Youthmovies
Encyclopedia
Youthmovies were an English rock quintet, comprising Andrew Mears (guitar and vocals), Al English (guitar), Graeme Murray (drums), Stephen Hammond (bass) and Sam Scott (brass and keys). On 29 December 2009 the band announced that, save for a final tour in March 2010, they will cease to make music together.
Simon Jones, drummer from the band Hope of the States
originally played drums in Youthmovies. However, just prior to Hope of the States being signed to Sony BMG in 2004, Jones was replaced by current drummer Graeme Murray.
Their earlier sound touched upon noise, brooding soundscapes, samples, feedback and drone, though with their mini-album Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness and the subsequent single "Ores" their sound suggested they were moving into a more ambitious and musically accomplished sound.
The band has toured extensively with Hope of the States
, Adam Gnade
, 65daysofstatic
and ¡Forward, Russia!
. They have also played at the Truck Festival
, Latitude Festival
, All Tomorrow's Parties
, Bestival
, Cambridge Film Festival
and the Reading and Leeds
festivals.
The band have developed a reputation as a compelling live act, touring regularly as well as playing improvisations, collaborations and live film soundtracks in art galleries, theatres and forests.
In October 2007 the band released a 5-track EP in collaboration with Adam Gnade
entitled Honey Slides on guitarist Al English's label Try Harder
.
Between April and June 2007 the band recorded their first full-length album, Good Nature
, at the Seamus Wong studio in Leicester, released on Drowned in Sound
Recordings on 17 March 2008. Ant Theaker, former guitarist with Hope of the States, produced the album, which was mixed at the Strongroom Studios in east London, and mastered in Chicago by Bob Weston of Shellac
. The album introduced "a new attention to melody" and is the first recording to feature the trumpet playing of Sam Scott.
Youthmovies side projects include: guitarist and singer Andrew Mears' solo project pet moon, the debut album is currently being recorded with long-time youthmovies producer Ant Theaker (Hope of the States). (Andrew Mears was also a founding member of Foals).
Guitarist Al English co-runs a record label, Try Harder
, which has released recordings by Foals, Blood Red Shoes
, Adam Gnade
, Blanket, Tired Irie and Jonquil amongst others. Jonquil and Youthmovies together form Vertical Montanas.
Jones’ departure in 2003 freed the drummer’s stool up for Murray - a debut EP, ‘Let’s Get Going… You’re Fracturing Me With This Misery’, soon followed - and since then the core four have pursued a very singular creative path, recalling inventors past while always keeping an eye on widening future horizons. Press Youthmovies and they’ll cite King Crimson, Steve Reich and Sonic Youth as cornerstone influences, but their own reach is indicative of their individuality and status in the contemporary indie-rock scene. Sometime tourmates ¡Forward, Russia! can trace their formation back the initial inspiration of witnessing Youthmovies live; 65daysofstatic are regular co-conspirators, remixing Youthmovies’ ‘…spooks the horse’ and sharing a number of tours; and Foals were initially formed, and named, by Mears before the vocalist elected to concentrate 100 per cent on Youthmovies.
Youthmovies’ acclaimed ‘Hurrah!’ EP was released in 2004 on much-lauded indie label Fierce Panda; a re-release a year later incorporated a standalone single, ‘Ores’, the video for which was created by directors Type2Error, whose credits also include Bloc Party and Manic Street Preachers. Since then Youthmovies’ time has rarely been their own for rest and recuperation.
Touring commitments have come thick and fast, with the band supporting Biffy Clyro, Death Cab For Cutie, Mission Of Burma and many more. Festival appearances - including a memorable improvised set with NYC rapper and poet Saul Williams at the 2005 Leeds Festival and bill-topping appearances at All Tomorrow’s Parties and Truck Festival in 2007 - have been welcome distractions. Special one-off events like the live sound-tracking of films at London’s ICA and the Cambridge Film Festival have attracted new audiences to the band’s idiosyncrasies. A special collaborative EP with two-time tourmate Adam Gnade
, ‘Honey Slides’, was released via Try Harder, the label co-founded by English, in 2006. (Try Harder has also released material by Jonquil, Tired Irie, Blood Red Shoes and Foals among others). Now, though, Youthmovies are ready to reveal their debut album, ‘Good Nature’.
