Crash-Course, No. 1: The Only Youth Group I'd Ever Join

No one really knows where they're gonna end up....

The anatomy of their career makes Australia’s Youth Group a snug fit just for this site’s One Hit No More feature (see the sidebar). They plugged away as an indie-rock recording and performing outfit for eight years before a series of lucky(?) steps drew opportunity to its door. Opportunity came in the form of recording a cover of Alphaville’s “Forever Young” for the American teen-‘n’-life drama, The O.C. (aka, Commissioner Jim Gordon’s first gig). The contrast between Alphaville’s original video and what Youth Group’s label, Ivy League Records, chose to show over Youth Group’s version seems instructive; Youth Group never stopped being that recording and performing indie rock outfit, a moment captured by an article in The Age back in 2006. All the same:

“It has been a bit frustrating recently. A lot of people know us for that song but, while it is a good indication of our sound, I don’t think it’s a good indication of our background.”

That’s Youth Group’s frontman Toby Martin, who, along with Danny Lee Allen, acts as the band’s anchor. The song made Youth Group famous – and the album it appeared on, Casino Twilight Dogs, went platinum in Australia –but it didn’t make them a different band. That article from The Age reveals hints of anxiety, not just about the band blowing up, but about how the public will like the rest of their music and about learning how to play for bigger crowds. I stumbled onto a link of Youth Group performing "Forever Young" on an Australian (probably) morning news show, and…that is what they had to level up to the main stage (I love the aplomb with which the anchor name-drops Alphaville; but also, the audio on that performance is way better than Ivy League’s official video).

Youth Group took a winding path to becoming the go-to opening act for major artists touring Australia (e.g., Coldplay and Kings of Leon). They played their first shows in the suburbs of Sydney with an original line-up of Martin on guitars and vocals, Allen on drums, Andy Cassell on bass, and Paul Murphy on lead guitar. Cassell left the band in 2003 to devote more time to launching Ivy League Records (a decision Martin described as generous), and was replaced by Patrick Matthews, who needed an life raft to escape the turmoil of his first band, The Vines (want to hear that story). Cameron Emerson-Elliott replaced Murphy and rounded out the line-up for Youth Group’s glory day or two.

That connection to The Vines took them to the States a couple times – including SXSW 2003 – but no one took enough notice to matter until fate lead Brett Gurewitz, of Bad Religion and Epitaph Records fame, to play the band’s second album, Skeleton Jar. (Their first, Urban & Eastern, came out in 2001 and wandered very quietly around Australia for a while.) In spite of coming from a different place musically, Gurewitz loved the album ("head over heels" was used repeatedly) and that started them on their way to recording “Forever Young” for The O.C. That single gave a big lift to Casino Twilight Dogs when it got released in the States – a big enough one for my local library to stock it, which is how I came to own the album.

That brings up the question of what it, and Youth Group sound like. Martin gives a good start in the quote above, and a review of Casino Twilight Dogs posted on Allmusic finishes the thought nicely by crediting the band for “creating an album that shimmers and shines, sparkles and glows.” It’s a guitar-driven sound certainly, and its built around rhythm guitar played on the treble end of the scale. It’s indie-rock that, warm and bright as it sounds, flirts with being radio-friendly. Looking back from 2017, Martin, who still keeps busy as a solo artist, talked (very candidly) about his songwriting approach in an interview with The Brag:

“On [second album] Skeleton Jar I was into guitars and particularly exploring alternate tunings. Then on [third album] Casino Twilight Dogs I was more into standard tunings. I’m not a very good guitarist and I find I get a bit limited just playing the same stuff over again.”

Spotify gives access to just those two albums – plus an EP called, Someone Else’s Dream – so that’s all I had to explore. I didn’t go to Casino Twilight Dogs that often when I had to select things out of my own catalog for the same reason I don’t type their name into Spotify’s search bar: they’re a band to like for me, not one to love. I have a couple stand-outs – “Catching & Killing,” “Daisychains,” and “Dead Zoo” from Casino Twilight Dogs, and “Lillian Lies” and “Baby Body” from Skeleton Jar – that made it to the “mixed CDs” I used to make for life-‘n’-road-trips – but “Catching & Killing” is the only one that’s ever excited me, something I put down to that song having a little more “oomph.”

That’s a question of preference, as opposed to merit or artistry, and the members of Youth Group have enough of a following that they continue to play, if separately. Allen relocated to the U.S., and now plays in a Brooklyn-based outfit called The Drums (playing in Portland, OR, August 6, 2019, and author’s of the fun, “Body Chemistry”). Though he now lives in Huddersfield, England and teaches, Martin returned to Australia for a project that sent him to write songs in public spaces in a suburb called Bankstown, one of Sydney’s more diverse neighborhoods, apparently. A record called Songs from Northam Avenue, which has Martin performing with a variety of locals, came out of that project. That dropped in 2017 and, due to the relative obscurity of Youth Group and because their name returns links to actual youth groups when you search their name on the Web, that’s the easiest stuff to find.

Martin addresses the possibility of the band getting back together and recording a fifth album in a couple of those interviews – and he mentioned plans to get together with Allen at the end of 2017. While nothing has come of that yet, I know I’ll give anything that ultimately does come out a listen. I never heard Youth Group’s fourth album, but the way talked about the choices they made while making it in an interview with a blog called Bobbysix in 2008, plus the song it teases (“Two Sides”; hints at a different direction), tells me it’ll be good and, just as importantly, it’ll come from a good place. Something they said in that same interview underscores that point. Reflecting on a “reformation gig” Youth Group took part on that same year, Martin nicely underscores what kind of a band they are:

“That is the ultimate goal: to make a record that still sounds good in 30 years time rather than being at number ten or number 15 in the charts this week.”

The Youth Group will probably go down as a one-hit wonder, but through no fault of its own.