Exclusive Interview - Young London

The cheesy notion of "I get by with a little help from my friends" took on a whole new meaning this past week as a friend of mine gave me a big push in the right direction. After a few emails I had set up an interview with the next big deal in the pop world - Young London. Recently featured as Song of the Week with their hit "Let Me Go", the duo sat down with me for their third interview ever. I got the third scoop! And that one is always the best (because its the strawberry scoop in the Neapolitan ice cream).

I've been looking around the internet and, honestly, there's not a lot out there on you guys. What's the lowdown on Young London?

[Sarah] We are from the same town, and Matt has a recording studio. He was recording with this indie project, and they asked me to do guest vocals. That was the first thing we ever did together musically.

So Matt was in a band before?

[Matt] Yeah. Most people know me from a band called "And Then There Were None". That's the project that I had been doing. We had problems with a few band members, and that's around the time I heard Sarah's voice and I just thought "Man, we gotta get this!". We tried to incorporate it with And Then There Were None, but when we started writing the record I felt I needed more freedom to go whacky with the sound. We decided to just change the name and change the project.

[Sarah]  A clean slate.

So we know Matt's musical past. What about you, Sarah?

[Sarah] I was singer-songwriter angsty... Kinda like Fiona Apple.

You took metal and Fiona Apple and made --

[Sarah] Europop group Young London!

[We all laugh]

How was it to be back in the recording studio?

[Matt] And Then There Were None released a record in February of 2009

[Sarah] 2008. Wait. '09.

[Matt] We toured for a long time. By the end we were burned out and a lot of people quit. I went to LA to write some new music; that's when Sarah joined. I just felt like it was too different and I wanted to start fresh. It was natural -- organic.

Organic recording?

[Sarah] Like broccoli!

Organic like broccoli. That's Young London for you!

[Matt] Young London is that of Broccoli.

I've spoken to you on Twitter about your new video. It's apparently in Vevo limbo currently, correct?

[Matt] We are just as stressed as the people who want to see it. We got to see it for a day -- We don't even have a copy now. I was so stoked about it, but now it's like you said, in Vevo Limbo. They don't want to just release it to Youtube because they have some marketing plans for it. We are hoping to put it On Demand and all that good stuff.

The short preview up on Youtube now looked like a mix between a party and a photo shoot. What is going on in the video?

[Matt] It's a story. I get to drive this nasty car, and these creepy party goers stumble across my path. I'm like "what the heck is going on" and I follow them into this seedy basement. It erupts into this weird kind of cooky party. It's about being out there; not like your average hip parties.

[Sarah] It is a different world. A world with really hot people every where.

[Matt] Hot guys and hot girls.

Speaking of hot guys, my blog has a lot to do with the gay culture aspect of pop music. I take it Young London is gay friendly?

[Matt] It's funny because I get a lot of inspiration from the gay community. My family has a house in this place called Ongunquit, Maine. It's like the mecca of the gay culture of the Northeast, and I go to this gay dance club around ten times a summer. They play all Euro, the best Gaga remixes. It's called Club Ozone. I'd say a lot of the album is inspired by that club.

[Sarah] And I went to Emerson College, so that sums that up.

Your self titled album is coming out October 4th. We know Let Me Go is a sure fire Europop song. What other types music can we expect on the album?

[Matt] Lots of variety. I think Sarah and I teaming up made for songs to come out very different. Every song feels different. We've got danceable songs, then there's the songs you could never dance to. They're kind of weird.

[Sarah] There's a ballad that we are kind of obsessed with. We really throw everything out there and just see what sticks.

[Matt] The concept for most of the songs is Sarah and I singing back and forth and telling a story. There are a few songs on there that are like Let Me Go but most of them are not.

What are some of the other benefits of having two vocalists in the same group?

[Matt]: For me it's awesome. I've been singing by myself for so long. It's so cool. In Let Me Go, for example, I can take a break in the chorus.

[Sarah] I think for both of us, we were so used to writing by ourselves, being angsty all curled up with our journals, that it is so great to just be able to work together and bounce ideas for lyrics off of each other. It made it really interesting and fun.

Let Me Go definitely told a story. I take it this was from personal experience?

[Matt] Definitely. I wrote the basis for that one. It was an experience I had with a girl a few years ago. Together we brought each other down, and we felt like worse people together. It took a while, but we finally realized we could just let each other go and the relationship go, it brought us back up. It brought it from a negative thing to a positive thing.

I really felt it was a relateable song.

[Sarah] Definitely. It's that toxic relationship everyone goes through.

What about this ballad track from before?

[Matt] I think we both agree that's our favorite. It's one of those songs that wrote itself almost. I don't know if it's single-worthy, but we are definitely going to push for it. It's called You Got Me.

Mind naming me some other album tracks?

[Sarah] Celebrity. Dangerous. New Reputation.

[Matt] Another favorite is called Whipped. I wrote it about my friend. (Hopefully he won't see this interview). The kid is so whipped. We pulled his story.

[Sarah] Yeah, we were so passionate about it for some reason. It came out really good.

A lot of what I'm gathering is some deep meanings behind your songs. Please tell me you guys have at least one party track.

[Sarah] Celebrity isn't about relationships.

[Matt] Based on a dream I had about just wanting to live the celebrity life. We just started playing it live and the kids love it.

[Sarah] And we got this awesome rapper to be on it. His name is Rome Castio. We are so excited for everyone to hear.

Can you give the readers a special message before you go?

[Sarah] Thanks for listening!

[Matt] Yeah, we threw the song out there with little promotion -- the big stuff hasn't even started yet.

[Sarah] We are really excited about the fans. We are excited that they exist!

[Matt] We feel so lucky. I think we've finally found our place in music.

Please ignore me smiling like a dork in the corner.