Produced alongside Ant Theaker, who also manned the desk for ‘Hurrah!’, Youthmovies’ first long-play release proper is the culmination of more than five years’ hard work. With Scott a full-time member of the Youthmovies unit, the progress from the band’s preceding EP couldn’t be clearer: this is fiery ambition committed to digital disc, the sound of five hungry souls realising all their potential in a blinding flourish of compositional extravagance and exemplary musicianship.
But do not let such on-paper hyperbole for time signature hysteria put you, the potential newcomer, off: ‘elitism’ is a word unknown to Youthmovies, and there’s nothing pretentious about the ten songs that comprise ‘Good Nature’. Immediacy is key, and from the outset onwards this album balances the affecting and accessible with the beguiling and bombastic. It is an album to awaken a mainstream to the talents of five young musicians already enjoying an incredible groundswell of support at a comparative underground level. It is an album to put to bed expectations of impenetrable fret-work and preconceptions of ‘progressive’ being a dirty word.
‘Let’s Get Going…’ were their own words five years ago; with ‘Good Nature’, Youthmovies have well and truly arrived.
(Mike Diver, February 2008)
The original post of that of Andrew Mears stated that of the following
In March 2010 the band toured one last time in England and Scotland along with regular collaborator Adam Gnade
.
Simon Jones, drummer from the band Hope of the States
Hope of the States
Hope of the States were an English post rock-influenced indie band from Chichester.-Members:* Sam Herlihy - vocals, guitar, piano, music boxes, glockenspiels, mellotron, sampler, celeste, harmonium* Michael Hibbert - guitar, harmonica, backing vocals...
originally played drums in Youthmovies. However, just prior to Hope of the States being signed to Sony BMG in 2004, Jones was replaced by current drummer Graeme Murray.
Their earlier sound touched upon noise, brooding soundscapes, samples, feedback and drone, though with their mini-album Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness and the subsequent single "Ores" their sound suggested they were moving into a more ambitious and musically accomplished sound.
The band has toured extensively with Hope of the States
Hope of the States
Hope of the States were an English post rock-influenced indie band from Chichester.-Members:* Sam Herlihy - vocals, guitar, piano, music boxes, glockenspiels, mellotron, sampler, celeste, harmonium* Michael Hibbert - guitar, harmonica, backing vocals...
, Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
, 65daysofstatic
65daysofstatic
65daysofstatic are an instrumental post-rock and math rock band from Sheffield, England comprising Paul Wolinski, Joe Shrewsbury, Rob Jones and Simon Wright...
and ¡Forward, Russia!
¡Forward, Russia!
¡Forward, Russia! were an English alternative band from Leeds, formed in early 2004, though are currently on hiatus. Until 2006, the band only named tracks with numbers, in the order that they were written...
. They have also played at the Truck Festival
Truck Festival
Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. It was started in 1998 by the Bennett family , who decided that mainstream festivals such as Glastonbury had become too commercial and predictable. It is held in July at Hill Farm in Steventon, near Abingdon...
, Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival
The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006....
, All Tomorrow's Parties
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
, Bestival
Bestival
Bestival is a four-day music festival held at the Robin Hill country park on the Isle of Wight, England. It has been held annually in late summer since 2004. The event is organized by DJ and record producer Rob da Bank and is an off-shoot of his Sunday Best record label and club nights. The initial...
, Cambridge Film Festival
Cambridge Film Festival
The Cambridge Film Festival is one of the biggest film festivals in the UK. The festival historically took place during early July, but now takes place annually during September in Cambridge....
and the Reading and Leeds
Leeds Festival
Leeds Festival may refer to:*Reading and Leeds Festivals , a rock music festival in Leeds , West Yorkshire, England*Leeds Festival , European classical music festival in Leeds...
festivals.
