WYWA: Youth Code, GEL, VOWWS, And More
I confess. I haven’t been keeping up with March Madness just like every year, but I have been keeping up with what’s going on in music. From insane new music from YUNGBLUD and Youth Code to GEL’s abrupt breakup. All this and more in this week’s edition of While You Were Away.
VOWWS share new single, announce tour with Jerry Cantrell
VOWWS have unleashed their new single “Hurt You.” The duo, composed of singer/keyboardist Rizz and singer/guitarist Matt James, say the song is “probably as close as we’ll get to an actual love song. But it’s more like a memory of love, like a rose-tinted longing.
“Memories that feel more powerful with time as they wear out, becoming warmer and more romantic. Sometimes they change and become their own entity, like an old, flickering movie of the past, rather than the past itself. That feeling is what the song represents to us.”
Listen to the song below.
Additionally, VOWWS announced they’ll join Jerry Cantrell on his European/UK tour in May. See those dates here.
GEL break up over ‘heinous acts’ committed by former guitarist
GEL have broken up. The hardcore band made the surprising announcement via social media saying they won’t be “playing any of our currently scheduled upcoming shows” due to former guitarist Anthony Webster committing “heinous acts in trying to forward himself in his musical career.”
They claim that Anthony stole“tens of thousands of dollars from us” and spent this money on an “unbelievable number of OnlyFans purchases and mysterious CashApp transactions, likely in the same lane.” They also allege that he “posted nude images of band members on Reddit for the world to see”, and put the band in “physically dangerous situations numerous times”, including “regularly driving erratically like a psychopath.”
They go on to say “Now, I’m sure a lot of people are thinking, well why didn’t you just stop dealing with it? Why didn’t you just leave? If you’ve ever been in abusive relationship, emotionally and / or physically, you’ll probably understand this better. It’s like that, but with your life’s work and passion at the forefront as well. It’s not so easy to just give something up that you care so much about, especially with pressures from outside organizations, people, etc that are all counting on you in some way. We wish that this could have all been easier, and we wish that it didn’t have to end this way – we’re fighters though, and we saw it through to the very end, until it simply couldn’t go on anymore. And we’re proud of that.
Read the full statement below.
Youth Code return with intense new single ‘No Consequence’
Youth Code have returned with their first new music in four years. “No Consequence” marks their first release with new label Sumerian Records and serves as a preview of their new EP, Yours, With Malice, out on May 16th.
Ryan George reveals the song followed a period of “deep introspection. We took time and began to workshop and demo vocals on some of the material we had. We never stop writing and are sitting on a mountain of tracks that we can rework and tweak. Not having deadlines surrounding us and in no hurry to get our material out there, all of a sudden the partnership with Sumerian arrived. That sort of ignited a fire and got us to where we are now.”
He continues “I think a lot of people’s stories during the pandemic were about self-reflection, but the ironic thing is we were already in a state of reemergence and re-imagination of self before the rest of the world was forced to do it,” George commented, adding that the group “never stop writing and are sitting on a mountain of tracks that we can rework and tweak.”
Listen to the blistering track below. Pre-order Yours, With Malice here.
YUNGBLUD unveils rock opera single ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’
YUNGBLUD is back with his rock opera single “Hell Heaven, Hello.” Clocking in at nine minutes, the singer reveals that he’s been “discouraged from releasing a nine-minute and six-second song as my first move back in a year because, in the modern world, it’s seen as a ‘risk’. I don’t see it that way at all – I see it as an opportunity. In my opinion, risk is an artist’s greatest tool – putting everything on the line in pursuit of the best evolution and art you can create. Without risk, there is no innovation.”
Speaking about the inspiration behind the single, he says “Rock music is in my DNA. It’s the first genre I was ever exposed to; I grew up in a guitar shop with my dad and my grandfather. Rock music helped me find an identity as a human being.
“Hello Heaven, Hello is a journey of self-reclamation – a goodbye to the past and how you may have known or perceived me before, and a ‘hello’ to the future and where I’m going. It’s an adventure that is sonically more ambitious than ever before – a journey that is meant to be played in its entirety, never holding back or allowing its imagination to be filtered.”
Watch the video below.
Tours on sale this week
The Warning have announced their “Keep Me Fed” U.S. tour, which starts May 10th in Concord, California. The trek will feature stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Nashville, Tampa, Atlanta, and Chicago before wrapping up in Minneapolis, Minnesota on July 23rd. Tickets are on sale now.
BABYMETAL will embark on a North American tour with Black Veil Brides, Jinjer, and Bloodywood as special guests on select dates. The tour kicks off June 13th in Houston, Texas, and runs through July 23rd in Phoenix, Arizona. See all the dates here.
The Black Keys have announced a summer leg of their “No Rain, No Flowers Tour.” The tour starts on August 9th in New Jersey and wraps up in Kansas City, Missouri on September 7th. Gary Clark Jr. and The Heavy Heavy will play select shows. Get all the details here.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs will reimagine their biggest hits for their “Hidden In Pieces Tour.” The trek will see the band perform their greatest hits and deep cuts with piano and string arrangements in a series of residency-style shows at intimate venues. The tour kicks off June 16th in Manchester, UK, and will make stops in Mexico City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Nashville. The trek ends with a two-night stint at New York’s Beacon Theatre on June 29th and 30th. Get all the details here.
