Music Feature
Yuck Interview
Tuesday 14 June 2011
It's the morning after Yuck have showcased their self-titled debut on 'Later with Jools Holland Live' when he calls, with the icebreaker being just how surreal it is to go from watching that show as a fan to playing in the actual studio.
"Oh, yeah, it was," he says. "When we actually were there I wish we had little microphones because it was really funny, I guess, thinking back about what we were saying. It was just so... I mean, we were never really in that situation. We all were saying, 'This is really strange; I don't know what to do'. Yeah, it was definitely quite bizarre, but exciting in a different way to normal."
Blumberg isn't trying to be awkward or too cool for school; he's just a genuinely shy guy who seems overawed at the promotional obligations that are now part of being in a group - he only ends up on the phone because the original interviewee, guitarist and childhood friend Max Bloom, couldn't be located. The 21-year-old needs to get used to the merry-go-round, however, because the songs he and Bloom have written for Yuck are too good to keep quiet, or go unnoticed.
One-time bandmates in Cajun Dance Party, Blumberg and Bloom formed Yuck a little over a year ago, getting Blumberg's sister Ilana to contribute vocals, finding Japanese bassist Mariko Doi and persuading American drummer Jonny Rogoff, who Blumberg met on a kibbutz, to join them in London. They recorded most of their debut album at home and its cover is a back-of-a-copybook-style drawing by Blumberg that looks like it was rattled off in 30 seconds. But behind that rough and ready attitude, Blumberg and Bloom show themselves to be two songwriters with a real ear for the uplifting and the wistful, and who can pull off indie floor-fillers like 'Get Away' and 'Georgia' and ballads like 'Suck' and 'Sunday' with equal aplomb. Blumberg says he's only been listening to music seriously for about five years and apart from the quality of the songwriting, the most refreshing thing about Yuck's debut is that they sound nothing like the artists he cites as inspirations.
"I think Neil Young was the first thing that really hit me in a different way to a lot of the things I listened to before - I was into pop punk a lot when I was younger and '(What's the Story) Morning Glory?' was a big record for our family. And then it went on from Neil Young to Smog, Lambchop, Bonnie Prince Billy. Smog's Bill Callahan is probably my favourite artist. Even this year's album ['Apocalypse'] has some of the finest songs I've ever heard."
Like his hero's, Blumberg's album will feature in plenty of end of year polls, and the longer you listen to it, the more you become excited about what he can achieve in the future - even if the man himself is currently taking things one day at a time.
"We're very serious about the music,"he says, "we take making music very seriously. It was a quick album - we don't like dwelling on things too much. It was a snapshot of where we were, the way we were recording and stuff. We've only just started. We've just made our first album and it's just impossible to really decide anything [about the future]. The only thing we're really going to do is make more records."
In the meantime, treat yourself to the charms of this one or catch Yuck live - just don't go with plans for a good yap after the show.
Harry Guerin
Yuck's debut album is out now on Fat Possum/Mercury.
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