We last caught up with 20-year-old Northener Yungblud aka Dominic Harrison last year, when the genre-blender was on our shores for the first time ever to play one exclusive intimate show. In between Aussie drinks, the socially tuned-in songwriter released both his self-titled EP and album, ’21st Century Liability’, and their reception has been as explosive as his electrified live shows.
In the middle of a massive 37-date tour, spanning Europe, the UK, North America and Australia, Dominic took time out during his stop Down Under to fill us in on his favourite tracks.
The Clash — “London Calling”
“That was a song that I discovered, and it was the first time I saw that politics could be involved in a song that made me wanna jump about and and go out and party with my friends. It just excited me; I just think that’s what Joe Strummer was talking about it in it. It just gave me a fire in my belly that made me walk a bit taller, and made me feel like I could express my opinion in music.”
Arctic Monkeys — “A Certain Romance”
“Alex Turner was such a big influence in my life, because he almost got in my head and knew what I was thinking and did never even met me. And that just blew my mind — especially that song, that was literally a representation of where I grew up. I mean, it was in Northern England when I was kind of 13 — down apart with my best mate Adam Whitaker smoking cigarettes in a green Adidas hoodie. Alex Turner provided such an empowerment to young people and spoke about real things, real shit that went on in life. It wasn’t sugar coated, it was gritty and I felt I was sick.”
Eminem — “My Name Is”
“I discovered Eminem myself and I discovered hip hop music myself. My family put rock ‘n’ roll music on to me. But, when you discover something yourself, you take ownership of it. And Eminem lyrics, man — it was the lyrics that just got me. I was always misunderstood as a kid cause I had a lot of energy and I was very opinionated, and he made me feel like that I could be myself and express my opinions to anybody, no matter what. And I started listening to him when I was 13 or 14 — when you are figuring out that your parents are not always right and some of the stuff they say is just frankly insane. And when I heard, like “Ninety-nine percent of my lifeI was lied to. I just found out my mom does more dope than I do”, that just blew my brain to smithereens. And I was like, “Oh my god, he`s like me.””
Kanye West — ‘Ultralight Beam’
“I know sometimes Kanye can be a total dick, and some of the stuff he says is totally what I disagree with, but the music he writes… that song was, just on a production level, incredible. It excites me because it was the first time I heard 15 different genres thrown into a song, and it made me feel like, “Oh my god. If he can do that, I can do that.”
Lorde — “Perfect Places”
“Finally, Lorde. I fucking love Lorde. I think she is brilliant. She is an artist that is fundamentally herself and she’s doing something that’s totally in her own lane, and that is so exciting for me. The song I love is “Perfect Places”. I think it represents the confusion growing up, you know I mean — all of the things we are taking cause we are young and we’re ashamed take us to perfect places. “What the fuck are perfect places, anyway?” It’s such an incredible lyric and it really stuck out for me. I really love what she is about. I would love to meet her.”
YUNGBLUD | AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Friday 20th July — Spinoff Festival — Adelaide, SA
Saturday 21st July – Howler – Melbourne, VIC
Sunday 22nd July – Splendour in the Grass – Byron Bay Parklands, NSW
Wednesday 25th July — Oxford Art Factory — Sydney, NSW
Listen to ’21st Century Liability’ here:
And watch the new video for “Psychotic Kids” here:
Photo by Yaya Stempler.