Q&A with English Rockers, YOUNG GUNS Talk – New Album Ones and Zeros!

“We’re suffering from digital pain,
We lost the love of life on the way,
But ones and zeroes just can’t explain,
Theres something in the air when we’re together.”

Ones And Zeros (produced by Steve Osbourne in Real World Studios) is Young Guns’ glorious examination of human communication and interaction. It is an ode to the majesty of single moments: the midnight conversations, the snatches of eye contact that spell doom or joy, the arguments and the nights that explode… they’re the things that define us and our relationships and friendships, the little morsels of time both positive and negative that, when stitched together, become a life remembered.

“I used to try and make my lyrics as broad as possible, but now I understand that it’s more important to focus on what feel like the small moments, because those are what really shape us.”

As an album, it declares loudly that screens are no match for our own senses when it comes to documenting experiences. And vocalist Gustav Wood, guitarists John and Fraser Taylor, bassist Simon Mitchell and drummer Ben Jolliffe have had plenty of experiences since releasing second album Bones 2 years ago. The title track made history in the US when it hit Number One on the Active Rock radio chart after the longest unbroken streak ever; they’ve toured arenas on both sides of the Atlantic; they’ve played the main stages of the most prestigious festivals in the world; they’ve reached out and touched lives young and old worldwide.

Following an experimental session in San Francisco with Dan The Automator in March, writing continued last April back in London in the shared house the entire band bar Mitchell had moved into. This newfound space and time gave them a freedom to explore like never before, and once they got started the songs flowed from wells they’d never before tapped.

Ones And Zeros is the sound of an adventure, of risks taken confidently and of the search for something new. It is a snapshot of chaotic life itself, but contained within are truths and evidence that there is simply no substitute for reaching out a hand.

All Access Music writer, Nicole DeRosa had a chance to catch up with front man, Gustav Wood. Read more in their interview below!

Hi Gustav! Where does this interview find you today? What’s on the agenda today besides our interview?

Hey there. I am currently on my way to central London to meet with a group of people that are helping us to organize a promotional event around the release of our third album on June the 8th. It’s a mad idea, but if it works it will be awesome.

For those not as familiar with you and your music, how did you get your start in music? Who or what was the catalyst for you?

I grew up in a house that music played a large part in. My brother taught me to play guitar and my mother the piano. There was also always music playing in one way or another, so I naturally developed an interest in it early on.

In terms of being in a band, growing up in the inner city I never really had a group of friends that were into the same music as me, so when I met the guys I’m now in a band with, and they asked me to join a punk band they were playing in at the time I jumped at the chance. I was playing bass and our band sucked, but I loved it and have never looked back since.

Young Guns have released an EP, Mirrors back in 2009, debut studio album, All Our Kings Are Dead(2010), Bones (2012) and now you guys will be releasing your third studio album, Ones and Zeros this summer (June 8th). What did you learn between albums (that you felt you wanted to infuse into the new album?

I think fundamentally the most important thing we’ve learned is that it’s important always to push yourself to try and have the next song be better than the one you wrote before, and to make sure you’re always trying to do new things and be braver.That isn’t to say that we’re always successful, but we’ve always written the music that we wanted to write at that moment in time, which I’m happy about.

The new record was all about us trying to write rock music that felt fresh and had its own identity, and was about trying to achieve the same results but in new ways, like trying to make something feel heavy, but in a way that didn’t necessarily mean a million guitars and crashing drums all the time. We wanted to be leaner and more focused this time round.

Can you share with me what your inspiration was for your current single, “I Want Out”?

We had the music pretty much written before hand, but we spent a couple of weeks in between tours in New York writing in a studio that our label owned at the time and although we knew there was something we loved in the music of the song but couldn’t get a vocal that worked well enough over it…I wanted to say something that just felt great to sing at the top of your lungs and ‘I want out’ just felt right.  From there, I worked backwards and wrote about the idea that everything in life is transitory and temporary and that its up to you to make a change.

Who are your musical influences?

That’s a broad question. Everyone from the Police to Metallica.

What was the first song you fell in love with and why?

Thriller by Michael Jackson. I was five years old and had scarlet fever. My mum had bought me a Sony cassette player and I listened to it on repeat while I was getting better. There was such an atmosphere and a story to the song and it captured my imagination.

Who would your dream collaboration be with, living or dead?

James Hetfield.

Who is in your current playlist? Any artists, musicians or genres we might be surprised to find in there?

At the moment I’m listening to a Canadian rock band called Metric, their last album is great.

What’s on tap next for Young Guns? What are you most excited about in 2015?

We are so excited about releasing our new album in June. It’s the best collection of songs we’ve ever written and I’m looking forward to getting it out there and having people finally hear what we’ve been working on this past year.

To learn more about YOUNG GUNS , visit them HERE .