• Congrats man for your new album. Tell me more about the beginning of your musical journey.
Thanks I appreciate that! I started back when I was 11 and bought my first bass guitar. Then I joined the jazz band in high school. After high school I eventually started teaching myself how to drum and play guitar. Eventually I got into recording myself and learned how to work with a DAW. Jazz was never something I wanted to create as I grew up listening to my dad’s classic rock vinyl and my sisters 90’s rock CD’s.
• WOW! Three released albums already, but most of the artists give enough time between each record for publicity and touring. What’s your commentary about this?
Realistically, I would prefer to do that cycle of being able to write, record, and tour but covid really changed all that. Before the pandemic I played in multiple bands based in Vancouver, but then when that all hit we had to cancel everything and keep away from each other. I was lucky to have a friend who had a tiny studio I could record in so thats when I really dug into doing solo work. I put my head down and really honed my songwriting and recording. I’ve always looked up to prolific artists such as Jay Reatard and Ty Segall, so thats what I strive to do. I hate being idle!
• So far you have had a great collaboration with RAG and Eric J. Breitenbach. Was it planned when you started songwriting?
Yes and no, with RAG it was planned. I met Mila Krajina who was playing in another band, but we really got along and immediately started jamming and writing material. Eric is the friend who had the studio so I started doing solo stuff, but when that wrapped up we sere still in the thick of quarantine here in Vancouver. Subsequently we started doing lots of noise recordings which were all sort of a spur of the moment, improvised kind of thing. As far as the writing for my solo work goes, I was always doing that in the background while playing with other bands.
• As far as I know, you already have a record label, was it before starting your own music project?
No, the Ripsesh Records label was purely a reaction to the pandemic. I noticed a lot of bands having no way of promoting themselves or getting any exposure now that they can’t play shows. Most of us don’t have much money or massive amounts of followers on social media so labels won’t help anyone and grant money is very difficult to obtain without paying for grant writers. I just wanted to help promote and offer some hope during this era of Vancouver rock. It’s honestly looking very bleak and I wanted to help as much as I could at encouraging people to keep playing. I’ve been also able to collect peoples used instruments and donate them to various youth groups.
• Raw psychedelic rock style isn’t the choice for young artists these days, they prefer something more kinda trendy like pop-rock or so. Or you don’t see the picture this way?
I agree there definitely is a lot of competition these days when it comes to getting younger fans into this style of music. However I do find that energy and raw emotion still relate no matter what. Put on a ripping show or well written and honest album and real music fans will vibe with you. I don’t think rock will ever become that irrelevant to younger audiences because of how accessible it is. It’s much easier to get into and understand then jazz or classical. Rock isn’t mainstream anymore but I think thats for the best. Underground rock has always been better than anything mainstream media forced on us. Bands like Oh Sees and King Gizzard still kill it so I’m optimistic!
• Other than your record label website, Spotify and Bandcamp. I was stringing to find social accounts. Are you planning to expand your social existence soon?
I do most of my interacting and online existing on my instagram page @ripseeeeeeesh make sure to follow as I like to do giveaways!
• Music videos are an important tool for promotion, still, I didn’t find any, are you planning to film one soon?
Absolutely! in fact I just released one that was animated by Alex Theodoropulos who has done videos for bands like Oh Sees.
• Finally, I’d like to thank you for your time, but I was wondering if the COVID effect still threatens our live music scene. What promotional plans do you have for the rest of 2021?
Absolutely, It’s been devastating and still is. We are able to do outdoor shows here for now but when winter sets in who knows what will happen. Unfortunately underground music is not something government offices really care about so we are not really a priority to them. Hopefully we can get it going again sooner rather than later but until then it’s important to stay creative and keep connected especially with journalists and media such as yourself!
Follow Nigel Young on Instagram, YouTube, Deezer, Apple Music, Spotify, and Bandcamp.
