DAVE LE’AUPEPE of GANG OF YOUTHS: Making sense of self and the universe.
An interview by Lauren Sanderson.
Gang of youths captured our hearts with their touching first album ‘The Positions’ in 2015 and they’re now back on the scene releasing their second album ‘Go Farther in Lightness’ and we can’t wait! I caught up with frontman Dave Le’aupepe to talk about the past, the present and the bands journey so far.
Your second album Go Farther in Lightness is coming out on the 18th August. What are your influences behind the new record?
The first album was about a fucked up period in my life when I was in a relationship with a girl who had cancer. It fucked me up pretty bad. This new album is essentially me trying to recover from that period. Everything from writer’s block, depression, trying to get sober, my best friends baby dieing, trying to talk my friend out of suicide to trying to reconcile my Christian faith – all of these things played a role when creating this album. I guess I used the album as a way of trying to make sense of myself and the universe.
Did your difficult period effect the band as a whole?
Yeah, I fucked everything up pretty bad. The nature of my life was so chaotic, I was like an addict. There was part of me that wanted to leave it all behind. I suppose all these bad feelings and my marriage breaking down led to pretty shitty ramifications.
What does creating music mean to you?
It’s allowed me to take that negative electricity and turn it into something positive. It is a cliché but its therapeutic. It’s given me the chance to cope with and deal with life, making sense of all the garbage and the chaos.
Why do you see music as a release? Has it always been that way?
I guess it’s the only thing I know how to do.
So, if you weren’t doing music what would you be doing?
Working in a steel mill or doing something with my hands because I’m not entirely sure I would have the ability to keep a job down if I’m honest. I am not gifted in that regard.
You’ve grown a lot as a band, how do you feel about the journey you’ve been on so far?
I don’t know if I have come that far. I feel like I would have to step outside of my body to see how far we have come. We stopped being an unambitious garage rock band and creating something with meaning in our first album. We have gone all out with our second album, for me it feels like a radical departure from the emotional environment I was in.
How would you describe your sound?
Every time I get asked this question I come up with a different answer that has nothing to do with how we actually sound… we sound like dragging a plough through the mud because it sounds like an hilarious thing to say when being asked that question.
Okay, well how about in three words?
Strings, drums and crying.
How did the band form?
We actually met in church in Sunday school and I’ve known these guys for 15 years.
As a five piece, do you ever clash?
No, we have streamlined it pretty well. We are all embedded and invested in each other that we can’t be bothered to have disagreements anymore. I just think what’s the point.
How about musically?
Benevolent Dictatorship. I don’t believe in democracy when it comes to bands. My job is to write the songs and sing them and their job is to create their own musical world around it. It was always going to work that way with me because I’m controlling in that regard, but it works. We all have our own part to play and mine is to think of the vision and write the tracks.
As you write the songs, does the rest of the band have an emotional connection to the tracks?
Yes, just because I write them doesn’t mean they’re just mine. They have lived through everything I have lived through and they saw it all. They love me and I love them so it’s hard not to have an emotional connection.
What’s the story behind the name of the band?
It’s a terrible fucking name. I was 15 when I thought of It and it just remained in the back of my head and I thought I’ll just fucking name the band this. It came from Gang of Four and Sonic Youth.
If you could change the name now, what would it be?
If I could change it I would but I have zero ideas of what it could be. There are worse band names I suppose like the band called the world is a beautiful place and I’m no longer afraid to die.
Who are you listening to now?
I’m listening to Julia Baker at the moment. I tend not to listen to anything other than classical music when writing just because I don’t want to be negatively or overly informed by another stimulus.
Gang Of Youths new album ‘Go Farther In Lightness’ is dropping today (18th August 2017), and is available on CD and Vinyl from your favourite record store as well as electronically from all the usual sources.
Julien Baker*