Blending a variety of genres together is sometimes a risky business, but in the case of Youth Killed It, they nailed it. While they are a rock band at the core, they have added elements of grime, hip hop, funk, and indie to create a unique sound that carries a distinctly British feel. Today we are bringing you the first play of their new album, ‘Modern Bollotics’, and vocalist Jack Murphy has broken down each of the tracks.
‘(Jean-Claude) Van Man’
Touring since I was 16 led me to write this song. It’s about life choices and a list of things we have to do to make it to shows. Every band will go through this so we thought instead of compiling a list we would put it into a jingle!
‘Popstar’
Ever looked at how society works and thought there’s some simple changes that could be made but no one is making them? That’s us all day everyday, and this song is a look into that. We ain’t your pretty bunch of boys from magazines but we can make you smile and say polite things.
‘Lads In Love’
I met a lovely girl about 3 years ago and she changed my life, made me a better person and is cool with me watching football. I’m not sure who to thank for that but whoever you are, “cheers mate!”
‘Fudge’
School was some of the best and worst times of my life. I was quite intelligent, but socially my friends were more important to me than exams. Still to this day I don’t know if I wish I done it differently but that’s life, you live and learn!
My grammar still sucks and my spelling is questionable but I can still say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Cheers for that school!
‘You Don’t Know’
Every one makes assumptions about other people, but if you don’t know how they take their cup of tea can you really say you honestly know them? Moral of the story: Be you and if people have a problem with that join me in the Winchester, grab a beverage and we’ll wait for this to blow over.
‘Molly’
This track literally wrote itself. I was sitting in my living room one day and playing guitar, I turned to my left and my Cat (Molly) was there staring at me with her loving eyes looking majestic as fuck. She saw me look at her then she came over and wanted attention. I made us both some food and we watched TV together. After an Episode of “Mock The Week” I picked up my guitar and wrote a song about my best mate.
‘What Happened?’
Ever had that moment at the age of 23 when you wake up, look in the mirror, look at your bank statement and think “fuck, what happened?” The dreams? The plans you had? Yeah, they didn’t work out how you expected. That was my mindset in this song. I used to wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and feel ill from stressing about what was happening and what was not. Quite a strange time being in your early 20’s, it’s like puberty all over again, and that was sh*t the first time.
‘I Ain’t Ready For It’
This carries on from “What Happened?”. It’s all about having to process that change from your carefree teenage years of drinking too much, smoking too much and generally being immature. It’s just snide remarks society makes to you on a daily basis. With it’s “you will do this” or “you will do that” attitude. I use washing up as a metaphor in this song to portray ‘adult’ responsibilities. I know, ridiculous right?
‘Soul Trader’
I’ve been a self employed person for most of my adult life, from being a producer to also a builder and music still sticks to that pattern. I’ve noticed one thing being self employed, you’re selling a product as well as yourself. You have to constantly think outside the box and have a large amount of commitment to what you do. Sometimes you just have to stand outside a venue selling CD’s and shirts to get the people into you. Nobody owes you anything, you have to work for peoples attention.
‘Job Back’
The title sums this one up. It’s all the ‘V’s’ I didn’t flip or say to people I’ve worked with. Hopefully you have had a few too, and just remember you did the right thing by not saying it! Haha.
‘Thanks For coming’
I feel as this was me laid bare, it’s brutally honest and says everything I felt during this writing process of this album. It’s an ode to anyone who turns up and watches our set, listens to our album and hang’s out with us. My older years have showed me the reason why we still make music. It’s not to make it ‘big’ or to be ‘famous’, it’s about meeting new people being creative and spreading some smiles on peoples faces. There’s enough bollocks in this world so lets have laugh together.
‘Modern Bollotics’ is released on May 12 via Rude Records, and Youth Killed head out on tour this week which you can see the dates for below.
May
13 SOUTHAMPTON Hanger Farm Arts Centre
14 MANCHESTER Satans Hollow
15 LEEDS The Packhorse
16 LEICESTER The Shed
17 NORWICH Epic Studios
18 BIRMINGHAM Subside