Photo by: Danny DeRusso
Congratulations on You Had To Be There! How’s the reception?
Thank you so much. It’s been awesome. I know everyone says this in interviews and stuff, but it’s, like, better than we thought it could have gone. It’s the first time we ever really put out an album and got to tour on it like immediately. So like day one of the album release, we started the State Champs tour. I got to cross off my bucket list: put out an album and go on tour immediately. It rocks. It’s super awesome.
How was the reception of the new songs then on that tour?
Oh, great. I mean, we kind of stuck to playing just a couple of the singles on that tour and then mostly the older YC jams just because we figured we’d play in front of a bunch of people that didn’t know who we were, so we kind of wanted to give ’em a rundown of what we’re about. But then after that tour, we jumped into like our holiday shows and we started playing like “Different Now” and “Not In Love.” I was really surprised at how fast everyone knew all the words and jammed to the songs. It was really cool.
You guys are really good at set lists, just typically.
Thank you! We’re working on our set list for the Meet Me @ The Altar tour now actually. I always think about setlists like, “What would I want from a band I would go see?” Not that we would ever retire certain songs, but I feel it coming on where some of us are like, “I don’t know if I really wanna play that anymore.” But it would be that song I would want to hear when I go see a band. I never understood why certain bands just didn’t wanna play certain songs, but now I guess I kind of see it and just don’t wanna fall into that. I wanna always give the crowd what they want, you know? It’s tough. We have like 45 songs, and it’s tough when you’re not doing a headlining set because you only get 25 minutes to play. So it’s tough to pick like six songs out of 45, especially when you’re trying to promote a new album. You want to play all six new songs, but you can’t do that.
Can you talk me through the writing and recording process of the album?
This is a fairly new way that we went into recording the record because it’s the first time we’ve ever written with other people. We did co-writing sessions over Zoom with some of our biggest inspirations. We got to work with Nick Santino from A Rocket to the Moon. We got to do a song with The All-American Rejects. We got to do one with Cody Carson from Set It Off. We also wrote one with the guitarist from Silverstein. Our manager and label were just like, “Do you want to do cowrites?” We were like, “Sure, why not?” We made a list of people we wanted to work with, and those were just some of them that they were able to make happen. But what’s funny is we only ended up using two songs that we wrote with other people. We went into the studio with like upwards of 50 to 60 songs. Out of the eight or nine cowrites, we only used two. We used the one with Silverstein, and “Different Now” was written by Alex and this singer/songwriter, Jess Berrera, who we actually looked up to when we were kids. That one is my favorite off the record too, and I think that’s probably why. So we went in with 60 songs and cut all of them, and then we ended up writing in the studio. And then two of the songs that didn’t make it from the studio were just like basically voice memos that Alex had on his phone. But yeah, it was a new and creative way for us. I guess it helped with creativity to write with different people. I found it really rewarding. You learn so much. And now when we go and write, we have tools we learned from all these other songwriters. It’s really cool to see how they go about it, and it’s a lot of fun. We did all those co-writes over the internet, but I would love to do it in person. I feel like the energy would be even more exciting.
“Tattoo” came out as the first single from the album. Can you talk about the choice to put it out first?
It encompassed where the new sound was going. We thought it would do a great job of showing the record. It’s nice and uptempo and has a good chorus and lots of guitars. We wanted to show everyone where we were heading musically. The record has a mixture of faster songs, then there’s slower songs, there’s more punk songs, and then there’s more pop songs. But I thought
“Tattoo” had it all in one. That was like the first song we ever played from the record live. So it felt really, really good. We haven’t played it since the Broadside tour though, just because all the other songs have been coming out, but it felt like a really good introduction to the record.
Another stand-out on the record is “Whiskey” with its country twang. What was the inspiration behind taking it in that direction?
So that song came about from two different songs that we like Frankensteined together. The verses were a song that Alex wrote with our friend Brandon at his studio in New York. And then the chorus was this really mellow song that Alex wrote on his iPhone. He showed it to me when we were driving to the studio. He was like, “Dude, this is just like a throwaway. I don’t really know, but here’s an idea.” And I was like, “Whoa, that is a sick chorus. We gotta use that.” And then how the country part of it came together was the engineer and producer we were working with, Anton, was like “This is just like a pop country song if you really think about it. We could either lean into it or like go away from it, but it’s speaking as a pop country song. We should probably just give it what it wants.” So we threw some banjo on it and really give it what it was asking for. We’re all country fans. Troy’s from Kentucky, so he has his litten southern flair. It’s funny how if Alex sang with a little bit of a twang, then it would for sure just be a country song. We love the song. but it was kind of funny so we just leaned into it. And now people bring cowboy hats to shows and stuff.
“Good Karma” has a jam-out-in-the-car kind of vibe. Can you talk about writing and recording that one?
Good Karma was written with Paul Marc from Silverstein. We wrote that on a Zoom session, and it was definitely a little out of our league. We’ve never had a song that fast before. We’ve never really done anything with that kind of energy. It was new, but we wrote it in a day and was obviously a good song. It’s cool, it’s just different. We didn’t really think anything of it, but when we brought it into the studio, that’s when Anton was like, “You should definitely use this one.” It has a place on the album because we wanna have a fast song. We wanna have like a punk rock album. We didn’t change too much from the original demo when we wrote it. That was one of the only songs that didn’t go through too many changes. And then when we got the record back from the mastering, like our manager and our label were both like really into the idea of using that song as a single, and the rest of the band and I just didn’t really get it. I don’t really think it shows Young Culture or what we’re about. It’s kind of the outlier on the record. We don’t have any other songs like it, but they convinced us and I’m really glad that we did do it as a single because we got to play it live. And playing that song live is so much freaking fun. I feel bad for our drummer. He’s like a ball of sweat after we play that song. That one had the longest journey to come around for me to be about it, but now, I really like it.
