Today we head back to the roots, get in touch with some fine folk/Americana from The Youngest. I have nothing but mad respect for artist who can put down well written words with some melodies that just take you far away into the world that they are creating, it’s art and that’s what The Youngest are doing, super use of multiple lead singers, harmonies and catchy beats, listening to this album makes me feel like I’m hanging out with my friends back home and we are listening to the music we all grew up on but it’s a whole lot of years later and this isn’t 1979 anymore. The Youngest have loads of talent running all through the band but I suppose that’s the definition of a good band. The sum of its parts turning out cool tunes that ought to be getting some play on Radio stations that play quality music made from the heart. Sit back and give a listen to The Youngest and if your anywhere around the cities where they are about to tour, go see them…..
Hi our name is….
The Youngest
People say we sound like…..
A mixture of Band of Horses, Wilco and Fleetwood Mac
We are….
Andrew Taetz
John Quinn
Brendan Linnane
John Wood
Keren Tayar
We are from…..
Houston, Chicago and New York
Who are some that have an influence on you
Jeff Tweedy, The Band, Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Van Morrison.
How old were all of you when you started to play and who plays what in
the band
Andrew started playing piano in high school and then started playing
guitar in college. He plays piano and guitar and shares vocal duties
with Keren. Keren has played guitar, piano and sang since she was in
grade school and is utility player in the band, playing a little bit of
everything live. John started playing the drums in middle school and
handles the drums in the band. John and Brendan started playing
guitar in grade school and share The Youngest’s guitar and bass
duties.
Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the
way through getting the songs out:
Our songwriting process was definitely unique given our situation.
All of us lived on a 99 acre ranch in central Texas with no jobs and
very little around us. We all had different songwriting processes:
some of us would sit outside with a guitar and riff until we had
something tangible while others would start with a lyrical theme and
slowly add music to it. Most of the time, a member would bring their
little nugget of a song as a group and we all would work together to
tweak and arrange each piece.
What are some of the challenges you face as musicians and how have
you overcome those challenges:
As a completely independent band, we face a variety of challenges.
We book our own shows, do our own marketing, create our own
merch etc. With so much going on, communication between the band
members is crucial and without it any independent band would be
short lived. Obviously, a huge challenge to a full time musician is
revenue and financial viability. We’ve worked on budgeting and
cutting costs wherever we can and have relied on our awesome fans
to support us. We eat a lot of beans too.
If you could pick any time to travel back to for music, where would you go
and what year would it ….
I think the 60-70s would be a safe bet. Although we all have different
musical influences, I think that this period would satiate all of our
music tastes. You have Mo-Town, the golden era of singer-
songwriters, excellent Jazz and course the Beatles. Doesn’t get much
better than that.
Who are all of you currently listening to and who would you like to see in
concert
Wilco, Vulfpeck, Little Feat, Josh Ritter, Dr. Dog, Blake Mills to name
a few. Brendan, Andrew and John were lucky enough to see Wilco in
concert in a few weeks ago. It was incredible.
If you could open for any Band right now who would that be and why?
Dr. Dog would be a great band to open for. We love their music, their
attitude and respect the journey they’ve had in the independent
music world to get where they currently are.
My youngest son is 13 and in a Band, what advice would you offer him…
Master your instrument and find a great group of people to play with,
preferably at a young age. All though musical success depends on a
lot of things, I don’t think it depends on anything more than those
two.
The one thing we want you to remember while your listening to us….
That we’ve only been a band for 9 months! We quit our jobs,
relocated to a ranch in the middle of Texas, recorded an album and
completed a entire Midwest tour in less than a year. We’re not even
close to being done yet and can’t wait to improve as a band and as
songwriters.
Our plans for 2015…..
We would love to break into the festival scene and start to get compile
material for our second record. Getting signed by a huge record label and
buying mansions in the Mediterranean with our advances would be nice too,
but we won’t hold our breath.
listen to some cool tunes…
you can do all the social/buying stuff….
