SWEET RELEASE: Young Tremors

Published Feb 25 2010, 07:19 PM by Michael Brodeur

Freshly out is Very Nice, Very Nice, the spiffy debut EP by Boston's own Young Tremors. This Saturday, they'll be cracking this baby open like a tallboy of 'Gansett with a Very Nice, Very Nice release show at Precinct in Somerville along with the Dirty Truckers, Watts, Memphis 59 (actually from Viriginia) and Tad Overbaugh & the Late Arrivals. The Tremors have sort of a Replacements-working-out-the-Kinks thing going on--which is to say they enjoy rock music with raspy yet chummy vocals and surly guitars that incite pelvic business. But there's a dose of soul tucked in there too. If Motown was a gas station, this would be on the radio in the garage. Can I have my coffee now?

Hi there, Dave Kichen of the Young Tremors. I'm going to start this out by getting you in trouble. What is the worst Kinks song and why/how could you say something like that?

Great question, I'm a big fan of Worst Ofs. Let's grab something from latter-day Kinks. I'm going to say "Add It Up" from Give the People What They Want. The fact that it's just a killer record from front to back makes "Add it Up" even more of a glaring mis-step. On that record you have "Around the Dial," Give the People What They Want," "Destroyer," "Art Lover" and "Better Things"...and in the middle you have a song that starts out sounding like "White Wedding" and descends into those goofy vocals and pseudo-reggae beats. I never understood what that song was trying to be, and I suspect Davies never did either.

When people try to list which bands the Young Tremors sound like, which ones do they reliably forget to mention?

That's tough. Most bands confuse "sounds like" with "influenced by." That's why you'll read an autobio of a band that says they "sounds like Howlin' Wolf, with a female singer." What the hell does that even mean? It means they love the Wolf, not that they sound like him. So anyway, while we're influenced by a ton of great bands who sound nothing like us, a couple that we never hear but I always expect are Rocket From the Crypt and the Stones. I'm not saying I think we really do sound like either of those two (everyone compares themselves to the Stones), but both those bands were so grounded in rock & soul that I always think people who see us will mention them. Rock & soul is what we do and I feel like we don't hear enough of that these days, at least from anyone alive. And no, I don't consider Mick Jagger still alive.

What was the premise of the dumbest fight you guys have ever gotten into during practice?

Ascots. For 'em vs. agin 'em. That dumb enough for you?

Is there a member of your band who is an aesthetically aberrant force? A wild stallion that requires taming?

Alski, definitely. This is a guy who owns multiple silk scarves, purple shoes, and just a couple weeks ago had a hat consultation. I'm not making that up. But like a wild styllion (you read that right), you don't want to get in his way, lest you wanna be trampled.

Educate my shiz: You were a Hyphen, yes? What would you say is the biggest difference between the Hyphens and yon Tremors?
First the music. The Hyphens were much more straight-ahead rock. It was more of a roots rock meets punk rock thing. Young Tremors fall somewhere between Motown and Motor City. A lot more of a soulful side that the Hyphens just didn't have. And that leads to second difference, which is the live show. While the Hyphens simply played shows, Young Tremors PUT ON a show. Our goal is to entertain and get people dancing. And we certainly don't waste time trying to please other musicians.

Someone attending your release show unwittingly, say, at the behest of a friend from work, will enter Precinct and experience: what?
Fun. Loud, bouncy, sweaty, head-bopping fun. Music that makes them say, "Wow, I could hear this around here, for some reason I wanna dance." With some help from Tad Overbaugh, Memphis 59, Watts and the Dirty Truckers, we'll be providing the soundtrack to one helluva night. Oh and cheap beer, cheap CDs, swag, food...yeah, all that, too.