Young Guns are back with a new album and new tour.
The Bare Bones Club Tour was one of our featured events to watch out for and
the boys didn’t disappoint! We caught up with lead singer Gustav Wood ahead of
the sold out show at The Well here in Leeds .
Hey Gustav, so the Bare Bones Club Tour – it began last
night with a hometown show in High Wycombe .
How was it?
Gustav- It
was great, it was really good. The first night of the tour, you kind of spend
it figuring out what works, what doesn’t work, what you need to tweak with the
set. So, you always have your first night kinks to work out but it was great.
We spent a little while playing shows abroad now; we just got back from China and Thailand Leeds is one of our
favourite places. Every time we play here it just seems that something great
happens, it goes right. And people in Leeds
they’re really up for a good time.
 |
| Gustav on stage at Leeds |
G- Yeah I
think we were lucky with the last record in that by the end of the campaign we
were playing the size of shows that I never really necessarily thought we would.
Our London
Is it nice being back on the road after being in the
studio– do you go wild on tour or keep it tame?
G- Errr, I
think if you were too straight laced on tour, you’d probably miss out on one of
the coolest parts of being on the road. Being in a band is a big excuse to
behave like a kid, more of a douchebag really. You have very little in the way
of responsibilities and you’re on the road with your friends. So, yeah, we like
to enjoy ourselves and have new experiences and stuff. You can never guarantee
that you’re going to make any money in music, we get by, but if you can make
sure that you’re having a good time and collecting memories then that’s good;
so yeah, we have fun.
In terms of setlist for this tour will you play a mix
of songs from the first record and the new one?
G- Yeah.
We’re playing one or two tracks off the first release we did, an EP called
“Mirrors”, some first record tracks that we haven’t played in a while and then
a handful of songs off the new record. We want to play the whole fu****g thing,
but it’s not out yet, so there would be people like “well I don’t have any idea
what this song is!” But, yeah, we will play a handful of our favourite songs
off it, so it’s a nice mix of old and new. There’s not much of a stage show or
lighting because they’re small shows, but old and new and hopefully lots of
energy and sweat and atmosphere.
 |
| Young Guns |
G- Err, I
think I’m at the stage now where I just fu*****g want it out! We recorded it in
July and August in Thailand
Fans have heard the first couple of singles from the
new album “Learn My Lesson” and “Bones” and the reaction seems to have been
great – what can we expect from the rest of the album?
G- The
record has got a fair amount of diversity on there. I think there’s some ideas
that we touch upon kind of sonically that maybe people are going to be a little
surprised by. The last song on the album for example is kind of an acoustic
proggy number, within the confines of still being one of our songs obviously;
we haven’t turned in to the Mars Volta or whatever. I think within our field
we’ve actually tried to push the envelope a bit and maybe not reinvent ourselves,
but certainly keep it fresh and exciting. I’m really happy, I feel like there’s
a real dynamic and ebb and flow on the album that maybe was missing from the
first record a little bit.
You recorded the album in Thailand
G- No, it
definitely didn’t distract us. Well, we lived there; we just kind of walked
around thinking “what the f**k are they doing letting reprobates like us in
this place.” But no, it wasn’t distracting because there was very much a
feeling that we were there to do a job and it’s nice waking up and hearing your
mates splashing around in the pool every morning and it being sunny and stuff.
But, we went there to go and do something, and it’s so important to us anyway that
we didn’t really want to f**k around too much. We’re all control freaks so we
were in there twenty-four-seven trying to make things better anyway. It wasn’t
a distraction; it was, however, really cool, I fell in love with it.
 |
| Catch YG in record stores on tour |
You’ve spoken in the past about how much of an influence you guys have about everything from your merch to your videos to who supports you on tour – is that still the same now, and do you think it’s important for bands to maintain that control?
G- I do yeah,
and particularly in our case it is anyway and yeah we still have it, things are
exactly the same really. I mean, the busier you get the harder it becomes
really because you have to spin all these different plates and you reach a
stage where are you compromising the quality of what you’re trying to do, by
trying to do too much s**t. But, we’re lucky because we’re surrounded by a
relatively small team of people that are just as passionate about our band as
we are. Everyone allows us to be, not diva-ish, but to stick our oar in and I
think that’s important because you feel more of a sense of ownership over the
band and, if you put in extra graft, when you achieve something it’s just that
little bit sweeter.
You guys are from
G- Well, I
actually grew up in North London, but through chance and coincidence I met John
Taylor, who’s one of the YG guitarists and I went out to Buckinghamshire to see
his band at the time play a show, and I was like “Buckinghamshire, where the
f**k’s that?” I went to see their band play and it was just a battle of the
bands in
G- Yeah,
that’ll be coming at some point. We finish this tour in like two weeks and then
go straight out to Europe and then we come back and we do the UK and Europe run with Enter Shikari which is
going to be rad. Next we go back out to Europe
for our own shows with Lower Than Atlantis. Then it’s like April time and then
it’s Festival season really, so we’re doing a bunch of European festivals and
trying to get over to Australia
and Japan
Thanks Gustav.
Thanks Gustav.
And here’s what happened when Young Guns took to the
stage…
 |
| Gustav Wood climbing a speaker at The Well |
Lead singer of Young Guns,
Gustav admits how he likes a varied bill and tonight is no different. The
prelude to Young Guns comes in the form of Polar, the heaviest band of the
evening, who bring the crowd to life with their fervent blend of hardcore and
punk. The Guildford quintet are definitely
ones to watch. The second support act, Tonight Alive, mix things up a little
with their lighter, but no less impressive catchy pop-punk, lead by singer
Jenna McDougall.
 |
| Lead singer Gustav Wood |
“Have a bit of this then- I
wanna feel the room shake…” demands Gustav and the crowd don’t need telling
twice, instigating a circle pit that nearly encases the capacity of the room.
If it isn’t the fans getting into the crowd surfing spirit then it’s Gustav or
bassist Simon. Young Guns demand high energy from their audience, but aren’t
afraid to give it back. Their live show is none stop, coming to a close with debut
single from the new album “Learn My Lesson” and “Winter Kiss” from their first.
The new songs are laced with an exciting new taste, but nevertheless do not
detract away from Young Guns vibe or indeed the songs from the first record.
They just add testament to the fact that Young Guns can successfully mix things
up a little, and aren’t afraid to take the risk and try a new thing or two.
Be
sure to catch Young Guns on tour in the coming couple of weeks. There’s a
reason why so many dates have sold out, so if you can, grab a ticket!
Read our interview with tour support band POLAR HERE
The new album "Bones" is out tomorrow - Monday 6th February
Live show photo credit: Danny Peart Graphics.
For more photo's- http://www.facebook.com/dannypeartgraphics
