Jenny Owen Youngs
Rocklouder gets some time to speak to the best singer/songwriter you've never heard of, about who she is and what she does!
On the second date of her first real jaunt across our fair isle, Rocklouder gets some time to speak to the best singer/songwriter you've never heard of, about who she is, what she does and that there's more to Max Martin's music than Britney Spears' ass.
Hello Jenny Owen Youngs, how are you today?
I'm great thanks
You're still relatively new to the UK; can you tell us a little about yourself and your music?
Oh, gee whizz, that's an awfully broad question. I like sharks, and the beach, and I've been playing music for a long time. I was just over here for the first time in July. This is my second time back to the UK.
Tell us a little about how you're finding the UK
Yeah, it's a far different world to how I thought it would be. The coffee... yikes. As a person who's really... attached to coffee, it's ... it's been a challenge. Not that it's not good enough, it's just you guys are focused in different areas. Our tea is probably really shitty. So it's a give and take. Maybe I should switch to tea while I'm over here. Driving on the left side of the road is really hard! It's not something I can really wrap my mind around, so I give you guys huge props for that. I've come very close to being hit by cars. A lot. So... y'know, something to adjust to. But the drive here from Liverpool was really beautiful, just miles and miles of beautiful rolling hills and sheep. Really nice.
In July you supported Amiee Mann, who's pretty huge, how did that come about?
In the world of music business there are many people who know other people and most things that happen I really think kind of happen through that sort of web... or luck ... or both. It was kind of a convergence of those things; luck and people who know people who know people. And... wow, that was an awesome opportunity that I got to take.
Okay, tell us about your album, 'Batten The Hatches'
Oh god! (laughs) the record that just won't go away! I self-released it back in September 2005, then I got picked up by Nettwerk, who released it in the States in April and it just came out here at the end of September. And... you know, it's a record... It's about 45 minutes long, got some songs on it. It's in the form of a CD, or you can also download it on that internet. Before I released it I spent a year and a half recording it and another two years writing the material so, not starting to feel awful about it or anything, but wow, I really gotta make a new record. But, there's still work to do with [Batten The Hatches] over here.
With fresh interest, what's it like playing these songs you've been playing for some time?
I might be able to answer that better tonight, but people here have been really nice, which makes me feel like things are going right.
You say you need to get the new record started, have you begun any work for that?
I've been sketching some new material for the last couple of months. I've got this two weeks over here, a four week tour in the states and then I come back to Europe for three weeks and after that I'm done and I'm just gonna be working on writing and recording so that'll be that (finds some wood to touch) please God! I hope I remember how to write songs!
Whereabouts in Europe? I know you're coming back here in December
Yeah, I'll be back here in December, but I'll be in the Netherlands and Belgium before that. I just go where I'm told go when I'm told to go there!
You like covering songs
I DO! It's fun!
On the last US tour you asked your fans to suggest songs. What do you like about covering and what songs stand out to you?
What really got people revved up about the covers thing is that, I like to play songs that are maybe a little fluffier than the material I generally perform. I think Max Martin [pop music megawriter/producer] is a really, really gifted writer, and I really respect his work. I think his forms are really interesting and his writing style is great. I think that despite the fact [pop music is] presented in a very ‘bra and panties' kind of way, I think there's depth to a lot of - well some of his songs, I think there's actual content that people miss because they're too busy staring at Britney's ass - well, not anymore, because, yikes, but when it was nice to look at, people were looking at it. So, (sighs) All that to say, I really like playing those songs, although it's gotten to the point where I just kind of want to play serious songs again. So when we did that mini-tour with the covers thing my favourite thing to play that was requested was ‘Novocaine For The Soul' by Eels. Don't know if they're popular over here or not.
Not huge, but they're great.
I was really glad somebody suggested it; there was a lot of, like, Bon Jovi and Boys II Men and stuff that I would think of more as fluff, but that Eels song was the one I was happiest to play.
One of the things that tied in with that was you made a video for your cover of Nelly's ‘Hot In Here'. How did that come about, what made that so popular?
Ok, so, there's this guy by the name of Dave House, you know Dave House?
(With a knowing smile) Oh yes.
Haha, I don't have a feel for how big people are over here, I don't know, have you heard of this girl Madonna?
Who?
(laughs)Anyway, Dave asked me to a split vinyl single with him, and I needed to record a B-side with him so I recorded ‘Hot In Here' and my management got really excited by it and the label got excited about it and then they sent it over to the UK office and they got really excited by it and as things progressed we built a digital EP around it and that sold relatively well so the UK office really pushed for the video, they really wanted it to work over here.
Jenny Owen Youngs is your main creative outlet, but you've worked with a number of musicians which form a number of various side projects, can you tell us a little bit about them?
I was lucky enough to go to school for pop music, and I met an ass-ton of really gifted people and when I'm really lucky I get to sing on their record, and sometimes at their shows. Good examples of these are The Age Of Rockets, and Bess Rogers, and Fire Flies, and Chris Garneau, and Ingrid Michaelson, and there are many, many people that I should be naming.
Okay, well Myspace has, um, you, um... but, blah. Blah? Discuss.
Oh, well, I can't say enough about blah!
(Rocklouder attempts to retain a shred of professionalism)
Let's try that again. Myspace - you were quite early to that. How much has it helped you?
It's invaluable, I mean it's equally invaluable and, like, terrifying. You know I turn my computer on and get messages that are... a little creepy? It's weird, kids younger than me now, they have this whole cyber-universe - can you imagine that if you were sixteen you could go and look at your crush's myspace page and obsess about every single word and where the punctuation is and, like, everything. There's texting and Myspace and Livejournal and youtube and their heads are totally in that world, and, man, if I was growing up right now, it would feel really weird. And it sort of blurs the line - people take a lot of liberties, which is when I get messages like 'Yo I wanna throw you up against the barn wall and do this and that to youâ€
That's nice
'But then will there be candles?†urgh. So yeah, Myspace is very interesting and very useful and also weird.
Okay, well what have you been listening to lately that our readers probably haven't heard but really should have?
Well, I don't know how big they are over here yet, but the new Motion City Soundtrack record I think is really, really, really superb. Beyond that I really haven't heard anything new that I've really got excited about in a while. Bess' record is really good, but she's my friend so I'm probably supposed to say that. But it also happens to be true.
Throughout, Jenny Owen Youngs is polite and funny, but only a day after a hectic arrival in the country, is clearly only now beginning to adjust. Or perhaps she just needs a decent cup of coffee. Her respect for the song writing mastermind behind the hits of the Backstreet Boys may at first seem horrifying, but her explanation proves how interesting she really is. And besides, we know full well that ‘Since You've Been Gone' is the greatest guilty pleasure of all time. The sense of humour that comes through during the interview gives a small slice of what makes her such a presence on stage. What we don't get from this, however, is how just how good her music is. A few hours later we're treated to barely half an hour of it, but it's a better half hour for your ears than anywhere else in the country. She'll be back in the UK in December with the similarly talented Dave House, and Rocklouder highly recommends that you attend.
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