Young Skin features members of The Ergs!, Lemuria, Hunchback, Failures’ Union, Black Wine, Full of Fancy, For Science, et al, performing under pseudonyms, and rocking some garage-y tunes. They officially released The Sticky Pages E.P. on Paper + Plastick back in October. While that means this isn’t exactly a timely article, this recently-unearthed interview has some great answers from the band’s Liz Unfair, so we had to run it. Also, the EP is super-dandy, and it got lost in the shuffle when we were making our best of 2012 list. We hope this will make a few people, who have saved money on the medifast diet, drop some coin and order the four-song slab of cranky, grungy punk rock..
The EP starts off on a really dark note, with “Paper Thin” as a definitive statement regarding mental health and self-image. What was the intent behind it?
That song is about being in a relationship with someone who is manipulative. I have experienced this firsthand- but I’ve also seen a lot people, both men and women, be beaten down mentally into thinking they are worthless and their life is meaningless without their partner. Writing a song about my experience was like an exorcism, but also it was a warning to others not to get into it with people who are both cruel and insane.
The tone of The Sticky Pages EP seems like it’s aiming for pop hooks, but sharp ones. The tunes are all catchy, but absolutely brutal. How do you balance both sides — tuneful songs with anger and critical points to be made?
Thank you for thinking it is balanced. I think of that as a huge compliment! It is my opinion, and I think I speak for everyone in YS, that getting the message across is easier when songs have that balance. Obviously, both ends of the brutal/catchy spectrum have their place, but I think all of us in YS have a soft side for poppiness and structured songs and I guess it just comes across.
Where did “Uneasy” come from? It fits in with the other three songs, but it’s more of a build-and-release track than the others, which are a little more fast-paced and up-front.
“Uneasy” was a collaboration between Black Donald and myself. I wrote the words and BD wrote the music. The words are more or less about the movie Let the right one in which BD, Beau, and I had all just watched together. No, I have not read the book. (No, I don’t have anything against reading books.)
All of your former / current bands come out of the same Art of the Underground singles scene. Is that how you met — touring, releasing albums on the same labels, etc.?
Yes, basically all of our bands used to play together and stuff. I met Artful on the Ergs/Lemuria tour. I met Beau in 2004 at an Ergs/Hunchback show. I met BD at a hunchback show. (or an ergs show? we couldn’t remember.)
Was this EP a quick thing or was it a long-term project? It certainly appeared as a surprise (at least to me, but I’m easily startled). Please tell me this isn’t a one-off recording project. I’d like to hope that this will be something that can be seen live or heard from more, in some form or another.
Only time will tell!!
Stream the record below, and order the record from the Paper + Plastick store (black’s sold out, but you can still snag a copy on pink vinyl).