The music of Austin, Texas' The Young brings to mind the open and dusty expanses of their home state. They play a gritty form of rock powered by distortion that is perfect for long drives with no particular place to go. One can see precedents in their sound in various artists from the 70's who decided to turn up and jam out. In fact, on their new record "Dub Egg" it was their intention to make a record that mimicked some of their idols.
"It's lunkheaded rock n roll. We wanted to make a big, dumb rock record, that's the feeling we were going for. I would definitely say there is a Neil Young and Crazy Horse influence in there because I listened to that retroactively while we were recording. In fact, the 70's rock and punk influences in our sound run on a parallel trajectory. It's music with a lot of big open chords. I'm a big fan of that style of music," said lead guitarist/vocalist Hans Zimmerman.
In addition, the band, which also consists of second guitarist Kyle Edwards, bass/vocalist Jason Costanzo and drummer Ryan Maloney, were also influenced by more obscure bands of the 70's loud and proud aesthetic such as Cowboy, who recorded a bunch of albums for Capricorn back in the day, and Santa Fe, who recorded for the Ampex label.
Zimmerman describes both of the above mentioned bands as countrified hard rock and it's easy to see how this type of sound, along with the more obvious Neil Young reference point, influenced the band's new record.
The album opens with "Livin' Free", a laid back but loud tribute to being yourself that also ventures into psychedelic territory. "Dance With The Ramblers" throws out a catchy repetitive riff as well as some sweet cowbell and extended solo action.
"Poisoned Hell" and "Plunging Hell" are riff driven rockers, while "Only Way Out" and "White Cloud" evoke a more high lonesome country sound. In fact, the album sounds like it was recorded out in the desert, which it was.
The band has come a long way since it's formation in 2005 as basically a vehicle for Zimmerman's home recordings. In fact, early recordings belied a more punk influence, while their debut full length, "Voyagers Of Legend", which came out in 2010 on Mexican Summer, saw the band go more in the direction they attained on the new album. It was universally hailed across the board as a breakthrough for the band.
You would think there would be pressure following up such a record, not just for the artistic merit, but also for the fact that the new record is being put on the band's new label, power indie Matador Records. But in some ways you would be wrong.
"The pressure was self-imposed to make the best record we possibly could. There was a pressure to push ourselves. The new record is different on a more unconscious level. It's the next evolution in our sound. We were just working on taking cues from each other intuitively without speaking to each other. It's still crude and lumbering in the best possible way, but we are starting to get better as players. We're tighter," said Zimmerman.
Also, the new record's title has some significance also, but not in the way most people would expect. There is new reggae contained on the album. The title comes from a dream that Edwards once.
In the dream, the band were making King Tubby-style remixes of their songs in their practice space. The music would come through a speaker, and then be processed through a hard boiled egg and then folded through the mixer into a basket. They just thought that they would use parts of the dream to name their new album.
As of now, the band is in the middle of a month long nationwide tour that brings them to Intercambio in New Haven on June 30. You will not want to miss their heavy, psychedelic guitar jams along with support from Purling Hiss, Estrogen Highs and The Inclined Plane. They are looking forward to it.
"We're excited to play Connecticut for the first time," said Zimmerman.
Click on over to the Redscroll blog for more info on this show.
Redscroll Records Presents:
The Young
Purling Hiss
Estrogen Highs
The Inclined Plane
Saturday June 30, 2012
Intercambio
756 Chapel Street
New Haven, CT 06511
8pm - $8 - All Ages
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