All British music lovers know that Manchester is a musical gold mine, with bands such as Oasis, The Smiths or Buzzcocks, it's hard not to be impressed. No matter what genre you're into, you'll find something that'll hit the spot. We don't know if it is the bleak weather, but it makes the sound unique.
Coming from this great city and upholding it's reputation is Young War, an Alternative/RnB influenced singer-songwriter with music well worth checking out...
Coming from this great city and upholding it's reputation is Young War, an Alternative/RnB influenced singer-songwriter with music well worth checking out...
We've been following Young War since last year and were (im)patiently waiting for new music. Well, we are happy to announce that the wait is over, because this August, he will be releasing his second EP, titled 'Trinity' and entirely produced by Pablo Nouvelle from Black Butter Records.
Young War's sound isn't that commercial electronic RnB you're use to hearing everywhere. It's more unique, organic, the kind that takes you back the 60's, you know, when music was played with actual instruments? So, clearly this is not for the modern/edgy music lovers but we, at Ears Peeled, love it. It's relaxing and feels nice, really really nice, in our ears and souls.
He also had a very original way of writing this EP: with each songs was written after watching a film and representing a specific moment in a relationship. When you think about it, that means listening to 'Trinity' is like watching a romantic movie. Simply genius.
Young War took the time to answer a few questions we had about him and his music and we have to say, some of his answers had us laughing out loud (#7). Seriously, we love this guy. Read on to see what he had to say...
1. Would you introduce yourself to the people who aren’t familiar with you and your music?
I live in Manchester, I play guitar and keyboards, I sing and I write songs. If you're looking for someone who can create music that's somewhere between Sonic Youth & Otis Redding then that's ridiculous and you really are asking quite a lot but yes, that is generally what I'm going for.
2. When did you decide that music was what you wanted to do?
When I couldn't get out of the B team playing football at school and I needed to meet girls. When I realised I was shit at ice hockey. When my Mum first played a cassette of Fleetwood Mac's 'Tango In The Night' in the car.
3. How does the process of writing a song happen?
I get an idea, find a guitar and start mumbling something over some chords. Then I make up some words and sing the same refrain roughly 26 times. Then I hate it and don't touch it again for around 2 months. Then I come back to it and decide not to hate it so much, work on it a little more and tell myself it's 'finished'. And repeat.
4. What is the inspiration behind the lyrics? Is it from your experiences?
I don't like to go into all that too much. I find releasing a song into the wild to be quite an intense/scary thing in itself so to go into detail about the lyrics on top of that is a little too much for me. I also think, a lot of the time, figuring things out and coming up with your own conclusions about lyrics is much more interesting than hearing "Yeah, this one's about my ex-girlfriend's dog". Unless you're Prince, nobody really gives a fuck.
5. Is it possible that in future records your sound changes?
I intend to make the next EP more of an upbeat affair. It's like Andre 3000 says to John Legend in 'Green Light': "Sometimes you gotta step from behind the piano and let 'em know what's going on. Even Stevie Wonder got down sometimes."
6. “Black Diamond” is different from the other songs, why the change?
I was experimenting with samples quite a lot. I'd wanted to use that Rev. AW Nix recording for a long time but wasn't sure how. When I heard what Kanye had done with 'Blood on the Leaves' I was just like, stop thinking, start recording. I was happy with the result.
7. What is your biggest fear generally and music wise?
Generally, I hate flying because I struggle with physics and I find the idea of humans that high in the air to be completely unnatural.
Music wise, it's the same answer you'll get from any young musician in 2014 - I end up like Robin Thicke except Pharrell won't bail me out and instead of naming my album after my beautiful wife who I cheated on 64 times, it's called 'Felix' after the stray cat who won't come over any more because I can't afford to feed it's furry ass and then I die and Felix finally DOES come back and eats ME.
8. What new artist has blown you away lately?
I think Nick Hakim is brilliant, Sake who's from Manchester is fantastic and Shura, obvs.
