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Reigniting The Flames With ZACH BRITT From YOUNG LIONS · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Get everyone. It's Zach here from Young Lions. I am having a chat
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  to Chris. We've got a epic ten year anniversary Burn tour which we're heading
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  out on the road around Australia, starting in September on the twenty second in
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  Brisbane and heading to every city after that. So we're really stoked to be
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  out there, beautiful Zack, thanks for joining us today, brother, Absolute
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  pleasure. As always as you say, Young Lions hit the road this September
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  for your Burn Anniversary tour, starting in Brisbane on September twenty second and going
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  through Sydney and Melbourne before finishing in Adelaide on September twenty nine. So not
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  that far off now our rows everything I'll finished and ready to go. Yeah,
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  we're really getting into the into the production rehearsals now. We're getting pretty
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  stoked to get out there. It's really nice to revisit songs. Obviously,
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  I've been doing it tour the moment with my other band with dream On Dreamer
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  for the ten year anniversary for Lovelace, which has been really really good,
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  and so it's been getting me really excited to get out there to do the
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  same thing with Young Lions. You know, everyone really resonates with the music
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  that they've listened to for ten years and they've had a long time to learn
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  the lyrics. So we're getting stoked on some big singalongs. And there's so
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  many epic bands coming onto two with us. We've got Shane Bla, Chasing
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  Goes, and Tapestry, so it's a really all style line. So there
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  is celebrating the band's ten year anniversary. So what's sorts of special birthday treats
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  if you got in store for us? Well, I think a lot of
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  it. I mean we're looking to bring all the all the hot songs out
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  for everyone and play the full album. So we're going to be bringing up
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  some guests to play with as well, which I'll you know, I won't
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  spill the beans on them yet, but we've got plenty of amazing people coming
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  to check the show out and to help make it a special moment. And
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  I think we really just tried to put a lot of effort into the lineup
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  this time around and put on like four bands that are really going to have
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  a great time with everyone and really impress everyone from start to finish. So
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  I think anyone who's coming to this show is really going to see just that
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  an epic show from beginning to end. So that's what you want, you
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  know, from a ticket these days. For me, I'm really enjoying going
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  from the start to finish of shows, so we wanted to put together and
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  curate a really great night from start to finish. I just mentioned that you
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  are playing your debut album earning for mate, like it's a difficult thing to
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  do. Like when you made the album, I couldn't imagine you would have
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  sort of planned to play the whole lot one day, So there's certain things
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  in there that did got to replicate. I mean, it definitely is.
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  It's a it's a funny experience because if you start learning them again and I
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  don't know for me, my voice has changed a lot since then as well.
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  I've obviously had a lot of experience. But then when you listen back,
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  there's a certain angst and execution in a lot of the stuff we doing
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  that we might not necessarily do the same way anymore, or we haven't done
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  in the last few years. So yeah, we're like rediscovering that teen angst
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  that we had all that. Yeah, coming in coming of age kind of
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  aanks that we had for that debut album. And then it's also a real
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  pinch. You've got to give yourself a big pinch just thinking back that it's
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  been ten years since those moments happened. So I think I wouldn't say it's
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  been different difficult per se, but we've definitely, you know, we're having
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  to rediscover parts of ourselves as musicians that we might have left behind a little
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  bit. So I think that's a beautiful thing. And so take us back
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  ten years, mate, twenty thirteen where it all started for young lions,
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  like, well, what was your early vision for the band and and how
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  has it changed since? Well, it's kind of crazy the way it all
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  came to part with that album because the album was actually recorded in totality musically
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  before I even got involved with the group. It was called a different name
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  at the time, it was called Ann Vrain, but they'd recorded this album.
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  The singer at the time, he just wasn't There was some internal conflict
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  in the band and he didn't quite gel with what was happening. Nothing really
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  worked. So the producer and an old manager of mine from my first band
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  reached out to me and just said, look, I know you've been in
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  a pretty jaded spot with music and didn't ever really want to do it again,
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  because that's definitely where I was. And they reached out and they said,
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  look, we've just got this album that we think would be really great
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  for your voice. If you wanted guest vocal or something like that, let
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  us know. And I put off listening to it for one or two weeks.
