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 REGGIE YOUNGBLOOD, front man for Florida’s BLACK KIDS, is enjoying some overdue rest after a dizzying 12 months. He catches up with YUMI SED to talk about their alleged overnight success and those persistent break-up rumours.
There has been no shortage of hype around Florida’s Black Kids since their appearance at the Athens Popfest 2007 in Georgia, USA. With the media always ready to label bands as being an overnight success, Reggie Youngblood talks about the long and hard 10-year journey that has led to his current musical incarnation garnering world-wide attention.
“Music was just a happy accident. I had it in my head that I wanted to be a musician when I was 16 or so but I didn’t know how to play an instrument. I fell in with some guys who were not cool at all but they taught me how to play guitar and became my best friends.” Those ‘best friends’ are Owen Holmes and Kevin Snow, bassist and drummer respectively for Black Kids. The newcomers to the band are dual keyboardists and singers Dawn Watley and Reggie’s sister, Ali Youngblood. Reggie discusses the changes his music has undergone over time.
“In our other bands, even though the music was pop, we were so desperate to be taken seriously. So we’d be on stage being ‘artists’. After doing it for ten 10 years we weren’t sure if anything was going to come from it so we just thought, ‘well we should just try to have fun’.”
Touted by Pitchfork and Spin as ‘the band to watch in 2008’, Black Kids’ meteoric rise hasn’t been without criticism. Their debut release, Partie Traumatic, was met with negative reviews by the same media spouting their genius only months before, and talk of the band splitting due to pressure has been littering blogs all over the web. I confront Reggie about the possibility of a split and he seems genuinely shocked. “No, that’s a definite lie. We’re too dumb to notice any pressures. We insist on sticking around until they drag us out kicking and screaming.”
Although Reggie was the sole songwriter for their debut release he admits he may need some help for their next release. “I’m always working and writing, but I had a long time to write those original songs. Now I feel I need a little help the second time around. Everyone is bringing their own flavour to the music. It’s becoming a real collaboration.”
With I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You on high rotation on Triple J, Black Kids look set to make quite a mark on the Australian festival circuit over summer. Reggie seems somewhat surprised their material is getting prominent airplay here.
“Really? That’s great. Boyfriend always goes down really well at festivals. It’s one of those songs that, if you’re a songwriter, you kind of hope for. I see the audience come to life when we play that. When we’re touring, out of a 24-hour day, the only part I enjoy is the hour on stage. Playing live is the fun part of this journey. ”
PARTIE TRAUMATIC is out now through Almost Gold/Universal. BLACK KIDS will be at the Big Day Out, Gold Coast Parklands, Sunday Jan 18. www.blackkidsmusic.com
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