9. Is there a particular artist you’d like to collaborate with?
Ed Harcourt. Jamie T. John Bramwell. Three of the best songwriters in the UK and you're guaranteed to get hammered as well, dream.
Young War's sound isn't that commercial electronic RnB you're use to hearing everywhere. It's more unique, organic, the kind that takes you back the 60's, you know, when music was played with actual instruments? So, clearly this is not for the modern/edgy music lovers but we, at Ears Peeled, love it. It's relaxing and feels nice, really really nice, in our ears and souls.
He also had a very original way of writing this EP: with each songs was written after watching a film and representing a specific moment in a relationship. When you think about it, that means listening to 'Trinity' is like watching a romantic movie. Simply genius.
Young War took the time to answer a few questions we had about him and his music and we have to say, some of his answers had us laughing out loud (#7). Seriously, we love this guy. Read on to see what he had to say...
1. Would you introduce yourself to the people who aren’t familiar with you and your music?
I live in Manchester, I play guitar and keyboards, I sing and I write songs. If you're looking for someone who can create music that's somewhere between Sonic Youth & Otis Redding then that's ridiculous and you really are asking quite a lot but yes, that is generally what I'm going for.
2. When did you decide that music was what you wanted to do?
When I couldn't get out of the B team playing football at school and I needed to meet girls. When I realised I was shit at ice hockey. When my Mum first played a cassette of Fleetwood Mac's 'Tango In The Night' in the car.
3. How does the process of writing a song happen?
I get an idea, find a guitar and start mumbling something over some chords. Then I make up some words and sing the same refrain roughly 26 times. Then I hate it and don't touch it again for around 2 months. Then I come back to it and decide not to hate it so much, work on it a little more and tell myself it's 'finished'. And repeat.
4. What is the inspiration behind the lyrics? Is it from your experiences?
I don't like to go into all that too much. I find releasing a song into the wild to be quite an intense/scary thing in itself so to go into detail about the lyrics on top of that is a little too much for me. I also think, a lot of the time, figuring things out and coming up with your own conclusions about lyrics is much more interesting than hearing "Yeah, this one's about my ex-girlfriend's dog". Unless you're Prince, nobody really gives a fuck.
5. Is it possible that in future records your sound changes?
I intend to make the next EP more of an upbeat affair. It's like Andre 3000 says to John Legend in 'Green Light': "Sometimes you gotta step from behind the piano and let 'em know what's going on. Even Stevie Wonder got down sometimes."
6. “Black Diamond” is different from the other songs, why the change?
I was experimenting with samples quite a lot. I'd wanted to use that Rev. AW Nix recording for a long time but wasn't sure how. When I heard what Kanye had done with 'Blood on the Leaves' I was just like, stop thinking, start recording. I was happy with the result.
7. What is your biggest fear generally and music wise?
Generally, I hate flying because I struggle with physics and I find the idea of humans that high in the air to be completely unnatural.
Music wise, it's the same answer you'll get from any young musician in 2014 - I end up like Robin Thicke except Pharrell won't bail me out and instead of naming my album after my beautiful wife who I cheated on 64 times, it's called 'Felix' after the stray cat who won't come over any more because I can't afford to feed it's furry ass and then I die and Felix finally DOES come back and eats ME.
8. What new artist has blown you away lately?
I think Nick Hakim is brilliant, Sake who's from Manchester is fantastic and Shura, obvs.
9. Is there a particular artist you’d like to collaborate with?
Ed Harcourt. Jamie T. John Bramwell. Three of the best songwriters in the UK and you're guaranteed to get hammered as well, dream.
In support of the EP Young War will be playing shows in his hometown of Manchester as well as in London, at The Waiting Room on Wednesday 6th August. The lead track "By Now" has been out since the end of June and will be digitally available August 11th. But you can always check out the brand new video for it right here, while crossing the days off your calendar.
If you'd like more information on Young War, check out the following links:
http://www.youngwar.com/
https://www.facebook.com/youngwarmusic
https://soundcloud.com/youngwar
http://www.youngwar.com/
https://www.facebook.com/youngwarmusic
https://soundcloud.com/youngwar