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  I remember the way home on the bus after working a big, long
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  shift, I just chucked this album on in full in my headphones, and
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  it just felt like I had in writing in my diary like all that time,
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  all these lyrics, and they just fit directly in like a jigsaw puzzle
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  piece, like it was the album like lyrically and melody wise, like completely
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  fell into place. At least eight of the songs within a week. And
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  then I went in and met the dudes for the first time Advised Studios in
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  Bowen Hills and walked into this room totally cold. Had never met any of
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  the guys, and remember doing six of the songs back to back, and
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  they'd never hurt any of it either. So we were in this tiny room
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  and we instantly knew we were like, oh my God like Grave Digger,
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  Runner in the Fighter Before the Storm, all just happened in this moment.
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  So all these songs that have kept us going and had We've had fans for
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  ten years that have just you know, followed us around and come to every
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  show. I've come from those moments, which is pretty serendipitous. I've still
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  blown away to think about it really, So didn't have a crazy plan then,
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  but I think the bands just made its own way. We've been just
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  super super stoked with the whole journey really, and yeah, I didn't really
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  know where it was going to go, but we just kept going. So
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  let me get that right. So this album was written before you joined the
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  band, but then you resumed the vocals for the album. Yeah, yeah,
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  So musically a lot of it had the bare bones. So like I
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  was a pretty proficient musician and been in other bands before, but these guys
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  had the bare bones and the songs, but there was no lyrics, no
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  vocal melodies that had worked from previous singers. So they was just sitting there
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  and they didn't know whether it was going to keep going. And then I
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  just jumped on and did all the vocals in Sydney with Sunny True Love at
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  a studio there just in Gosford, and went down with the bass player Morgan,
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  and you know, we've never really spent time together, but it all
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  happened in like a week and and we added added little bits. I played
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  some more guitar and things, and we changed little edits and like added an
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  extra chorus here and there. But really it was like my diary just being
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  slotted straight into this, this piece that had already been written by the other
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  four dudes. Well, so of course everyone's happy with an album when they
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  finished and bring it out, But back then when your release bird Mate,
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  like we're that stoke with it that you know, like there was any possibility
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  that ten years later you would be revisiting it and played it in its anxiety,
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  I honestly don't think so. I think that album gave us the confidence
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  to feel that way now and seeing what it's done now, But back then
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  I vividly remember not us just knowing that it had something special about it.
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  But there's a lot of music that you feel that way about, and I
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  think, yeah, you can't get to interact on the fact of whether it's
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  going to do it really well or not. And I think Rick Rubin like
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  the produce, so I looked up to a lot. He says it,
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  you know, if you're that into it, then that's all that matters,
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  you know, which is easier said than done. But if as an artist,
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  you really really feel it, you know, and you feel that it's
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  words from the heart or music from the heart, then you've just got to
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  go for it. And I remember those shows earlier in those early Burn days
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  that are still surpassed any of the shows we've done now. And that's not
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  with any malists or anything. It's just there was an incredible time of putting
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  that out and I remember playing Destroyer Line shows where there was like a five
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  hundred person like a cap and we had sold seventeen tickets in Brisbane and I
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  was like, oh, look, well it's not going to be that great
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  at night kind of thing. And I went to a friend's party because there
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  was no one at the opening band, no one at the second band.
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  We were four. I went for an hour and then came back and I
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  couldn't get into the venue because it was that packed out. And that's that's
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  something I'll ever forget. And that definitely a lot of confidence to keep up
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  the good fight, you know, and keep going. You mentioned your live
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  shows, mate, like we can back over the last decade, like,
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  how was your live show refined or changed mending now? I think, Well,
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  we think a lot about it, a lot more about it, I
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  think. And I don't know whether we mindfully, like whether all of us
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  would say that, or whether we realize that. But but back in the
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  day, it was like there was a lot of emphasis on having as many
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  beers as possible and having as many beers as possible that practice, which is
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  not necessarily a bad thing, but for us back then we were young.
