Young Guns (band)

This article is about the British band. For American rap duo, see Young Gunz.
Young Guns

Young Guns in 2009.
Background information
Origin High Wycombe/London, England
Genres Alternative rock,[1][2] alternative metal,[2] hard rock[3]
Years active 2009–present
Labels Live Forever, Wind-Up, PIAS, Virgin EMI Records
Website weareyoungguns.com
Members Gustav Wood
Fraser Taylor
John Taylor
Simon Mitchell
Ben Jolliffe
Past members Joseph Winter
Tom Ford
Alex Greenhill
Pete Little

Young Guns are an English alternative rock band from Buckinghamshire and London. Their first EP, Mirrors, was released on 22 June 2009 and their first album, All Our Kings Are Dead, on 12 July 2010. Their second album, Bones, was released in February 2012. Their single "Bones" reached no. 1 on the Billboard Active Rock charts in the USA in May 2013. Their third album, Ones and Zeros, was released on June 9, 2015.

History

Mirrors EP and All Our Kings Are Dead (2009–2011)

On 2 February 2009, Young Guns released their first music video for their debut single "In the Night". The band released their EP Mirrors, which included songs such as "Weight of the World" and "Daughter of the Sea" on 22 June 2009, and started touring in July 2009, and opening for Lostprophets in August 2009.[4]

Young Guns released their first album, All Our Kings Are Dead, under their own label called Live Forever, on 12 July 2010 and it peaked at No. 43 in the UK Albums Chart,[5] and No. 3 in both the UK Rock and Indie album charts. The album included the singles, "Winter Kiss", "Sons of Apathy", "Crystal Clear", "Stitches" and "Weight of the World", all of which had music videos.

During the summer, the band played at some of the UK's largest festivals, including Download Festival and opening the main stage of Reading Festival.[6] This was preceded by a European Tour supporting Danko Jones and their own UK Tour [7] (supported by The Swellers and Japanese Voyeurs). Starting on the 15 February, Young Guns supported All Time Low with Yellowcard on another European Tour which ended in the UK, visiting venues such as The O2 Academy in Brixton.[8] On 10 July 2011, the album was re-released as All Our Kings Are Dead: Gold Edition, including a bonus DVD containing three acoustic sessions, three live videos, a documentary and the music videos for all five singles.

Bones (2012–2013)

The band started recording their new album at Karma Sound Studios in Thailand[9] with the producer Dan Weller, former guitarist of the metal band SikTh, around July 2011, and posted studio blogs in YouTube during recording. They released the first single from the album, "Learn My Lesson", on 13 October 2011. Its first broadcast play was on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show and it was made available for iTunes soon after.[10] The band soon appeared in some popular rock magazines like Rock Sound and Kerrang!.

On 9 November 2011, Young Guns announced the title of the second album, Bones, and that it would be released on 6 February 2012.[11] They also simultaneously announced that they would be visiting a small number of small venues around the UK before tour supporting Enter Shikari, starting in their home town.[12] This would be known as the Bare Bones Club Tour. It was announced the next day that the British band Polar would be the opening act for all of the UK dates of the tour.[13] In December 2011, they released a montage video of "Brothers In Arms", a song from the album, which was only available to people who pre-ordered the album. On 31 December 2011, it was posted on their official YouTube channel. They started shooting their second music video, "Bones", and the song had its first play on Daniel P Carter's Rock show on Radio 1 2 January 2012. The video was posted online on 12 January 2012 and the single was released on 20 February 2012.[14] The album was released on 6 February 2012 (4 February if pre-ordered from their website).[15] "Bones" was followed by "Dearly Departed" as the album's third single and was backed by the band's cover of "Fake Plastic Trees" (originally by Radiohead). "Towers (On My Way)" is the album's fourth single.

Bones was released in the US on 4 September 2012.[16] Young Guns spent a week in New York and played at the Apple Store in Soho, as well as holding a live Q&A session with fans via UStream.[17] MySpaceMusic streamed the album in its entirety in the week of release.[17] A music video was released for "You Are Not" on 22 October 2012. The title song "Bones" was chosen as one of the main theme songs for WWE's 29th annual Wrestlemania event, WrestleMania 29, on 7 April 2013. At the 20th annual Kerrang! Awards in June 2013, Young Guns received the relentless award.

During the first week of December 2013 the band, along with Asking Alexandria, opened for Bullet For My Valentine during the Rule Britannia UK tour which went to Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, London and Cardiff.

Ones and Zeros (2014–present)

It was announced on 6 February 2014 that the band had signed to the Virgin EMI record label and that they would be flying to San Francisco to work on the follow up to Bones with the producer Dan the Automator.[18] However, the band later reported that recording with Dan the Automator was not working out due to artistic differences. In the end, the album was recorded with Steve Osborne. In April, it was announced that the band would be performing at the 2014 Reading and Leeds Festival.[19] On 7 August 2014, Young Guns' first single for their third album, "I Want Out", was played on BBC Radio 1 UK Zane Lowe's Hottest Record[20] and met with a good response.[21] The single was described as progressing towards "danceable direction à la The Killers meets The Academy Is...". The band is expected to release the new album in early 2015.[22] The day after "I Want Out" was released on radio, the single was released on iTunes and Spotify[23] and became number one on iTunes rock chart.[24] On 21 August, the band released a music video for "I Want Out".[25]

On February 5, 2015, Young Guns released their second single from their third album entitled "Speaking In Tongues".

