There are times where you might find yourself scrolling through your music library, feeling like you’ve already heard all of the combinations of sounds possible. Although there is already a great expanse of music out there, sometimes you need something that sounds like nothing you have ever heard before. It’s time to let your ears try something new. It’s time to try Youch!
A Peek at Youch!
A group that has sparked infinite debate about which genre they fit into, local Utah band Youch! has touched the hearts and minds of Salt Lake City’s youth as they perform across the valley. In attendance at their shows is a wide array of people, but the one thing that they all have in common is not knowing the appropriate way to dance to Youch!’s music. The group themselves describe the perceived chaos that is their music as a trip to the dentist’s office. Youch!’s drummer Andy Diamond said, “You know getting your tooth removed? Similar to that but for your ears. Except if it felt really good.”
The band have all known each other for about 10 years now, meeting in a high school music program. However, Youch!’s formation was much more coincidental. Guitarist Marshall Lee and Diamond were previously in a band together that ended up falling apart. Afterwards, Kilby Court reached out to the group, asking them to play a show. Instead of the expected full band, the venue got two musicians playing only guitar and drums, who aptly named their new duo “Trojan Horse.” Fortunately for the future of Youch!, bassist Avery McGee was at the first Trojan Horse show and joined the band as soon as they got off stage. “We wanted him to play bass with us, but he’s just so good that I didn’t want to ask, but then he super liked us,” Diamond said.
The Thought that Counts or Thoughtful Counting?
Although keeping their unique sound in its own particular ecosystem is an important part of the group’s philosophy as artists, their rarity does not come from improvisation or gilded mistakes. Instead, the band’s songs are meticulously crafted, rehearsed and tweaked until it is deemed ready for the public ear. Commitment to their art is exemplified by their schedule of rehearsals, which is on average multiple hours every day. “Most of our rehearsal is just us repeating the songs so even when we’re sneezing or something we can just come right back in,” Diamond said.
Youch!’s music involves a lot of uncommon time signatures and polyrhythms that require an extensive knowledge of music theory to successfully pull off live. While it might seem impossible for the band to navigate the forms of their music without consciously counting or even reading sheet music, McGee said, “If I have to count, then I can’t play it. I gotta just learn to feel it.”
But it’s not a perfect art, at least not right away. “Well, at first they are all counted out, every measure is like that,” Lee said. “After that, you’ve learned to feel it and it’s not a matter of counting the song anymore. We fuck it up a lot in rehearsal before we actually start getting it right.”
Youch!’s song writing has a similar informal vibe to its process, inspiring collaboration as well as a non-committal surrender to the song itself. “I’ll just come up with rhythm patterns that I think could sound cool together and then I’ll present them one at a time,” said Diamond, who was nominated by the rest of the band to do most of the writing. “We’ll just figure out ways to go from one to the next. And then what we’ll do is sometimes, one won’t work out and we’ll just cut it. Or, we want one to repeat in between and we’ll just figure it out from there.”
Recording and Instruments and Stuff
With plans to release their first EP on CD, the band’s recording process has had to become more refined. However, they still strive for a result that feels casual and representative of the band’s live sound. “Rather than doing tracks, we did a live performance for the specific one,” Diamond said. “We want to just have the core — drums, guitar, bass — be live. And then add layers like vocals or synths or ambiance afterwards.”
There is a serene simplicity to Youch!’s music that is hard to miss when seeing them play live, but is definitely hidden behind their complex sound. Lee’s set up is strikingly just an amp and guitar, a rare find in a music scene that often exalts complicated pedal boards. “I just modified a fender amp to be my head, and use the distortion channel with a built-in spring reverb, and that’s all I need for now,” he said. “It’s not another layer that I’m adding to it. It’s just whatever I’m doing to the guitar is coming out.”
Arguably, simplicity is just a lack of skill without the experience and years of practice that the individual band members claim for themselves. McGee has been playing bass for over 13 years now, and it shows in his performance. “I have a six string Music Man Bongo, I just thought it was cool but I got it as a graduation present,” he said. “I guess it makes a little bit more sense if you went to music school.”
The band’s philosophy towards music elevates their creative and technical genius to the point where it seems like they can make anything sound good — which might be because they are not trying to make anything. “I don’t know, to be honest? We kind of pride ourselves in that. It’s just sort of Youch!,” Diamond said. “You know what I mean? Like, we try to keep it as weird as possible — not like try to — but just kind of make music that doesn’t really sound like anything specifically, I guess. Except for getting your tooth pulled.”
Youch! has an upcoming show with Love Letter and Tampa Chess Club at the GL indoor soccer field March 6. You can follow updates on future shows by following their Instagram page here.