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  We didn't have kids, we didn't have you know, we didn't have homes
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  that we and mortgages and all these things. And so that I guess that
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  changes for good, for better or worse. It changes the way you feel
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  about it. And we've made the decision in the last few years to really
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  treat it as something that we want to grow and grow sustainably. So and
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  we've all changed our habits a bunch, like for positive, I think.
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  So it's not that we don't love having a few beers at every show and
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  everything, but there's there's a there's a definite yeah, definite refinement to use
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  your word there that we really enjoyed, like building shows now and planning them
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  out and planning a set list that's really going to bring a lot of joy
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  to people, and looking at our Spotify like starts to be like, you
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  know, who's listening to what? What do they want to hear? Because
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  we really want to give the fans what they want. And every time we
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  play a show now like yeah, we really as small as it will be,
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  or like the last album Tool we just went on just recently last month
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  for our new make a Rainbow and Put It in the Sky. We went
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  out on that one really prepared and even if the venues were smaller like that
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  two hundred caps like it was in Sydney, it was still packed and the
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  vibe was so high that we just loved it so much. And so the
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  I think our preparation is just changed a lot. We think about it a
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  lot. We love our gear now and like, yeah, I love making
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  it just sound powerful and give someone a night to remember when they come to
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  see a Young Lion show. I imagined your last album compare I don't you
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  can't really compare them, but looking back from Burn ten years ago to Make
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  a Rainbow and put it. So now, like, how how's your music
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  and changed? Like how's everything changed within the band in that period. I
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  mean we've we've gained and lost members. We've still got like the three core
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  members and so a lot. You know, when a member comes and goes,
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  they definitely bring new things to the table and new musicality and new style.
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  So that's changed in little ways there. But I think we've always kept
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  that young Lions feeling ross all the albums, which I'm really proud of.
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  From from Burn to Make a Rainbow, I'd say, like Burn just has
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  this almighty ang in it, like it was. I look back at the
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  lyrics and stuff, and they're definitely some of the most angry lyrics introspective lyrics
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  as well. But it's funny, I wouldn't say musically, but lyrically and
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  experience wise. I think Make a Round Bow and Put in the Sky and
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  Burn are probably the most similar because they entail a lot of break up and
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  burn and rebuild kind of vibe in both lyrically. The other ones in the
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  middle, like Mister s Space Man was a real journey, a real existential
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  journey, and then like it had a theme, the thematic thing to it,
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  and then with Blue Isla, it was a really you know, it
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  was a like a love Field album, more of a loving album kind of
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  thing, and a softer side of us. But I think Burn and the
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  Maker Rainbow really have this full circle to them that I don't think many people
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  have picked up on yet, or maybe the amazing fans that come to all
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  the shows would have. So I look forward to getting out there and talking
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  everyone about that. Well. Well, before we let you go, mate,
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  we started doing three different Spotify playlists based on on bands that we taught
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  to you, mate, So I watched you give me three of your own
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  songs. One song to get the party started, one song, one song
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  to save your marriage, and one song that could potentially end your marriage.
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  I think one song to get the party started is The Runner and the Fighter
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  off Burn. I think that one's just like such an upbeat track. I
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  love it. One song to say marriage, I think learning of Blue Isla,
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  he's a really nice fun and then one song that could end your marriage.
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  Ah, I'm just trying to think of the right one for that one.
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  Songs like it maybe take Me Home off Burn, because that one's more
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  of like, yeah it has been yeah, yeah yeah did you get that
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  last one? I got the song yet? No ways at all. Okay,
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  thanks very much for your time that I've both been a pleasure chatting with
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  you. Young Lions start their tour for Burn on September twenty second, and
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  you can get tickets and find out more info and all the social But in
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  the manytime, Ray take air and I might hop along with the Brisbane show
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  and have a beer. Absolutely may. It'd be great to have you here,
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  but yeah, it'd be an absolute pleasure man. Thank you very much
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  for having me see you out on tour