interview with Youngest and Only

Have any of you played in other bands? Our drummer Patrick has a long history of playing in other bands, but as for Jack, Robert and I, this is our first real band. 

How is it that you started playing music? Jack and I have been writing music together since we were like 8 years old, and when we met our first drummer Nathan (INJA) in eighth grade, we decided to turn it into a real band thing.

What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you? There's Jack Williams, "Rockin" Robby Barnes, Patrick Nichol, and myself (Andrew Joseph Stevens). Robby plays guitar, Jack plays Bass, Patrick plays drums, and I sing and play guitar. Aside from Patrick who is 23, we're all 18. 

Have you had other previous members? Yeah we've gone through quite a few drummers. There was our original drummer Nathan Chiu, then Brent Givens, Brett Sanderson, Chuck Ondrovich, Sebastion Zachary, and then we landed the beauty of a drummer that is Patrick Nichol. 

Did you make music even when you were young? Jack and I used to write songs with the one chord that I knew how to play on guitar when we were like 8, and then that went on to writing raps in like sixth grade. I remember being very little trying to make songs on open strings of the guitar in my room too haha. 

Where are you from? The band originates from the Westmount region of London, Ontario. I was born in Kamloops, British Columbia and everyone else in the band was born scattered around Ontario. 

What year did the band form? Our very first jam session was in the winter of 2011 I believe, but we didn't start playing shows or really taking it seriously until 2015. 

What's your style of genre? The easiest way to describe our music is Pop-Punk. 

What inspires you? Seeing our friends bands, and bands that we like go places and do rad things with music. 

How often and where do you reherse? As life gets busier, we really only get a chance to practice as a full band a couple times a month, but Patrick, Jack and I get together and jam out on our own sometimes. 

How have you developed since you started with the music? We're all much better at our instruments haha. We starting writing more mature and personal songs as opposed to writing songs about the world around us and what was happening politically and socially. 

Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Jack is a super rad writer/poet. If you ever get a chance to read his works- let alone have a conversation with him- I'm certain he'd blow your mind. Patrick plays hockey when he's not hitting things, and Robby skateboards and makes horrible puns. Music's pretty much all I got. 

Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We're pretty content with doing things on our own or with help from our friends at the moment, so I don't really have much of an opinion on that.

Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? We're currently with a small independent label out of London Ontario called Synicalist Records. It's run by our buddy Chris Forest who's helped us out a lot over the years, and we're really happy working with him. Obviously a lot of bands have dreams of getting picked up by a bigger label, but until that opportunity presents itself, we're happy where we are and the team we're with. 

What made you decide to make this music? Getting into bands as kids and wanting to play live music. 

What are your songs about? Our earlier stuff covered a lot about the world around us, and being a dumb kid in highschool, but when we were writing our latest record "Wherever the Park Ends", I was going through more personal things that I needed to express through the music. So a lot of topics in the EP ranged from mental illness, past experiences, and a breakup. 

Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? I wrote the music and the lyrics to all of "Wherever the Park Ends" except for The Ring. That was all Jack. But lately, Jack, Patrick and I have been working on the music and the lyrics together as opposed to me just banging out the whole song alone in my room. 

Do you start with the music or the lyrics? I like to start with the music. 

Do you compose in a certain inviroment? Ideas can come out of no where, so it doesn't really matter to me. 

Have you done any covers live? We're pretty bad at doing covers, but we covered Whatshername by Green Day at our EP release show last August. 

What language do you sing in? English. 

What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs?

I remember playing shows where the only people there were the other bands and our parents, but

we've played a decent amount of packed shows as well. I couldn't tell you how many because I'm bad at guesstimating. 

Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? Lately we've been playing one unreleased song to open our sets, then the rest is most of the songs off "Wherever the Park Ends". 

Do you have a regular place you play live often? Playing Rum Runners in London is always a joy. 

What was your first gig like? Scary but exciting. 

What was your latest gig? We played at Rum Runners with Painted Faces, Keep Flying, and Harbour. That was one of the raddest shows ever. Each band was fucking amazing and I had a great time during our set. 

Have you had to cancel a gig? Of course. Shit happens. 

Where do you plan to gig the comming year? We have a small run of Southern Ontario shows planned for this July, and we're trying to get another tour in the works as well. 

When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? Super recently. We're almost out of shirts but we're hoping to have some out for this summer. We also have CD's ! 

Where can people buy your merchandise? From us. Come say Hi! 

What do you think about people downloading music instead of buying records now a days? Ever since we started releasing music, it's always been pay what you can because the most important thing to us is people listening to our music. But I'm sure once we start turning this music thing into a full time adventure, we'd like for people to help keep us fed and clothed haha. 

How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? Perhaps people don't appreciate the music as much now that it is so easy to get ahold of, but there are still people going to record stores all the time and buying tangible music which is super sick. 

What do you think of my work? Your work's dope! 

How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? I'm not sure that it will, but any chance to talk about one of the only things in my life that I'm proud of, I'll take it! 

Do you have any role models or idols? The boys in Heart Attack Kids have always been there for us since we were starting out, and we only dream about doing the stuff that they've been able to do as a band. Go listen to their music and support them. Some of the raddest dudes ever. 

Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? A little bit of both. It's sick to see how older more classic bands were able to start from nothing and turn their music into something huge. It's also sick to see contemporary bands and artists be successful in the industry today. 

What have been your biggest obstacles? Keeping our motivation up, and making the time to get together and play. 

What advice would you give other bands or artists? Set realistic goals, be kind, and play the music that you want to hear/play. 

How do you get psyched for a gig? Listening to music really loud in the car. 

Do you have any new material? We have a whole album of new music written but we're not in any real rush to do anything with it yet. 

What are your web sites? https://www.facebook.com/YoungestAndOnly/

How can people reach you? Our facebook! 

What are your plans for the future? Play places we've never played before, keep writing songs, and keep having fun. 

Do you have something to add? Support your local musicians/artists. 

 

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