If you’ve not come across Youth Man yet, you really should sort that out. Today is as good a time as any, with storming new EP ‘Wax’ out today. Play it loud, and read front woman Kaila Whyte’s track by track guide as you go.
Sweet Apples
This song kind of just fell out of us. It’s a primal sexy mess. Miles was jamming out this cool bass line so Marcus and I started playing along too. The lyrics are about Saddam’s Kurdish genocide in Iraq – the gas he used apparently smelled like ‘rotting rubbish and sweet apples’ which Marcus found quite poetic in a grim way.
Fat Dead Elvis
This was Marcus’ baby. He used that William Burroughs/David Bowie cut up lyric technique which is really cool. Elvis Presley symbolises a tired old cliché that we still worship in spite of the fact that it’s stale and boring. The whole thing’s about how shit it is to get old – you get sick, lose your strength, feel like a burden. It’s fucked! “Old age is an encore nobody asked for.” 2015, Marcus Perks
Pigs
Pigs is a sad observation on Western materialism. We’re perpetually hungry for stimulation and validation and we binge and obsess over whatever we’re told is cool. Buying stuff to make us feel better. Thinking we need things that we don’t. Walking down the street being bombarded with pictures of shiny cars, shiny hair, white pants and whiter teeth by people selling the lie that looking “good” and having enough stuff will make you happy or interesting. It’s really sad. We are all Pigs.
Look wait
The lyrics of this song are inspired by a dream I don’t quite remember. There were aliens in it though.. When we were writing it, we wanted it to sound like standing in a wind tunnel which I think we did quite successfully.
Painted Blue
This song is the most personal on the record. It was written at a time when we realised that due to social media we had surrounded ourselves with like-minded people and the social and political values we have aren’t necessarily shared with the rest of the country. Facebook had given us a false sense of security. The song is having a go at the deceptive tactics used in politics today and calling on people like us who aren’t content with the climate and saying we’re not alone. It’s a bit of a love letter to Jeremy Corbyn too.
Youth man’s new EP ‘Wax’ is out now. Order yourself a copy here.