The band have developed a reputation as a compelling live act, touring regularly as well as playing improvisations, collaborations and live film soundtracks in art galleries, theatres and forests.
In October 2007 the band released a 5-track EP in collaboration with Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
entitled Honey Slides on guitarist Al English's label Try Harder
Try Harder
Try Harder Records is a small independent record label that has released music by Tired Irie, Blood Red Shoes, Foals, Jonquil, Redjetson, Blanket and Adam Gnade...
.
Between April and June 2007 the band recorded their first full-length album, Good Nature
Good Nature
Good Nature is the sole album from Oxford based post-rock band Youthmovies. It was released on 17 March, 2008, on Drowned in Sound.-Track listing:# "Magdalen Bridge"# "The Naughtiest Girl is a Monitor"# "Soandso and Soandso"...
, at the Seamus Wong studio in Leicester, released on Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
Recordings on 17 March 2008. Ant Theaker, former guitarist with Hope of the States, produced the album, which was mixed at the Strongroom Studios in east London, and mastered in Chicago by Bob Weston of Shellac
Shellac (band)
Shellac is an American group composed of Steve Albini , Bob Weston and Todd Trainer...
. The album introduced "a new attention to melody" and is the first recording to feature the trumpet playing of Sam Scott.
Youthmovies side projects include: guitarist and singer Andrew Mears' solo project pet moon, the debut album is currently being recorded with long-time youthmovies producer Ant Theaker (Hope of the States). (Andrew Mears was also a founding member of Foals).
Guitarist Al English co-runs a record label, Try Harder
Try Harder
Try Harder Records is a small independent record label that has released music by Tired Irie, Blood Red Shoes, Foals, Jonquil, Redjetson, Blanket and Adam Gnade...
, which has released recordings by Foals, Blood Red Shoes
Blood Red Shoes
Blood Red Shoes are an indie rock duo from Brighton, England. They have released two full-length albums, Box of Secrets and Fire Like This, plus a slew of early singles on limited 7" vinyl pressings.-Formation:...
, Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
, Blanket, Tired Irie and Jonquil amongst others. Jonquil and Youthmovies together form Vertical Montanas.
Biography
Forming in 2002 at university, Youthmovies (née Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies) began as a two-person affair, utilising tape decks and delay pedals to flesh-out a fledgling sound. Founders English and Mears - attracted to one another’s abilities by a shared fondness for left-of-centre alternative music; the pair would book shows for the likes of Kid606 and Part Chimp while at university - soon sought assistance, and Hammond’s arrival and the employment of Simon Jones on drums, later to commit full-time to Hope Of The States, formed a temporarily finished article.Jones’ departure in 2003 freed the drummer’s stool up for Murray - a debut EP, ‘Let’s Get Going… You’re Fracturing Me With This Misery’, soon followed - and since then the core four have pursued a very singular creative path, recalling inventors past while always keeping an eye on widening future horizons. Press Youthmovies and they’ll cite King Crimson, Steve Reich and Sonic Youth as cornerstone influences, but their own reach is indicative of their individuality and status in the contemporary indie-rock scene. Sometime tourmates ¡Forward, Russia! can trace their formation back the initial inspiration of witnessing Youthmovies live; 65daysofstatic are regular co-conspirators, remixing Youthmovies’ ‘…spooks the horse’ and sharing a number of tours; and Foals were initially formed, and named, by Mears before the vocalist elected to concentrate 100 per cent on Youthmovies.
Youthmovies’ acclaimed ‘Hurrah!’ EP was released in 2004 on much-lauded indie label Fierce Panda; a re-release a year later incorporated a standalone single, ‘Ores’, the video for which was created by directors Type2Error, whose credits also include Bloc Party and Manic Street Preachers. Since then Youthmovies’ time has rarely been their own for rest and recuperation.