Young Guns were a supporting act for Bring Me the Horizon for a sold out show at Wembley Arena in London on 5 December, along with Issues and Sleepwave.[26]

In early February 2015, the band announced that their third album would be titled Ones and Zeros, and would be released on June 8, 2015.[27] For the rest of February they toured the UK with Don Broco, We Are the In Crowd, Bury Tomorrow and Beartooth as part of that year's Kerrang! Tour. Following that, they began a tour of their own around the UK. In April 2015 they began touring with Breaking Benjamin for the first leg of their US Tour with dates set through August.

Young Guns were announced as part of the line-up for Slam Dunk Festival 2016 on 9 March 2016.[28]

Musical style and influences

The band has often been described as a general rock band that arose with the rest of the wave of British rock bands, but have also been labeled as a "melodic rock" and hard rock band.[29][30][31][32]

Band members

Current
Former
  • Joseph Winter – vocals, keyboards and synthesizers (2005–2008)
  • Tom Ford – rhythm guitar (2004–2008)
  • Pete Little – drums, percussion (2005–2007)
  • Alex Greenhill – drums, percussion (2004–2005)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

References

  1. ↑ http://www.theaureview.com/interviews/gustav-wood-of-young-guns-uk-talks-recording-process-for-ones-and-zeros-and-music-journey
  2. 1 2 "Young Guns Hit #1". Wind-up Records. 11 March 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2015. Q Magazine also praised the band for being at the forefront of The New NEW Wave of British Heavy Metal and for “broadening the [genre’s] sound to the point where it’s closer to an amped-up version of alternative rock.
  3. ↑ "Album Review: Young Guns - All Our Kings Are Dead". Alter the Press!. Retrieved 10 February 2015. Recent singles 'Sons Of Apathy' and 'Crystal Clear' kick off the record strongly with the bands tight, melodic hard rock style with the former bring a anthemic atmosphere that soars, whilst the latter is a pounding slice of radio rock that fits the bands style well.
  4. ↑ "Young Guns supporting Lostprophets". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Young Guns – new album peaking at the UK charts". Chartstats. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012.
  6. ↑ "Young Guns – Reading Festival". Roomthirteen. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  7. ↑ "Young Guns – UK Tour". PunkNews. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  8. ↑ "Young Guns – supporting All Time Low and Yellowcard". Rocklouder.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  9. ↑ "Young Guns – recording new album in Thailand". Bangsaraythailand. Archived from the original on November 4, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Young Guns – Learn My Lesson single". Ourzonemag.com. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  11. ↑ "Young Guns – announcing new album and UK tour". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Young Guns – UK tour dates". NME.com.
  13. ↑ "Young Guns – Polar supporting UK Tour". Deadpress.co.uk language=. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  14. ↑ "Young Guns – announcing Single "Bones" release". Deadpress.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  15. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Bones by Young Guns". iTunes. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Wind-Up Records – Official Site". Winduprecords.com. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  17. 1 2 "Young Guns – Facebook". Facebook.com. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  18. ↑ "MUSIC NEWS: Young Guns Sign With Virgin EMI". Bringthenoiseuk.com. Bring The Noise UK. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  19. ↑ "Reading & Leeds Festival 2014: AlunaGeorge, The Horrors Added To Full Line-Up". Entertainmentwise.com. Entertainment Wise. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  20. ↑ "BBC Radio 1 - Zane Lowe, The Return Of Young Guns, Young Guns - I Want Out". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  21. ↑ "I Want Out and Young Guns are trendings on Twitter". John Taylor. Twitter. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  22. ↑ "Young Guns - “I Want Out” song premiere". Cassie Whitt. Alternative Press. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  23. ↑ "Buy "I Want Out" on iTunes and Spotify". Official Young Guns Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  24. ↑ ""I Want Out" become number one on iTunes rock chart". Official Young Guns Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  25. ↑ "Young Guns get psychedelic in 'I Want Out' video". Rocksound.tv. Rocksound. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  26. ↑ Carter, Emily. "Bring Me The Horizon announce Wembley suports". Kerrang.com. Kerrang!. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  27. ↑ "Young Guns Confirm New Album, Ones And Zeros". Kerrang.com. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
  28. ↑ Davies, Alan. "Slam Dunk Festival 2016 line-up: Another 11 bands added". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
  29. ↑ Reid, Sean. "Album Review: Young Guns - All Our Kings Are Dead". Alterthepress.com. Alter The Press. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  30. ↑ Boy, Davey. "Young Guns Bones". Sputnikmusic.com. Sputnik Music. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  31. ↑ Yau, Alex. "Young Guns Bones". Drownedinsound.com. Drowned In Sound. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  32. ↑ "London-based prospects return with an energetic second album.". Bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 30 June 2014.

External links

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