Peking Duk’s Reuben Styles, under his country-electronic moniker Y.O.G.A. (You’re Only Great Always), has teamed up with rising country star Sara Berki for their latest single, “Forever Hold Your Gun”.
Blending Y.O.G.A.’s signature “cow tech” style with Berki’s powerful vocals and a gripping western narrative, the track arrives just in time for Y.O.G.A.’s debut performance at CMC Rocks on March 21st.
Styles first discovered Berki’s voice during a coastal road trip.
“I first heard Sara’s voice on a road trip down the coast,” Styles recalls. “Her song ‘Tear You Apart’ came on, and I Shazamed it immediately.”
Styles slid “straight” into Berki’s DMs, and that fateful message led to a studio session with Seb Bartels that sparked instant creative chemistry.
“We knew pretty quickly what we wanted to do; we wanted to create a western tale that could also feel like a dance song,” he says. “We laid down a little Fleetwood Mac feel but added country and western chords, then with Sara’s insane voice and melodies, we really created what I think is one of the best songs I’ve worked on in my 17 years in the music industry.”
For Berki, who grew up idolising Peking Duk, the collaboration was a surreal full-circle moment.
“In my early 20s, I was Peking Duk mad,” she admits. “Pretty much every festival possible, I would be right side of the stage to catch Adam and Reuben play. Singing every word with my friends would have to be some of my fondest memories. It is just such a blowout to now be on this song with Reuben.”
Before heading into the session, Berki arrived prepared with a vision: basic chords, lyrics, and a song title.
“I pictured being the woman watching a self-willed, mysterious, hell-bound cowboy who she was sickly in love with, riding off into the sunset, kicking his spurs into his horse with a gun high in the air, firing,” she says. “I could see canyons, tumbleweeds, there was wind and dust. The song is her plea to find him and that she’d do anything to do so.”
Their creative synergy was undeniable, and the track came together at lightning speed.
“The majority of the song was written in a matter of three to four hours,” Styles recalls. “The musical chemistry was just spot on that day! We worked on the song non-stop the whole day – I don’t even think we took a break.”
The next morning, Styles was eager to refine the track – initially called something else – even further.
“I got a text from Reuben early the next morning saying, ‘Any chance you’re free today?’” Berki says. “We then worked on the chorus a little more, recut some of the vocals, and that’s when we realised it made more sense to call it ‘Forever Hold Your Gun’.”
The final version features additional instrumental firepower, with Australian country singer-songwriter Blake O’Connor lending his harmonica skills to enhance the track’s western atmosphere.
For Styles, “Forever Hold Your Gun” is his proudest Y.O.G.A. release yet.
“This song is the perfect blend of our worlds, where it’s got dancey electronic elements but is still very much a Sara Berki song too,” he says. “This is without a doubt my favourite Y.O.G.A. release to date.”
Fans can catch Y.O.G.A.’s electrifying fusion of country and dance when he debuts at CMC Rocks this weekend, where Styles promises a set that’s evolved and refined over the past year.
“The Y.O.G.A. show has constantly been evolving and growing since Snow Machine Japan and Stagecoach, getting tighter and more succinct whilst feeling more flowing and wild. I’m very proud of where it has come and bloody excited for where it is going.”
“Forever Hold Your Gun” is out now.
