On The Grind After 'Forever Young'

The mid-2000s became a bit of a blur for Youth Group. The Sydney band put out their very excellent second album, Skeleton Jar, which handily got released in America on the usually lots-more-punk Epitaph label. Thus, as singer-guitarist Toby Martin explains it, in a year they went from “…The North Nowra Tavern — where we wired our vocals through the PA used for announcing the bistro meals — to playing at the Reading Festival.” Then there’s the bit where their cover of a wistful ‘80s tune titled Forever Young got played on the telly, achieved platinum sales and had them supporting Coldplay. 

And then the grind kicked in. As Martin recalls, “We just got tired. No big break-up, no scandal — we retired totally without fanfare. Our last show was just somewhere in Brooklyn. Sort of ‘Shake hands, walk off in opposite directions.’ [Drummer] Danny [Lee Allen] stayed in America, the rest of us came home. And that was it.”

"Our last show was just somewhere in Brooklyn. Sort of ‘Shake hands, walk off in opposite directions.’"

Unlike many, Youth Group stayed on good terms: “Yeah, even in the time off we played in each other’s bands — Cameron [Emerson-Elliott] played on my solo record, Patrick [Matthews] played in Cameron’s band. If we’d all been in the same city it might not have taken so long. But one year became three, and just on five before Danny came back. We were hanging out over summer, and just started talking about doing a show.”

The tenth anniversary of Skeleton Jar became the occasion, and the gig a reunion event. “It went better than we ever imagined. Not just because the show sold out, but the atmosphere — people came along to really listen to the songs.” 

So for this go-round, Youth Group broaden the approach. A short run of east coast shows, and Skeleton Jar released on record. “It came out before vinyl made its big comeback. Oddly our last album is. It managed to catch the start of the vinyl wave. So, we thought we better have this one for the archives too.”

And what of Forever Young — that song that everyone knows? “We have been a little perverse about it. There were times that we wouldn’t play it, just because it became so expected.” 

So is it a fond memory, a millstone, just a song? “Umm, it’s all of those things really — and yeah, sometimes it can be a drag. For some it is the only song of ours they know — and maybe I find that disappointing. But then I’ll think about it like a phenomenon — somehow outside the band.” 

There might even be some more Youth Group to come: “Umm, probably. Playing Skeleton Jar is the nostalgia — but we’ve begun to think we might have another record in us. Yeah, maybe we’re an ongoing concern.”