Falling Man with Vienna Youth - An Interview

Deliciosamente hipnótica é a estreia dos ingleses de South Devon, Vienna Youth.

"Falling Man", primeiro single deles, é uma odisseia melancólica por guiada por um tênue fio condutor unindo The Cure, Slowdive e The XX.

Climática e sedutora, "Falling Man" vai envolvendo gradativamente até seu ápice épico.

A considerar pelo debute, o Vienna Youth torna-se daquelas bandas a serem acompanhadas com muita tenção.

***** Interview with Vienna Youth *****

Q: When did Vienna Youth begin? Tell us about the history... 

A: Back in 2016, guitarist Dan Sturt and punk poet Tom (T.S. Idiot) started meeting in a garage owned by a guy who recently toured with The Ruts. The pair were soon joined by Vienna James who bought her song writing talents and haunting vocals, Harri (the happiest drummer in the world) and Max (who laid down the bass you hear in 'Falling Man'). Tom stepped in as manager and, after some local gigs, the potential of the quartet was soon spotted. Shoegaze is pretty rare round here (The English Riviera) and I think people were pretty surprised. In the last year we've been invited up to London, supported psych-rockers Syd Arthur and had our praises sung by the BBC.

Q: Who are your influences?
One song we always used to listen to on the way to rehearsals was 'Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin haha. But I don't think that's an influence. Old school 'gazers like Slowdive, Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins have got to be in there, but we all bring different stuff to the table. Dan's into his modern fuzzed out stuff like DIIV and TRAAMS, which you can hear when he plays. Vienna really channels bands like Cigarettes After Sex I think, that big sweeping sound and tender lyricism. Like all decent bands, a mix of influences is important to get a unique sound that gets you noticed. Our bassist is into heavy metal and our drummer loves smooth indie stuff like Nothing But Thieves and The 1975. So yeah, quite eclectic.

Q. Make a list of 5 albums of all time…
DIIV - Oshin
The xx - xx
Joy Division - Closer
Slowdive - Souvlaki
The Cure - Disintegration

We’re also super excited for when Pale Waves release their album later this year. Gus Dapperton and Boy Pablo are cool too.

Q. How do you feel playing live?
Nervous. Some of us usually have to be stoned haha. But like anything it gets better the more we do it. We've done so many different gigs in the last year, from tiny pubs to big festival stages. Recently we played at Torquay Museum which is probably the weirdest gig we've done. But I think most people get into it when we build the songs into massive crescendos that fill the room. Some people have never heard that before.

Q. How do you describe Vienna Youth sounds?
My Bloody Valentine for the Millennial generation! A bit more tender with some Noughties indie influences. The BBC called our sound 'A dream within a dream'.

Q: Tell us about the process of recording the songs?
We were lucky enough to meet a local producer/sound engineer Jaz Crossman. He did a brilliant job on the single and really understood our sound. Before that we just pissed about in rehearsals or at college. So it's getting more professional I guess, which is good because it's a big sound to capture.

Q. Which new bands do you recommend?
One of our favourite bands this year were Too Tangled, a Belgian duo we played with in the UK. Shoegaze-influenced synth-pop, really cool. Penelope Isles are really cool as well, a Brighton-based indie band who work really hard and have made some amazing music. And, locally, we've played with Tin Soldiers a few times - the lead singer plays a transparent electric violin, it's fucking great.

Q: Which band would you love to make a cover version of?
Last year we did a rowdy cover of 'Last Christmas' by Wham! with our manager wearing a turkey on his head, but I don't think we'd do that again haha. Probably a crowd pleasing indie anthem like Pictures of You by The Cure. Or just get a pop song and really f**k it up, make it loud and shoegazey.

Q: What are your plans for the future?
Keep in touch with our roots in the South West (UK) but start to get our name out further. Bristol and Brighton have really cool scenes right now. We'd love to get picked up by an independent label with our upcoming EP, and eventually go on tour.

Q: Any parting words?
I think what we've realised is that you don't have to compromise - We come from a small town that's filled with f**king cover bands but there's some amazing acts breaking out. Sometimes people are too scared to let the influence of 'difficult' genres like shoegaze come out in their music, but it's worth it.

Vienna Youth are represented by Uncollective Records (www.uncrecords.bandcamp.com) and release their debut EP later this year.

Website: www.viennayouth.weebly.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/viennayouth
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/viennayouth
Twitter/Instagram: @viennayouth
*
*
*
Thanks