You’ve been consistently putting music out for a while now. How do you feel your personal growth has influenced your musical growth, and where do they intersect?
Oh, that’s a good question. I definitely feel each release has been a bit more mature and thought-out. Every release did what it needed to do. I really appreciate looking back at like our older stuff before we got signed and how young we were. I think you can really see the growth in how we act and how we write now. I don’t know, I hate listening to the old stuff and really don’t like it when people talk about like the really old stuff. But I mean, if they find it good to listen to, then I guess I can’t really be upset about it. Everything has its purpose, and I’m really, really proud of what we did in the past. I think that the self-titled record, our first-ever album, is what we tried to do with You but didn’t succeed. I think that Godspeed, the EP, is like our Blue EP, but better. All the songs give me the same energy, just elevated. More mature, better written, and more serious. We grew as human beings too so that’s probably why. I think “Hum” is like “Party Girl.”
The Meet Me @ The Altar tour is coming up in March. What sort of things are you trying to put together in preparation?
We were actually just talking about what can we do on this tour to stand out from like the last tour and how can we make it exciting rather than just going up on stage and playing. We’re still thinking and trying to figure stuff out. We have some ideas. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I know we are really focused on the setlist. You might be able to see Alex play some acoustic guitar. With some of the songs, there are some parts that would be really cool for him to play live and maybe be a bit more intimate. Alex started playing guitar in our band in middle school. He’s a guitar player too, so I think that could be really cool and just interesting to switch things up a bit. We’ve also been talking about doing flags and stuff for our backline and maybe a new backdrop and stuff like that. I don’t think we’re at a point where we can do any lights, but who knows? That’s something I really admire about bands, and their live act is like how they elevate it from just playing the songs. It’s a real performance, you know? I really appreciate that and hope that Young Culture can get to the point where we’re able to bring stuff like that out on tour.
Any deep cuts for the setlist?
I’m pushing for some songs off Blue. I want to play “Smooth.” We haven’t played it since like 2018, so I wanna do that one. It’s gonna be primarily the new record just because this is our first official full US on it, but we’ll definitely be catering to some of the older songs as well.
Your relationship with your fans sets you apart from other bands in the scene. Was that a conscious decision or did it just kind of come naturally?
I think it’s a natural thing. We started touring and playing shows in front of literally nobody. If we were on tour and there were three people there, it would be so fun for us to actually hang out with the people that were at the show. We wanted to hang out with people, you know? So I think we were just super stoked that people would come and watch. We got to make friends more than make fans. As the shows got bigger and stuff, people brought their friends, and then we became friends with everyone. I really think the cool thing about Young Culture that’s different than most of the other bands out there is that it’s a really genuine fan base. Everyone’s really kind to each other and welcoming not just to us, but to other people in the crowd. I think it’s really cool that you can acknowledge that. It’s what we enjoy about our band. When we go out on tour, we wanna make sure we get to see everybody. And it helps us out more than I think you guys know. I love being on the road, and a big part of why I like being on the road is because I get to see a lot of familiar faces. It always makes me feel good. I think it started out naturally, and then now it’s just like, “Why would we stop?” Even at the State Champs shows, they were massive shows with massive crowds, but Alex and I walk the line and say hi to everyone, and sometimes people don’t really want to be talked to, right? Sometimes people are a bit turned off, but we just want to meet everybody.
Can you talk a bit about the Culture Club you do on Twitch?
We started doing Culture Club during COVID. We wanted to find another way to connect with our fans and thought about Twitch streaming. We had no idea how to do it and still don’t know how to do it. It took maybe three or four weeks to figure it out and get it going. And luckily, we had some really smart friends who streamed and stuff hook us up with instructions on how to do it the best way. We still don’t really get the whole Twitch thing, but the most important part is we were able to connect and do this weekly family thing that was super fun. We got to have like people on and talk about touring and music and movies and shot the shit with everyone for an hour every week. And then that turned into like a Discord that we made and are active in. We do like daily bev checks. Unfortunately, we stopped when we went on tour for the first time after the pandemic with Grayscale. So now, the Culture Clubs are very hit-or-miss whenever they happen. Those were something that really helped us through the pandemic emotionally. We didn’t do it for money. I know you can subscribe, but we were really just doing it to chill. I really like podcasts; I thought it’d be cool. I thought having people on and chatting about stuff would be really cool. I would really like to do more of them. Culture Club is one big thing and everyone kind of knows each other and everyone’s really nice and positive.
What does Young Culture have in store for us in this new year?
We’ve got the Meet Me @ The Atlar tour coming up in a couple of months. As of right now, no other tours in the books yet, but I mean, hopefully, something comes through. We are scheduled to do a little writing retreat in February, so we’re gonna go out and write. My goal for the year would be to tour as much as possible. I really want to get Young Culture overseas and in different countries. Maybe do some more music videos and stuff. I don’t think we’ll be putting out any music this year, but Troy is pretty adamant about it, so who knows? We’re definitely gonna be writing, that’s for sure.
You can stream “You Had To Be There” here:
