joined big names including Bring Me The Horizon, Fever 333, The Libertines, Courteeners and more on tour. Just take their ever-growing fanbase even copying the group’s matching Yonaka tattoos as yet further proof of the sparks that they conjured.

So, it was no surprise that when their attention-grabbing debut album ‘Don’t Wait ’Til Tomorrow’ dropped late May 2019, 11-tracks of incendiary alt-rock sizzlers that saw critical acclaim, it seemed like the group were poised to breakthrough.

But despite the hype, the group still felt like they wanted and needed more and were eager to explore their potential yet to be unlocked. “I think before we were just testing the waters and finding out for ourselves what we wanted to do. I don’t think anyone pops up like, ‘Here it is!’. It’s been a bit of a journey,” Theresa muses, laughing. “If we didn’t have that, we’d probably still be a bit shit.”

Joking that the lightbulb moment came after the release of their debut, the band have spent pretty much every single moment since writing away, perfecting the sound and style that they always wanted to achieve, and now - not so much Yonaka 2.0, but the Yonaka they’ve always threatened to be - are ready to make their full introduction.

“It was only about a year and a half ago when we finally figured out what we were actually supposed to say, what we were supposed to sound like, what we were supposed to look like,” Theresa explains. “There’s no way we were working hard enough before. We thought we were but we just weren’t. We weren’t putting our heads into every single thing that we should have been, and now we are and we have been. If you really want to do it, you need to be 100% in all the time. We’ve done a lot of that.”

Locking themselves in their Brighton home studio throughout last year, the group are now geared up to welcome the world into their new era, with a brand new self-produced mixtape ready to show them bigger and better than ever.

Having always pulled musical influence from hip-hop, Theresa began listening to loads (“and loads and loads”) of Kanye and Jay-Z while writing, simultaneously revisiting the artists that they loved when they were younger, marking P!nk, Eminem, Limp Bizkit and Rage Against The Machine as their stand out influences in the new music they’re creating.

“When we first started out, everyone was like ‘You sound like too many different things’, so we’d try to write in the same way,” Theresa notes, “but this time we were like ‘Fuck it!’” “When you sit down like ‘Let’s try and write a heavy punk thing’, it’s limiting,” George adds. “You’re not gonna go further than a box because you’ve already put yourself in one.”

“I think we wanted to just change it a bit,” Theresa agrees. “We’re always going to be a bit aggressive, but it’s about being aggressive about you and about being your own power. With the [debut] album, I was really sucked into my own head and how I was feeling mentally and couldn’t really talk about anything else. I feel like now we need to change the story a bit. It’s about me still, and everyone else, but it’s about owning your fucking shit and taking the power back. Otherwise you’re just stuck in this little hole in your own head and in this dark little place just forever.” As Alex notes: “This feels like coming out the other side.”

It’s this feeling of emerging victorious that informs their upcoming new mixtape. Introduced by fiery lead single ‘Seize The Power’, the anthemic track opens up their new chapter with a balls-to-the-walls statement of intent. An empowering and rousing song, Theresa explains, “You know when you feel fucking good and you’re glowing and you feel like the whole world is with you? That’s what ‘Seize The Power’ is.”

Elsewhere on the project, ‘Greedy’ is about striking down those who try to take from you, while ‘Ordinary’ preaches about striving for greatness and not confining to the “ordinary”. More poignant moments arrive in the form of ‘Call Me A Saint’ with the lyrics “call me a saint, a slave to my brain” that touches on mental health and the every day “rollercoaster” to tackle, while ‘Anthem For The Lost and Disheartened’ is a stripped back beautiful call-to-arms for anyone feeling like they’ve lost their way.

‘Get Out’ was inspired by the 1999 psychological movie ‘Girl, Interrupted’, diving into the fractured relationship between Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder’s characters Lisa Rowe and Susanna Kaysen. Written on a “cheap Casio keyboard from the 80s that barely works", creating a perfect dark dance number, Theresa found a welcome break writing outside of her own brain and experiences. “When I really connect with a movie,” she explains, “it fuels me so much, because I put myself in someone else’s shoes and you live a different life when you write the track.”

Jumping from 80s dance vibes to “nu-metal throwback”, ‘Clique’, which features Yonaka stan and touring pal Fever 333’s Jason Aalons Butler, is described as “just a lot of swearing, basically”, while closer ‘Raise Your Glass’ has an almost pop-punk/Paramore-leaning sound as Theresa’s signature standout vocals drive the empowering anthem: “It’s about when you feel like you’re home again and feel like you’re where you’re supposed to be. You’re where you’re supposed to be at the right time, doing what you’re supposed to be doing. It’s life! There’s hurdles and there’s good bits and shit bits, and it’s about knowing where you are is the right place at the moment.”

The upcoming mixtape marks a new exciting era for the group, embracing the differing genres that they love, preaching empowerment and remaining unapologetically themselves throughout. Taking the time to learn and grow in their journey as a band, becoming better at producing and finding sounds and writing music along the way, the four-piece have now hit the jackpot and are ready to reap the rewards.

“I just don’t think we were ready and were good enough back then,” Theresa states. “We needed to learn a bit.” George agrees: “It goes hand in hand with the empowerment message. We can now do what we want, whereas before we were being naive and being told what we were going to do.”

Taking back their power, it feels like this is the moment that they’ve been waiting for. “Everything’s down to timing and the universe and I feel like now is right.” Theresa affirms. “We all 100% believe in it and 100% want it. I think this is it! I think it’s the start of something great!” One listen to the new Yonaka, and you’ll find it hard to disagree.


Get excited, because Gigantic can now offer you YONAKA tickets. But do not hang around because demand is high and they will sell out very quickly. Fortunately, we make placing your gig tickets order nice and easy by enabling access to our site 24/7 using your computer, smartphone or tablet whilst relaxing at home or busy and on the go.

Formed after meeting at university, YONAKA released their debut EP ‘Heavy’ in October to mass critical acclaim. Lead single ‘Bubblegum’ landed specialist radio support from the likes of Daniel P Carter, Hugh Stevens, MistaJam and Phil Taggart at Radio 1 as well as a multitude of editorial support ensuring that they were the third most tipped artist for 2018 in the end of year lists. The quartet worked with Mercury Prize-winning producer Rodaidh Mcdonald (King Krule, Sampha, The xx) on their five-track EP, showcasing the band’s diverse musical spectrum, something for which has seen them tipped as rock’s new frontrunners.

Gigantic is the very best place to book your YONAKA concert tickets, but with only limited supplies being made available, we do urge you to place your order before they are all snatched up.

Offering a fantastic selection of the very latest gig tickets plus an excellent customer services team ready to assist with any enquiry, Gigantic should always be your first choice whenever you are planning your big night out.

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