Originally teenage friends from Limerick in Ireland, the trio moved to London a few years ago to pursue their dreams of living life like The Velvet Underground. Now under the watchful guidance of Florence and The Machine’s former manager, with a string of striking and instant indie-pop belters under their name and a live show that’s as short and sharp as it is acutely addictive, whenyoung are ready to grow up.
“The Others” is the second single from whenyoung’s debut album ‘Reasons To Dream’, out Friday 24th May. The Others was written after the Grenfell Tower fire in London. At this time Aoife was working for a gardening company that served clients in this area, some of whom were influential politicians. The juxtaposition between the safe homes of these politicians and the burning towerblock streets away were startling and upsetting. Living in safety should not be a luxury.
The three members of Whenyoung (Aoife Power, Niall Burns and Andrew Flood) aren’t trying to fit in. They’ve never fitted in. With each other, however, their individual lifelong quests for acceptance are met. They found each other in a pub in their teens; the only pub where they belonged. They’ve flocked together since.
The confidence possessed by the band may sound easy but it’s a result of a lifetime of toil and dedication. The threesome aren’t new to this and don’t shy away from the time they’ve spent studying their craft. Whenyoung is a band born from the ashes of a previous iteration – Sisters. With the fresh start of this new name however, the stars seem to be aligning.
Wind back to the mid-2000s and Limerick, Ireland. There were three displaced teenagers yet to find their tribe. Costello’s Tavern was their oasis, their gateway; a pub with a jukebox that brought them together when they were too young to drink legally.Crucially the music they were playing on said jukebox was what Power was listening to: The Strokes, The Pixies, bands. Upon discovering Costello’s she met Burns and Flood soon after.
Power grew up playing music. Her father performed traditional Irish songs, she learned classical violin, moved onto guitar, and soon stopped aping Joni Mitchell. Burns was the black sheep, crushing his parents’ dreams of being a sporting hero after discovering The Strokes and picking up a six string. Flood was plodded in front of a piano as a kid but didn’t take to it. At 14, he got into drums after saving up for a kit. With everyone around him being fanatical about rap, he whiled away hours rummaging in HMV, and pouring over the NME.
After finishing college, the three would-be band mates decided that they needed to move somewhere bigger in order to grow themselves both personally and artistically. Following a stint in Dublin for Burns, the three of them all eventually found themselves in London and the formation of Sister came shortly after.
While the early shows may have been scrappy, grungy and lo-fi the core of the songs were there. Even though Sister started to gain a following in the local scene, the three band members felt they needed change to get to the next level. That change manifested in them adopting the name Whenyoung.
During the summer of 2018 the band settled in an East London studio with producer Alan O’Connell [The Big Pink, Klaxons] to record their debut ‘Reason’s to Dream’. Following their 2018 EP, they mined the ideas they’ve written over three years. It wasn’t easy, but none of the great debuts are.
The title is more about finding reasons to keep going in your life, for acceptance and happiness. Indeed in ‘Something Sweet’ the album ends on a note of warmth and love. It’s what they’ve found in each other, and in that connection they hope others will multiply. If Whenyoung can create a space for other misfits to find their soulmates, that’s more than they can dream for.
Aoife Power, the live-wire singer and bassist for Whenyoung, presides over a spiky and buoyant pop-rock sound that’s won praise from The Pogues’ Shane McGowan, who personally invited the band to perform at his 60th birthday party. Pinning down a pithy description of Whenyoung’s music isn’t easy — a spikier Pale Waves? a zippier Cranberries? — but one thing’s for sure: Songs like “Pretty Pure” seem crafted from equal parts spit and sugar, and provide a kicky, jangly jolt right when you need one.
Whenyoung from Limerick release their second single and it’s another sugar coated golden pop nugget that sparkles with a slick production and a song that demands repeated plays. Pretty Pure sits between the powerhouse sound of The Pixies and the indie jangle of Sleeper. On the flip The Collector starts all skeletal and delicate before things pick up and it moves in the same circle as some of Big Moon’s more delicate moments. It shows a different side to Whenyoung’s canon. Both sides are worth the admission price alone.
Whenyoung are Aoife Power (Vocals/Bass), Niall Burns (Guitar) and Andrew Flood (Drums) who originate from Limerick in Ireland but are currently now based in London.
First meeting as teenagers, sneaking into the only indie bar of their city in Ireland, they bonded over cheap vodka and The Velvet Underground. Soon after, Niall moved to London, with Andrew and Aoife quickly following, and here they began writing songs together.
The trio flatter to flatter as they don’t seek to over-complicate anything, relying mostly on the raw power of their gritty guitars and the fact that Aoife Power’s voice is exactly the sort of leader’s tone you should be tuning into as you tune out the noise. With a chorus this memorable and a swagger so irresistible, this is a great tune to get that blood pumping and your head nodding as if you were a Churchill bobbing head doll sat in the back of your newly insured car.
Whenyoung – Actor (Audio) 7″ single coming soon on Hate Hate Hate Records.
Irish trio Whenyoung have announced their second single “Actor”, which was released on 25th November. Actor is the follow-up to debut single ‘See How They Run’ and is an immediate burst of melodic rock ‘n’ roll with a swarm of unruly jangly guitars, commanding drums and sweet yet punchy vocals. Despite an untainted youthful sound, lyrically the song has a profound meaning.
The band say;
“Actor is about contorting your character to fit into a disfigured view of the perfect self in order to belong. It’s about acting every day and projecting artificial images of yourself through social media and in real life interactions with others. This helps to reassure you that you are important, relevant, interesting and necessary but behind it all there’s a sinking feeling. It’s not you. It’s an act. It’s tiring.”
“These days we’re all doing it. It seems to be essential but there has to be another way, an honest existence.”
whenyoung are Aoife Power (Vocals/Bass), Niall Burns (Guitar) and Andrew Flood (Drums) who originate from Limerick in Ireland but are currently based in London.
First meeting as teenagers, sneaking into the only indie bar of their city in Ireland, they bonded over cheap vodka and The Velvet Underground. Soon after, Niall moved to London, with Andrew and Aoife quickly following, and here they began writing songs together.
The Fat Angel Sings 