Yumi Zouma is just a name, sure, but “to be called anything else would be a lie.” That’s what the Kiwi band—made up of Sam Perry, Christie Simpson, Josh Burgess and Charlie Ryder—says. The band grew up together in Christchurch, New Zealand, but now live all over the world—in Auckland, Paris and New York, to be exact. When they began writing together they collaborated over email to share tracks, but during a three-week stint in Paris, the band created Yoncalla with all its members physically in the room together.

“Yumi Zouma has always been an exercise in refining ideas and collaborating,” reflects guitarist Charlie Ryder, “but this was the first time we weren’t limited or protected by distance. With Yoncalla, the process was different, and it can be scary to present raw ideas to your friends ­ but it’s also incredible to see songs evolve through the sparks of inspiration that bounce between people in the same room.”

Released May 27, the self-recorded and produced debut is a nuanced and sophisticated set that’s informed by Yumi Zouma’s adherence to pure, emotive pop. The band talks to Myspace about touring with Chet Faker and Lorde, having a long-distance relationship and childhood influences.

Hometown:

Christie: Arrowtown, New Zealand and Sunshine Coast, Australia

Sam: Geelong, Australia

Charlie: Christchurch, New Zealand

Josh: Palmerston North, New Zealand

Homebase:

Christie: Christchurch

Charlie: Paris

Josh: New York

Sam: Currently nowhere; I just left Wellington, New Zealand and we're all spending a whack of time in New York over the summer. After that, who knows?

How did you all meet?

Charlie and Josh met at a band competition when they were 17, they met Christie a few years later at an all ages venue, Charlie played in Sam's band Zen Mantra, and then Sammy joined Yumi Zouma as we were about to embark on our first world tour.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Christie: Cher

Josh: Luke Bryan

Sam: The Velvet Underground probably (if I was to count all the artists they influenced too)

Charlie: Hanson, Matchbox 20.

How do you describe your music to someone who's never heard you before?

Christie: Annihilation Station!!!!

Josh: Like jumping off your roof and realizing there is no ground.

Sam: Like being spun around in a washing machine filled with remnants of my dreams.

Charlie: Nice enough.

How does living all over the world yet being rooted in New Zealand influence your sound?

Sam: Christchurch has always had a pretty vibrant scene (in different ways pre- and post- quake) that's had a massive influence on me personally. Right now it's home to a thriving industrial/punk community and if you shoot off to the harbour you'll find some of the best country music being made anywhere at the moment.

Josh: I really connect with New York. The subway sounds play a big part in how I write music, and I love sitting in the middle of Central Park just making beats.

Charlie: In my opinion, It doesn't at all, I still work in the same way here in Paris compared to when I was in New Zealand!

Christie: I grew up in Arrowtown, which is a tiny little gold-mining town in the South Island that no one has ever heard of. I like to think of my songs as little nuggets of gold that I dig up.

You went on tour with Lorde and Chet Faker. How was that?

The Chet Faker tour was stressful because it was his album release tour for the last album which was huge in Australia, but it was our first set of shows ever. We had never played together before and didn't know how to play the songs live, so we were effectively having band practices at places like the Forum theatre in Melbourne in front of 2,000 people.

Lorde was just surreal. 10,000 people would rush into the arenas when the doors would open after queuing up all day to be first in line and just start screaming and losing their minds, it was insane. It was also strange because there's a point where the venue is so big that it starts becoming a vacuum, like you could just be playing to an empty room. But it was an amazing experience, especially when we played in Christchurch.

What do you do for fun?

Christie: I like to go surfing.

Josh: I write screenplays.

Sam: A lot of reading, a lot of music making.

Charlie: I like to run marathons! I'm currently training for the Pyongyang marathon.

What's the craziest thing that’s happened to the band so far?

Charlie: Definitely the Lorde tour.

Christie: A guy in London built a 2-meter statue of me last year; he brought it to the show and danced with it during our set.

Josh: Someone proposed to me in Spain.

Sam: Taking photos with literally EVERY audience member after our last show in Japan was quite surreal.

Why is your album called Yoncalla? What does it mean?

It's a reeeally long story! I'll try to be short: Last year we were on a summer tour in the US supporting EP II, and we had to drive the day after a show in Vancouver to Seattle to play the Capitol Hill Block Party. There was a massive traffic jam, and the Canadian border was on lockdown. So what was meant to be a three to four hour drive turned into a 12 to 13 hour ordeal and we had to rearrange our set time.

We arrived just as we were supposed to play, but had a great gig. The problem was were supposed to return our rental vehicle in Seattle for a new one, but we missed the drop-off time. And then there were no more rentals. Anywhere. Because there were a bunch of festivals all happening in Seattle. This meant that we had to stay the night in Seattle, but all the hotels and Airbnbs were sold out. So in the end we stayed on the floor at a stranger's house. All the rental cars were taken the next day as well, so we took the Amtrak train to our next show in Portland, arriving just in time for our next show, which was great.

Then after that, we had our first days off, which was just such a massive relief. We ended up booking an AirBnB in the middle of nowhere, and spending the two days swimming in rivers and thinking about our debut album. It was just the most peaceful and best time ever, and a lot of the ideas for the album came from that time, so that's why we called it Yoncalla.

What was the first song you ever wrote as a band? What was it about?

"A Long Walk Home For Parted Lovers!" It's about personal feels. Deep personal feels.

Do you have an awesome Myspace-related story as a musician? 

Christie: I coded my MySpace so that it had a background of Panic! At The Disco and autoplayed My Chemical Romance

Josh: When I was 14, my band got to open for Coldplay after sending them a message on Myspace

Charlie: I got my first ever tour through Myspace when I was 17! My old band got sequestered by a Colombian dude living in Germany who wanted to take us around Europe. It was fine.