Young The Giant - Little giants grow up

In the United States, things can actually happen and don't have to remain a dream.

Being twenty-two years old, launched commercially around the world, perhaps after winning a contest.

You start out as kids, and while still young you find the right line-up balance to be ready for the big leap.

This is what happened to California's Young The Giant, played non-stop by international radio and TV with their various singles, including the hugely popular "Cough Syrup", a song that perfectly sums up their style, halfway between the sweet pop melancholy of Coldplay and the indie-folk of Fleet Foxes.

If some snobbish know-it-alls consider them of little interest, dismissing them as the product of easy, content-free hype - perhaps judging them after only a brief, distracted listen - the quintet actually proves the opposite, offering an enjoyable musical selection with solid arrangements that know how to strike the right emotional chords. The only hope is that in the future they might move further away from their idols and find greater originality, but the fact that Young The Giant know how to write and play equally well is beyond dispute.

Even in Italy they sold out both their Rome and Milan dates, shows that had an important preview in their Primo Maggio performance in Piazza San Giovanni (the only foreign band on the bill) and an equally notable closing appearance as guests at the TRL Awards in Florence.

We met the band, represented by singer Sameer Gadhia and guitarist Jacob Tilley, at a luxurious hotel in the Roman casbah between Termini and Piazza Vittorio, to find out more about their story.

How did this lucky debut of yours come about?

The album is the result of two years of work, during which we wrote the songs together, blending each of our different musical tastes. We move from the rock of the Strokes to folksingers like Elliott Smith and Johnny Cash, and many other songwriters who tell stories through their lyrics.

It's a very fortunate period, during which we're also playing some important events; we'd love to be part of the Coachella lineup too, a festival we really appreciate and which always delivers great live bills.

The production was entrusted to John Chiccarelli, someone who's worked with bands you've said you love, like White Stripes, The Raconteurs and My Morning Jacket. What kind of work went on in the studio?

John Chiccarelli was an important producer who helped us grow technically. When we were younger we were used to recording track by track, but with him we experimented with a live-in-studio approach.

In the future, though, we'd like to go back to producing ourselves, also because we've picked up a lot of new knowledge, techniques and tricks, so we're curious to experiment that way too. In the meantime we're writing new songs we're really proud of and can't wait to release.

It's surprising that you record for Roadrunner, a label famous for major metal releases. How did this record deal come about?

It's definitely unusual that we record for a label like Roadrunner. Some people, just because we released records with them, may have initially thought we were a band of that kind. A lot of people, for convenience, associate certain styles with certain labels. In our case, I have to say this partnership has worked in our favor, because from being complete unknowns it's now allowed us to be heard worldwide, with serious promotion and support behind us. That's also let a lot of people discover what our actual sound is really like.

We got in touch with Roadrunner after winning a contest that let us open for Kings Of Leon. We were about eighteen at the time, and that night in Chicago there were already some industry people around who noticed us. After also playing South By Southwest in Texas, Roadrunner, along with Capitol, came forward showing a lot of interest in us. At first we were a bit skeptical, because we were afraid they'd want to twist our sound into something else, but we actually changed our minds right away, because they turned out to be genuinely enthusiastic and passionate about it.

After a subsequent showcase in New York and some major media support from a few radio and TV outlets, we finally signed the contract with Roadrunner.

Why did you change your name from The Jakes to Young The Giant?

When we formed in 2004 we were called The Jakes, and we were just inexperienced teenagers. We swapped out a few members over time, while we were still finishing college. When things got more serious and we realized the band was heading in a very specific direction, including in terms of the line-up, we decided to change the name to the one we have now. We're a group that's very tightly bound by real friendship, so much so that if anyone were to leave the band, we'd probably change our name again.

You're all very young — what do your parents think of this adventure of yours?

We're very lucky, because they've never stood in our way. If anything, they keep giving us their full support and cheer us on.

Ride the wave of great music

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