Young Husband - Interview

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 3 / 10 / 2013

intro

Anthony Strutt speaks to London-based group Younghusband at a gig in Leicester on their debut UK tour about their music which combines shoegaze with psychedelia and Krautrock and their debut album, 'Dromes'

Younghusband consists of Euan Hinshelwood (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Adam Beach (guitar, keyboards), Joe Chilton (bass) and Pete Baker (drums). Younghusband was originally a solo bedroom project for Euan. They released two EPs, 'The Judas Kiss' (2007) and 'Idiot Son' (2008) on the short-lived label Culturedeluxe Records, before moving on Too Pure to release a one-off vinyl single 'Carousel' (2011). Their debut album, which came out in September on Sonic Cathedral, is called 'Dromes', and they have just recently finished their first ever UK tour. They are a NuGaze band that capture the spirit of young Creation Records bands like Slowdive and Ride but without the volume. They also add influences such as Krautrock and Psychedelia into their mix of NuGaze. Pennyblackmusic interviewed them before their debut gig in Leicester at new indie club night, Milk at the Cookie Jar. PB: Why did you give your band the name YoungHusband? EH: It came from a book. It was the surname of a character in a book called 'Seven Years in Tibet', but I liked the way it sounded like in a 1990's band way, such as when bands such as Slowdive put two words together. PB: And young being fresh as well? EH: Yes, exactly, so that's how it happened. PB: You are now signed to Sonic Cathedral, but you were on Too Pure before then. Was that for a one off single? EH: Yes. There were two very low-key EPs that were recorded in my parents house. PB:(To Euan) That was just you then? EH: I think Pete had just about got involved then. JC: You did 'Judas Cow' first of all and Peter drummed on some of that and then the next one, which was 'Idiot Son', which we recorded somewhere in Oxford. EH: Younghusband was in my head, my bedroom recording project. It just existed as that. We did a few shows, but Younghusband started properly as a band in 2010 when we began to work towards 'Carousel', which was put out by Too Pure in 2011. I could have dropped the name, but I thought would be nice to have a certain amount of band history, in the same way that Yo La Tengo did loads of stuff before they really got going. I thought that history is important. PBM: Sonic Cathedral is a NuGaze label but that covers a lot of ground. How would you describe your sound? Would you say that you are a Psychedelic act, a NuPsych or something else? The thing with NuGaze is lots of bands do it for the noise and forget about the song content. AB: I think with a lot of these NuGaze bands they are taking their music musical influences sonically from bands like the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and without wanting to blow our own trumpet forgetting to put a song in there. It is a bit two dimensional. EH: We have a few influences. Our Psychedelic influence is fairly minimal. It is the same with our Krautrock influence. What is important to us above all is that beneath any noise that happens live is a song that can be played on it's own. There are a few tracks like 'Reunion Message',which is a Krautrock song as it is repetitive, and that's sort of out on it's own. For this album, however, songs have been the factor. In future we may decide to go down a possibly more experimental route, and one that is not so song-based. We don't know, but at the moment songs are important to us. PBM: How did you originally meet Nat Cramp who runs Sonic Cathedral? EH: It was kind of weird. I sent Nat a CD in 2006 when I was doing stuff under my own name, which was Syd Barrett influenced, and again recorded at home, and I guessed it was good, and I sent it to him and heard nothing. Then I saw these Sonic Cathedral nights pop up at venues like The Legion in London like a Syd covers night and it struck a chord, so I sent him another, Again no reply. Then maybe Nat heard what I did for Too Pure, and then he got in touch in 2011, and he asked us to put out an EP, and we were recording a set of songs anyhow which turned into the 'Crystal' EP, and became our first release for Sonic Cathedral. PB: You did a split record store day 7 inch with History of Apple Pie. Was that something you wanted to get involved with? EH: The History of Apple Pie gave us a chance to do a double A Side, so we jumped at the chance. The album had been recorded for a few months and mixed, so we thought, "Why not do it and bridge the gap while waiting for the album to come out?" PB: You also did something for International Cassette Store Day. I know you are a fan of the format. EH: I have always loved cassettes. When I was young, I had a bit of an obssession with a four track recorder. I think it was a Ticaso 144, which the Electric Soft Parade had on one of their sleeves. So when Intenernational Cassette Store Day came up, I suggested to Nat that we should do something for it. PB: How long did it take you to write and record the album? EH: The recording was two weeks. There is a song on it called 'Constantly in Love', which was one of the first songs we wrote that dates back to 2010, but the bulk was written between mid 2011 and March 2012. Then we recorded it in June. PB: What are your future plans after this? EH: There are a few more dates to go. Then hopefully we will do some supports for the rest of the year, and then towards the end of next year we will do a new single and hopefully start the new record. PB: Thank you.

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