Track by Track: J Robert Youngtown

Launceston power-pop champ J ROBERT YOUNGTOWN recorded his debut album in Manly, Marrickville, Paris and Los Angeles, with backing from no less than Rusty Hopkinson (You Am I), Jon Auer (The Posies, Big Star) and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross, OFF!).

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]

‘Maybe Tomorrow’

It’s either a song about optimism or resignation – I’m still undecided. Twenty-four hours prior to hitting the record button, it was a completely different tune aside from the vocal melody. Producer Tim Kevin turned the demo arrangement and rhythm accompaniment on its head and it became something much more exciting. The outro evolved spontaneously in the studio with Tim, Rusty Hopkinson and myself just jamming out ideas. Jon Auer added those wonderfully bittersweet harmonies and some dreamy backwards guitar, and that outro became my favourite part on the whole album.

‘Hypnotised by a Mirror’

A song about the nature of celebrity and people getting a bit too hung up on themselves. The original intention was to write something in the vein of a meaty Quadrophenia-style guitar riff. I enjoy playing this riff a lot and the space between chords allowed Rusty to throw down fills that were immediately identifiable to anyone who has ever heard a You Am I record. Steven McDonald also put down some fantastic Entwistle-sounding bass.

‘This is What You Do’

Thematically inspired by an Eddy Current Suppression Ring song I heard on radio a few years back, which had a refrain along the lines of “I admit my faults.” I wanted this track to come across as anthemic-sounding on the surface, but have something a bit more sinister hiding beneath, like a ‘Born in the USA’ or ‘The One I Love’. I’m not sure if it worked in the end but it felt monumental in the studio, especially once we hit the bridge.

‘Hours’

A couple of years back it seemed like I was attending a funeral every month. Cue obligatory depressing ballad.

‘Dreaming’

This was the first number I’d written specifically for solo acoustic live performance. Tim and Jon added some really nice parts here. Who’d have thought it was actually about a bird’s nest that fell down between the walls of my Launceston home one spring and the incessant chirping and disrupted sleep until their slow demise.

‘Man For All Seasons’

Written just before the final recording session. I got carried away on the demo and decided to try play some proper second guitar over the usual rhythm in a Dave Davies or Graham Coxon style. Hidden amongst all the obvious Ray Davies lyrical references, there may also be some subconscious attempt at a poor man’s Hourly, Daily-era B-side with all those delightful seventh chords and awkward ‘bups’.

‘Live That Way’

Some fairly straight-up garage rock with themes of mild political discontent. An older number from a period when I liked to write using only major chords because I felt if I used anything else it could be deemed a bit ‘smarty pants’. There’s a real tangible directness with major chords. I also quite like how this arrangement went straight into the bridge after the first chorus instead of flowing into the traditional next verse. I suspect I may have done this to contradict myself with the not wanting to seem too ‘smarty pants’ originally.

‘Instructions’

Nothing is new under the sun, yet some people keep doing the same dumb things and wonder why they have the same dumb problems. My first attempt at composing a bass line, played here by Jon.

‘Don’t Tell Me You’re Lonely’

An experiment in writing a song in Drop D tuning but trying to make it not sound like a common, dumb, ’90s, Drop D tuning song. Lyrically it was inspired by a bandmate’s dilemmas coming out of a relationship. I turned up to rehearsals at his house late one Sunday morning and his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend had gotten drunk, driven to his house and smashed his front door and bedroom window. Lots of weird, passive-aggressive and half-apologetic “Let’s get back together”-type text messages from her ensued.

‘Always Tomorrow’

One of my favourite rock documentaries as a teenager was Hype!, about Seattle and the grunge phenomenon. I must’ve watched that VHS tape a gazillion times. From here I discovered a band called The Fastbacks. Kurt Bloch is a total guitar wizard. Kim [Warnick] and Lulu [Gargiulo] are undeniably great too and they are all super nice people. I’d been wanting to cover a song called ‘Always Tomorrow’ from their 1990 album Very, Very Powerful Motor for several years now. I thought this would be a perfect showcase for Rusty, and I could reel off some face-melting guitar licks of my own.

Jon got me in touch with The Fastbacks and they sent me the chords so I could play it right. It was a much tougher song than it first appeared. Rusty said he hadn’t played punk rock drums that fast since 1986. Steven said he had a blast. I think sonically it comes across as exciting as it felt in that tiny little room in Marrickville on that 48° C day.

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‘Moderate Aspects’ is out now independently on CD and digital. Youngtown’s split 7” with The Lucky Dips is out now through Tommy Gun Records.