| Youth Group | |
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Youth Group-concert in Vancouver, Canada in 2005 |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Sydney, Australia |
| Genres | Alternative rock, indie rock |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Ivy League Records Epitaph Records Anti- World's Fair |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Toby Martin Danny Lee Allen Cameron Emerson-Elliott Patrick Matthews |
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| Past members | |
| Andy Cassell Paul Murphy Jason Walker John Lattin |
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Youth Group are a rock band based in Newtown, Sydney, Australia signed to Ivy League Records.
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Youth Group formed in Sydney in the late 1990s. They have released four albums in Australia, with the three most recent albums also gaining releases worldwide. The founding members of the band were Toby Martin on rhythm guitar and vocals, Danny Lee Allen on drums, Andy Cassell on bass guitar, and Paul Murphy on lead guitar. Current lead guitarist Cameron Emerson-Elliott and bassist Patrick Matthews joined in 2004.
Principal songwriter Toby Martin is the grandson of Hungarian-born Australian poet David Martin. Founding bass player Andrew Dymock Cassell retired from bass duties in 2003 to concentrate on being one of three partners in Ivy League Records and Winterman & Goldstein band management, Youth Group's Australian record label and management respectively. He is a relative of Australian Test cricketer Geoff Dymock. Founding guitarist Paul Murphy left the band in 2003 due to creative differences. Cameron Emerson-Elliott played guitar with Sydney punkers John Reed Club in the late 90s and has known Toby since their school days in Canberra, at Narrabundah College, when they wrote songs together as The Morris Brothers. Patrick Matthews played bass in The Vines before joining Youth Group. Versatile Sydney musician Johnno Lattin (also of La Huva) played bass in the band during the Skeleton Jar period around 2003. Danny also plays guitar amongst the revolving line-up of Sydney garage rock outfit, The City Lights.
Built around the pure vocals of Martin and clean production of Wayne Connolly, the sound of Youth Group is reminiscent of indie rock artists such as Teenage Fanclub, Pavement and Death Cab For Cutie. All members' taste in music contributed enormously to their organic indie rock (with a twist of country) sound. However it is Martin's insightful and empathetic lyrics which distinguish Youth Group from comparable bands. On Skeleton Jar in particular, Toby's vignettes were based around the emotional dynamics of his characters.
Martin relocated to Sydney from Canberra in 1996 and Youth Group formed shortly afterward. Their first show was in November 1997 at the Warren View Hotel in the inner Sydney suburb of Enmore. Remarkably, Danny had only been playing drums for a couple of months. Their first album Urban & Eastern was released in 2000. While the band always had a dedicated following in the inner cities of Sydney and Melbourne, and frequently supported major acts like Elliott Smith and The Strokes, their sales career was unremarkable. They met success when a series of chance happenings lead Epitaph Records boss Brett Gurewitz to hear their second album, Skeleton Jar in 2004 and release it in the U.S. in 2005. Despite sounding nothing like the California punk that Epitaph is widely known for, the support of a US label was the crucial break that Youth Group needed to find a wider audience. In 2003 the band played at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and performed on 4 dates with The Vines and The Music on a US West Coast tour. But it was a chance to support Death Cab for Cutie in 2005 on a coast to coast US tour that saw their profile rise most quickly internationally.
Their single "Forever Young", a cover of the song by Alphaville, was used in the television show The O.C. and heavily featured in promos for Australian TV station Channel Ten at the beginning of 2006. The song debuted on the Australian charts at #2 in March 2006, and eventually peaked at #1. It was also #1 in the first ever digital download chart. During 2006, they supported Coldplay in their sold-out tour of Australia.
In July 2006 the band released their third album, Casino Twilight Dogs, which features "Forever Young", along with the album's second single, "Catching & Killing". As of 24 July 2006, Casino Twilight Dogs debuted at no. 10 in the ARIA Album Charts.[1]
They supported the Kings Of Leon and Interpol on their 2008 tours of Australia.
There is a widely-circulated theory in the music community that the band name Youth Group is a clever twist on the name of the Scottish indie rock band Teenage Fanclub, whom vocalist Toby Martin has cited as a major musical influence during his childhood.
Youth Group won a 2006 ARIA award for "Breakthrough Single" for "Forever Young".
In 2007, the song "Daisy Chains" was featured on the CW show "One Tree Hill" episode 4.16 "You Call it Madness, but I Call it Love".
In 2011, the song "Forever Young" was featured on the series finale of the ABC show "Greek".
They released their fourth album The Night Is Ours in July 2008 through Ivy League in Australia and in April 2009 on Worlds Fair Records in the US. The song "What is A Life" from The Night Is Ours was featured on The CW show Gossip Girl episode "The Bonfire of the Vanity".
Youth Group toured the US twice in 2009 before moving into an extended break. Though the band are still on good terms, they are focusing on other projects. Martin will release a solo album in 2012 on Ivy League Records. Drummer Danny currently lives in New York and tours with We Are Scientists as their fill-in drummer.
In 2011 Skeleton Jar made #98 on Australian radio station Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time (Industry List).[2]
Early singles:
From Urban & Eastern:
From Skeleton Jar:
From Casino Twilight Dogs:
From The Night Is Ours:
| Music video information |
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Weekender
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Country Tour
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We are Mean
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Interface
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All This Will Pass
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