Fronted by Latin American migrant Diego Bracho, The Youth Play are proof that the future of British guitar music is as diverse as it is exciting, and while nationalism rises, they stand proudly as a testament to the importance of multiculturalism, with the hope that Diego gets to stay in the UK. Their new EP someday, forever is released on 15 August and they play an EP release gig on 29 August at London’s Mascara Bar. The Decibel Decoder found out more.
Please can you introduce the members of The Youth Play and share how you came together.
Hey my name’s Fin and I play the drums, Harrison plays lead guitar, Alex plays bass and Diego plays rhythm guitar and sings, we all sing backing vocals. We met in uni where we were all studying the same course and over the span of our first year we all got to know each other. After a while Diego suggested the idea of playing a couple of his songs and we went from there.
Congratulations on your new EP someday, forever which is set for release on 15 August. What are the mains themes that run through the EP?
Diego: Thanks! We can’t wait for it to come out, it’s been a long time coming. The main themes are social instability, political issues but overall a message of hope and optimism throughout that.
What is your creative process?
Fin: One of us usually brings an idea into our weekly rehearsal, we jam on that quite a bit just so it starts feeling like one of our songs rather than an individual idea. During these sessions all of us sing melody ideas and then Diego would take that idea home and write the lyrics working with the melodies that we liked most.
Which song on someday, forever came the quickest, and what was its inspiration?
Fin: ‘Maybe This Was All For Us’ was written because we wanted to play a fast post punky song for our first show in Paris. It came together really quickly from a bass line that Alex had and it went from there. ‘Straight Line’ was also a pretty instant one to write, Alex and Diego were living together at the time and by the time I rocked up to a rehearsal they just hummed an idea of what the drums should go like and the song was pretty much finished.
Diego, you grew up in Mexico City and then worked as an environmental scientist in a lab in Barcelona, developing bioplastics from food waste. I understand you became frustrated by the slow pace of change, along with a realization that meaningful progress was being blocked by profit margins and corporate interests. You turned to music, believing it could reach more people, inspire more action, and make a more meaningful impact. Could you expand on this, and do you still believe this to be the case?
Diego: Yeah that’s basically it, not much more to expand on. After working in the lab for some time I realised the goal was not that of actual change so I decided to put my hard work somewhere else, at least in something I was truly passionate about.
And to be honest I would be lying if I said anything about that, one thing I can say is I don’t think the process that I was doing research on has yet been implemented on a real life scale.
You are fresh off a European tour with Been Stellar as well UK tours with October Drift and Wings of Desire. How did these gigs go, and what did you gain from the experiences?
Diego: Those gigs especially the ones that we had with Been Stellar were amazing, it was our first time doing a run of shows like that and spending a decent amount of time in Europe was incredible, the Wings of Desire shows were great, I love James and Chloe and their music since they were in Inheaven, I actually saw Inheaven in Barcelona years ago so to go on tour with them meant a lot to me. October Drift was our most recent one and that was amazing, we felt a bit more prepared this time and the shows and crowd that we played to were amazing, packed rooms every night.
I think by doing these tours we have gotten a lot more cohesive as a band live, we’ve put a lot of thought into our live and the pacing of a set list when you don’t have a long time to impress people. Just a lot of lessons which are great to take in and also being able to travel about and see places we’ve never been before is an amazing experience.
If I looked in your fridge right now what would I find?
Fin – not very much
Diego – parmesan, oat milk and apples.
Alex – camera film rolls
Harrison – pickles and beer
For more information on The Youth Play please check their instagram.