Don’t Miss Out: Young Guns
Interview by Haley Black
Festival season is in full swing, and with that comes the biggest traveling festival of the summer- Warped Tour. This year the tour features a ton of throwback bands like Good Charlotte, Sum 41, Less Than Jake, New Found Glory and so many more! And while we love these bands and appreciate their contribution to the scene, we want to introduce you to some of the bands that you may not know about. Who knows? You might get introduced to your new favorite band.
We recently caught up with Young Guns vocalist Gustav Wood to find out how the band is transitioning from off time to a summer on Warped Tour and more!
How does it feel coming to the U.S. as a smaller band after being such a huge success in the U.K.?
It’s a strange situation in a way because although we are from the UK and started our career there, over the past few years we’ve spent more time touring America than home. To be honest, it’s kept us hungry. It’s exciting touring the States, but there is so much ground to cover and so many bands that there isn’t any time for egos or anything like that. It’s just great to be able to play shows to fans of your band overseas.
Considering Young Guns is a combination of former local bands, what unique perspective or style does each member bring to the table?
We all bring different things to the table. Simon [Mitchell, bass] is really rhythm orientated and listens to a lot of hip-hop and stuff like that. John [Taylor, guitar] listens to a lot of heavier music. Fraser [Taylor, guitar] more ambient and chilled kind of stuff and I suppose I float between all of them but like a lot of pop music. We all listen to everything really and share the opinion that a good song is a good song regardless of artist/genre. We make decisions in quite a democratic way and don’t tend to settle unless we’re all happy.
What kind of preparation goes into gearing up for a lengthy summer tour like Warped Tour?
There is only so much preparation you can do for something as large as Warped Tour. We’ll get the set as tight as we can, rehearsing a lot in the run-up to starting the tour and then just head out and get the first few shows under our belt so we feel settled and comfortable. It’s such a drastic adjustment going from being at home off tour to suddenly being on something like Warped for that length of time that you just have to dive-in head first and enjoy yourself.
What is the most vulnerable subject you have ever written about?
Losing family members.
In what ways do you hope your music will challenge people’s perceptions of the band?
I don’t really worry too much about people’s perceptions of the band. I would like to think that people regard us as writing strong songs and always trying to better ourselves.
What bands are you most looking forward to seeing/playing alongside at Warped Tour and why?
I’m most looking forward to hanging out with bands that we are good friends with like Yellowcard and Tonight Alive, and can’t wait to see New Found Glory and Every Time I Die! every day.
Why should people who have never heard your music before check out Young Guns at Warped Tour?
I think we stand on our own in terms of the way we sound and we put 110% into every performance that we do. We can’t wait to get out there and experience our first Warped Tour summer and hope to see you there.
