It‘s hard to anchor Melbourne indie rock collective Neighbourhood Youth to a particular time or
place. Armed with soaring vocal hooks, stadium-sized guitar lines, and dripping with modern indie
rock acumen, the four-piece have steadily been emanating waves locally from their Brunswick
base. The band (featuring guitarist/vocalist John Philip, bassist Sam Nathan, drummer Jesse Dimond and guitarist Liam Jenkins) released their debut EP Holiday in December, before landing a spot alongside Canyons DJs, Bangs, Galapagoose, Animaux, and many others, playing at Victoria’s Inca Roads Festival. Neighbourhood Youth have spent the last month celebrating the release of Holiday with a residency at The Workers Club, and will take to their first-ever interstate shows with an East Coast tour planned in April.
Your debut EP ‘Holiday’ came out in December 2012, tell about how the title of EP came about.
Holiday is the title track of the EP. The song was written whilst a few of us where going through breakups. It’s about a trip that one of us took with their girlfriend just before they broke up; and the mixed feelings of being in such a beautiful place geographically, but such a shit place mentally.
Are there any particular moments that stick out from your experience in the studio good or bad and why?
We recorded Holiday with our good friends at Face Studios, so the whole experience was pretty positive, and relaxed. They’re really good at what they do, and pushed us to get the best takes out us, and eventually to achieve the sound we were after.
What’s your earliest memory of performing and who inspired you to start?
Sam and I used to play in a punk band in high school. We used to play underage shows at the Arthouse and all our friends would come and drink soft drink. I guess we were inspired by the punk bands we were listening to at the time like NOFX and Rancid.
We have some really fond memories of those gigs and still laugh about it every now and again.
What’s on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
I don’t think any of us have gotten over the new Tame Impala album just yet.
A big part of a bands release these days is the online component, what is your view on streaming services like Deezer & Spotify etc, have they been beneficial to Neighbourhood Youth so far?
Our EP literally went up on Spotify a couple of days ago, so it hasn’t really been beneficial to us, just yet. I like Spotify, and being able to access such a wide range of music so easily, especially when there are releases from local bands up there. Those ads are fucking annoying though.
If you could curate your own festival, where would it be, who would be on the bill, how many people would you let in and what features would it have?
Fuck… I don’t know. We all love camping festivals like Meredith and Golden Plains, so it would be in the bush somewhere, over a couple of days. Only 100 people allowed in, and only 50 are allowed out. Each person has to find a partner and fight them to the death. The soundtrack to this battle royale would be provided by Slayer playing ‘Angel of Death’ over and over again. Lost it.
If you could record with producer in the world who would it be with and why?
Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear because he’s a genius. I love how he produces their stuff, and also, work he has done with Twin Shadow – who we are all massive fans of.
Because it’s more fun to do things together, which living Australian artist would you most like to collaborate with?
Kevin Parker. That would be sick. We love his music, and his production on Melody’s Echo Chamber is really great.
You are about to finish a January residency at the Workers Club in Melbourne; do you think it’s a great way to build a following for a band like yourselves?
Yeah. It’s also a great excuse to try out new material on stage, and play with our friends’ bands every week.
What plans do Neighbourhood Youth have for the rest of 2013?
We have an East Coast tour planned for March, which will be heaps of fun because we’ve never been interstate before. We’ve also got some big news for later in the year, that we can’t really talk about yet, but it does involve some overseas travel. We’ve really enjoyed the experience of getting feedback on our stuff following the release of the EP, so are hoping to get another record out in 2013, too.
Catch Neighbourhood Youth at their last show of their Workers Residency tonight with support from Lowlakes and Keep up to date with them here: www.facebook.com/neighbourhoodyouth