Touring commitments have come thick and fast, with the band supporting Biffy Clyro, Death Cab For Cutie, Mission Of Burma and many more. Festival appearances - including a memorable improvised set with NYC rapper and poet Saul Williams at the 2005 Leeds Festival and bill-topping appearances at All Tomorrow’s Parties and Truck Festival in 2007 - have been welcome distractions. Special one-off events like the live sound-tracking of films at London’s ICA and the Cambridge Film Festival have attracted new audiences to the band’s idiosyncrasies. A special collaborative EP with two-time tourmate Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
, ‘Honey Slides’, was released via Try Harder, the label co-founded by English, in 2006. (Try Harder has also released material by Jonquil, Tired Irie, Blood Red Shoes and Foals among others). Now, though, Youthmovies are ready to reveal their debut album, ‘Good Nature’.
Produced alongside Ant Theaker, who also manned the desk for ‘Hurrah!’, Youthmovies’ first long-play release proper is the culmination of more than five years’ hard work. With Scott a full-time member of the Youthmovies unit, the progress from the band’s preceding EP couldn’t be clearer: this is fiery ambition committed to digital disc, the sound of five hungry souls realising all their potential in a blinding flourish of compositional extravagance and exemplary musicianship.
But do not let such on-paper hyperbole for time signature hysteria put you, the potential newcomer, off: ‘elitism’ is a word unknown to Youthmovies, and there’s nothing pretentious about the ten songs that comprise ‘Good Nature’. Immediacy is key, and from the outset onwards this album balances the affecting and accessible with the beguiling and bombastic. It is an album to awaken a mainstream to the talents of five young musicians already enjoying an incredible groundswell of support at a comparative underground level. It is an album to put to bed expectations of impenetrable fret-work and preconceptions of ‘progressive’ being a dirty word.
‘Let’s Get Going…’ were their own words five years ago; with ‘Good Nature’, Youthmovies have well and truly arrived.
(Mike Diver, February 2008)
Split
It was announced via their myspace blog on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 that they had split. In co-ordinance three hours and fifty minutes later Foals posted a blog regarding this matter. Reasons for doing so may concern upon the fact Andrew Mears, rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of Youthmovies, was once a member of Foals previous to when Edwin Congreave, the current keyboardist, had joined. The author of the post was Yannis Philippakis, the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Foals. He stated the following:- Sadly, it has been announced that Youthmovies will be no more. Save for a few farewell shows in the coming New Year they will be calling it a day. Suffice to say none of us would be in the position we're in without their inimitable contribution to music, our lives and psyches. For me personally they have been never ending wells of support, inspiration and beatdowns. I would not be the monomaniacal entity i am without their silent spurring. For all of you unfamiliar with their output find every record they've ever made and listen to it religiously. It will bring you truth and harmony. Without Andrew in particular Foals would definitely NOT exist. Check their page for announcements of future projects and happenings.
The original post of that of Andrew Mears stated that of the following
In March 2010 the band toured one last time in England and Scotland along with regular collaborator Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade
Adam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
.
Mini-albums
- Let's Get Going... You're Fracturing Me With This Misery (Quickfix Recordings, 2003)
- Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness (Fierce Panda, August 2004 / Re-pressed, 2005)
- Honey Slides (Try Harder Records, collaboration with Adam GnadeAdam GnadeAdam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
released September 2007) - Polyp (Blast First Petite (featuring guest spots by Adam GnadeAdam GnadeAdam Gnade is a San Diego, California-born American musician and author currently living on a farm in rural Kansas. In his bio he defines his music as "talking-songs", which he describes as mixing the spoken vocals of talking blues songs with country music, Appalachian folk, noise, psychedelic...
and members of 65daysofstatic65daysofstatic65daysofstatic are an instrumental post-rock and math rock band from Sheffield, England comprising Paul Wolinski, Joe Shrewsbury, Rob Jones and Simon Wright...
and Blanket released November 2008)
CDRs
- Homeless Musics I (October 2005)
- Homeless Musics II (2006)
- Homeless Musics III (2006)