Young Guns are one of the lesser known rising stars on the upcoming Soundwave Revolution lineup, a band from the UK who is currently receiving a lot of hype about them. Their debut album was released less than a year ago, yet they’ve already toured with Bon Jovi & Lost Prophets and have spent the past year performing at festivals all around Europe. Lead vocalist, Gustav Wood, spoke to Brett Schewitz at the alien hour of 9:30am about the upcoming tour, Van Halen, Guns ‘n Roses and Kiefer Sutherland.
Who would win in a fight? Kiefer Sutherland or Charlie Sheen?
Interesting! I’m gonna go for Kiefer. I’m a big fan and Charlie Sheen probably wouldn’t be up to it. They both have the bad boy thing going on so I wouldn’t like to start with either of them. It would be an interesting fight, for sure!
You shared the stage with Bon Jovi last year in London. What kind of an experience was that?
I still can’t believe we did that! Being a child of the ‘80s, I grew up listening to them and they’re part of pop culture. There isn’t anybody who doesn’t know songs like “Living On A Prayer”. Doing that was definitely the most surreal experience of my life. We were still relatively new, so it was quite ridiculous playing to like 24,000 people in an arena.
Do you think performing to a whole lot of people made you up your game?
Things like that allow us to bring our big and small shows together. Our goal whenever we play a big show is to play it like it’s a tiny venue and try and create that kind of atmosphere but also to play a small show like it’s an arena. Create the feeling that it’s a huge rock show. We were really lucky, so early in our career, to be given the opportunity to do those bigger shows. Your confidence goes up and you become a better live performer.
What were the Lost Prophets like?
Great! We did 3 shows with them and we were very much, at the time, still a small DIY band. They showed a lot of good faith and kindness towards us. Those were our first big shows and they were really great gigs. Those shows played a large part in gaining us a lot of interest with the press, so we owe them a lot.
You’re on your way to Aus later this year for Soundwave Revolution. Will this be your first time in Australia?
It is, yeah. We’re very excited!
Any big plans for your off days in Aus? What are you keen to check out?
We just want to absorb it all. We want to do and see as much as possible. We’re going to try and set up as many sideshows as we can. The idea is just to embrace the opportunity wholeheartedly.
For a relatively young band, you already have a string of festivals under your belt. So far, which has been your favourite festival to play?
I guess I’d have to say Reading. Playing festivals abroad is always a trip but we all grew up going to Reading Festival. Being asked to open one of the main stages is quite an honour. At the end of that day Guns ‘n Roses performed on the same stage. That was a real life changing event, actually.
Do you often get to see other bands at festivals or do you pretty much arrive, play your set and leave?
We try and see as many bands as we can. Often at these things we have a lot of press and other responsibilities. We’re still basically big fans of music, that’s the reason we’re in a band. So we’re always rushing around trying to take in as much as possible. It’s very sad if you lose sight of why you’re in music.
Reading famously pulled the plug on Guns ‘n Roses last year. Do you think Axl should hang up his microphone?
There’s no doubt that Axl has become a bit of an overgrown rock cliché but personally I think there’s room for that in the world. It’s a bit of a spectacle, isn’t it? I like the drama of it. I know there was a lot of controversy when they were over here. The organisers said that if they were an hour late they’d be fined something ridiculous, so just to be facetious I think they turned up about 58 minutes late. I think it’s ridiculous but at the same time I think it’s fun that there are still a few real rockstars out there.
Axl’s pretty notorious for showing up late to his shows. Do you think that’s fair to the fans?
We’re late for everything anyway. I sympathise with him but you have to have respect for the people that listen to your music. There’s no question that you shouldn’t disrespect your fans. That’s part of the circus of Guns ‘n Roses, man. People love to hate it.
Speaking of which, Van Halen is headlining Soundwave. Are you a fan?
Yeah! That is just mental man! They are just timeless and have defined modern rock and metal in a way. It will be sublime to see them, never mind being able to play the same festival as them.
After having been so much bad blood between David Lee Roth and Eddie, do you think the magic will still be there?
Yeah, I think so. It’s just cool to hear that music live. It’s timeless. We’re really excited and you can bet that it’s going to be a pretty intense live show. I’m looking forward to kicking back, having a beer with my friends and watching Van Halen on the other side of the planet. That for me is just a bit of a moment in my life.
In your music video for the song “Stitches”, the piano is on fire. What does this signify?
It doesn’t really signify anything. We’d gone through the mill of doing “band” videos and generic, clichéd, low budget music videos and we wanted to convey a feeling, more than anything, so the director came on board with a load of really strong visuals and that song inspired him to be creative. It’s quite a powerful and moving video. It’s my favourite video by far. We did it on a shoestring budget.
The video’s been nominated for a Kerrang award. Do awards mean much to you?
Well, they’re nice to have but why that award, in particular, is great is because it’s voted for by the audience. That in itself is a big part of the award ceremony. I’m just looking forward to going to the Kerrang awards, having some beers and checking out some of the bands performing. You get to see some bands that you love and generally it’s a very good experience.
How’s the writing of the new album going?
Good. We’re in the thick of it. We’ll spend about another month and a half writing and then we’re off to Thailand to record it. We’re proud of the first record but we know we can do better. Our ambitions are high and our drive to achieve something is also high so it’s purely about writing the best record we can. For us, it’s just about writing a record that we feel is worthy of our fans. We always like to write music that we like and that we’d listen to and that’s how we’ve always worked. We’re working hard to not let people down.
Lastly, which bands are you most looking forward to seeing at Soundwave?
Well, we’ve got a lot of friends playing in bands there so it will be really fun connecting with them on another continent. We’re really good friends with the guys in All Time Low, Yellowcard, a band from Michigan, in the States, called The Swellers, We Are The Ocean, Hate Breed. We’re going to try and see as many bands as we can – bands that we’re friends with and bands that we aren’t friends with. Van Halen is going to be great and so is Alice Cooper.
Young Guns will be performing at Soundwave Revolution in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth between September 24 and October 3 2011.
Young Guns – Stitches
