DeadJournalist.com Exclusive Interviews
Young Galaxy

EXCLUSIVE Interview: Young Galaxy
Chuck Norton, DeadJournalist.com
10.31.07

 

What you need to know about Young Galaxy:

- The band was formed by Stephen Ramsay (formally a touring member of Stars) and Catherine McCandless in Vancouver before relocating to Montreal;
- The band recorded their self-titled debut LP with Jace Lasek, of Besnard Lakes, at his Breakglass Studio in 2005 and 2006;
- The band's debut LP Young Galaxy, was released in April 2007;
- The tracks "Swing Your Heartache" and "Outside the City" are in regular rotation on XM Radio's XMU (43) and The Verge (52); and
- The band will begin its first European tour on December 2, 2007 in Brighton, UK.

For more information of Young Galaxy, visit their Web site at www.younggalaxy.com or their MySpace.com page at www.myspace.com/younggalaxy.

DeadJournalist.com proudly brings you this exclusive with Stephen Ramsay of Young Galaxy.

How did Young Galaxy come together as a band?

SR: It happened counter-instinctually I would say.Catherine and I wrote and recorded the record on our own - we went straight from recording on a computer in our apartment to recording in Jace Lasek's studio.

We were a little surprised to be offered record deals based on recordings alone, but we obviously weren't going to complain!

After we signed to Arts & Crafts they obviously told us we needed to form a band and play shows. We went to our friends first, found some guinea pigs there, and then fleshed out the rest of the line-up with people recommended by other Montreal musicians. It's a fairly small community, so people tend to be pretty helpful and forthcoming when you are in a jam... We didn't finalize our line-up until the week before our first show - but it has gone pretty smoothly I would say.

We are a combination of inexperience and youthful naivety and seasoned, jaded veterans. It makes for an interesting dynamic!

For someone learning of the band for the first time, what can they expect from your album? Was there an overriding influence behind it?

SR: I never worry about people's expectations for the album. People will hear what they want to hear, draw their own comparisons and conclusions. You can't control that.

All I can say is we tried to create an 'epic' record, full of bittersweet observations and shadows and light. Something that felt like a genuine expression of our internal lives at the time.

Once it was done, the influences I heard in the album surprised me a little. A lot of what I heard reminded me of stuff I was listening to as a teenager in the '90's. This record is the sum of our influences growing up, I would say. This seems like an inevitable part of the process in finding our creative voices.

I think the next record will be very different, because it will reflect a lot more of our current influences. I like to think as you get older, you have a more sophisticated network of influences to draw from, where personal experience can intermingle with what inspires you creatively.

Your influences don't have to be solely musical to make music. We are only now learning that, and we like where it is leading us creatively.

Which do you enjoy more, performing live or writing and recording?

SR: They are different animals, for sure. We are relatively inexperienced with performing live, so I feel like we have a lot to learn yet. We want the live show to reflect the way we feel in the studio, where we are much more comfortable.

We want to have the live show feel like a genuinely fantastic experience. One that transports and overwhelms. We don't just want to be a band that is happy to get on stage, plug in our instruments and play. We want to take risks. It is a lot easier for us to do that in the studio - it came from years of fiddling on a computer at home, with nothing at stake and no one to please but ourselves.

We try bringing that aesthetic into the studio. A lot of what ended up on the record was thought of on the spot while recording, with little regard for how we would interpret it live. We threw out conventional approaches whenever possible. We wanted the studio to feel like a playful, hyper-creative space.

I think recording is truly the only time when you can fully lose yourself in the creative process. I love writing - I'm pretty prolific. I work quickly, because it forces me to rely on that moment when you get a little knot in your stomach, or the hair on your arm stands on end.

That is pure instinct, your body won't lie to you if it's good. It's often the only way to tell if you have a good idea or not.

Are you working on material for a new album?

SR: You know it. It's a concept record, we have 6/7 songs written for it and we have just begun playing two of them live. It will be darker, more spacious and very heavy, if I may say so myself!

Catherine and I are buzzing with excitement, and feeling very inspired, in part because we are actually writing with a band in place. It feels like a luxury!

The band is about a month away from its first European tour. Is there any trepidation or is there mostly excitement? What are you most looking for out of the experience?

SR: How can there be trepidation? I'm thrilled! I have been a life-long fan of British music, particularly, so to play my own songs in Manchester, for instance, will be a dream come true. I hope Johnny Marr comes to the show... Or Ian Brown... haha.

I love to travel, so I try to combine touring with exploring the places we go as well. A couple of the band have never been to Europe, so I am excited for them too. I will take as it comes - hopefully this tour will only be the tip of the iceberg in Europe for us.

What can someone expect from a Young Galaxy live performance?

SR: As I said earlier, we want the live show to feel like an transporting, overwhelming experience - this is what we are working towards. We are less ambient sounding live, I think, more direct and in your face.

We are beginning to look into new elements for the overall presentation of the show - we're working with a Canadian artist who lives in the UK named Kelly Richardson on visuals for future shows.

It will be psychedelic, that much I will guarantee! I want lasers. Lots of lasers.

The most bizarre thing that has happened to you while on tour is ... ?

SR: Touring is genuinely bizarre to begin with. I think it is unsurprising when bizarre things happen while you are touring. You're constantly out of your comfort zone, aren't you?

Who and where was your first concert?

SR: When I was three I went to Nanaimo Civic Arena on Vancouver Island to see Mr. Dressup, a famous Canadian children's performer. I was very excited, and drank my apple juice too fast during the performance. I freaked out - I couldn't sit there watching Mr. Dressup with no apple juice! My poor embarrassed Mum had to drag me out of there kicking and screaming.

I guess I just couldn't handle the environment - after all, he was my Elvis at the time...

Does that count?

What artists have influenced you the most throughout your career?

SR: So many. Talent borrows - but genius steals, right?

What were you listening to in 1997?

SR: I was a huge fan of The Verve. So Bittersweet Symphony steam-rolled my heart that whole year. And Spiritualized were so on top of their game. It was a great year for English bands I would say. Very epic. I think I discovered Krautrock then too, so a lot of Can, Neu, Kraftwerk, La Dusseldorf, etc.

One Drink, One Movie, One Album:

SR: Drink - A Manhattan, in Manhattan, at a bar called The Angel's Share

Movie - The Colour Of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov

Album - Yearbook 1 by Studio, a Swedish band