The
Like Young - Art Contest
Watch the video for "Snobs and Slobs"
Debut album by duo formed by Joe and Amanda Ziemba (both formerly
of WOLFIE and BUSYTOBY). Driving, upbeat, catchy pop with monstrous
hooks and top-flight songcraft akin to Weezer/The Rentals, Sloan,
and the poppiest Nirvana. This married duo let loose a selection
of full-on retro-fitted guitar rockers: Joe slings the six-string
and bass, Amanda pounds the drums, and both contribute vocals
to songs which maintain an ebullient, melody-rich vibe. Influenced
by the aforementioned bands as well as The Everly Brothers, Buddy
Holly, and the Foo Fighters with a hint of The Who and some early
punk/new wave thrown in for good measure. A spectacular blast
of "driving with the windows down and the stereo up" sound!
Visit The Like Young's official website
The Like Young’s Joe and Amanda Ziemba have just about
had it with settling down. They’ve done the “upstanding” career
paths. They’ve gotten married. Heck, they’ve even
purchased a house. Along the way, they hung up their rock’n’roll
dreams as members of Wolfie and Busytoby and really, really tried
to settle down and live the suburban lifestyle.
It didn’t
take.
In
fact, it may have chafed on the duo more than ever. While
the pair made music together before, its debut, Art Contest
(Parasol), is an entirely new direction: Gone are the days
of complicated
layering, intricate melodies and brainy themes.
The Like Young live up to its name: The pair is playing no-frills
rock with the enthusiasm, and lack of indie-rock pretense,
of a pair of 19-year-old kids. Growing up is for chumps, they’ve
decided. It’s time to rock like they never got the chance
to in their previous, more cerebral outfits.
With
a heady passion that’s one part garage-rock revival,
one part pop love buzz, the pair (Joe plays the six-string,
Amanda hits the drums; they both sing) has reinvented itself.
While the rise in back-to-basics rock’n’roll
certainly helps the band get its foot in the door, as does
it superficial similarities with buzz bands such as the Stripes
and The Kills, Art Contest shows that there’s a lot
more to the band than just garage-rock simplicity. Sure,
the minimalist strains of a guitar and drums
dominate the band’s sound, but the duo also jumps through
a lot of hoops that are verboten in the new rock revolution:
The band’s dual vocals are as sugarcoated as Jack White’s
are drenched in hipster cool; pop melodies are the driving
force instead of Detroit heyday-era riffery.
Despite
everything that should keep them from doing so, the Ziembas
have reinvented themselves for their married life.
This time around, they’re a lot wilder.
“When
we got married, we bought a house, and now we’re
selling our house to get an apartment,” Joe admits. “This
year, and the year before, we got married and I think we settled
down too fast, almost. Now we’re trying to break away
from that. It’s been a really rough year with jobs that
we hate. We cannot wait to quit our jobs and get on the road.”
Some
people may say the couple is regressing. They could put up
a good argument. While in Wolfie, the pair helped to create
a catalog of thickly layered records full of densely
packed pop that flourished because of its minute attention
to detail, master-crafted arrangements and all-around heady
songwriting. Busytoby’s single record was a concept
album about an elderly couple, Joe and Amanda ostensibly,
reflecting upon their lives together. Now, highly considered
songs are thrown
out the window for the frisson and immediacy that’s brought
by guitar-driven pop anthems learned from Weezer and the dBs.
Then
again, the Ziembas can make an argument that as they age,
they’ve
gained the confidence to produce a record that doesn’t
have to hide between layers of production and complex arrangements.
Its songs can stand on their own. Likewise, Joe’s lyrics
have grown: No longer is he tied to storytelling songs or
glee-filled pop numbers. Art Contest delves into themes that
explore bitterness, anger and discontent. For anyone who’s
accustomed to Joe’s songwriting from his other band,
it’s a quite new face he puts on.
“I
think it was more growing up and I felt the need to express
myself more, write lyrics and kind of express what’s
going on in my life more, as opposed to just making music for
fun,” he
explains. “It’s almost a need to have an outlet.
I’m also a graphic designer, so I’ve always been
into art and stuff. I think it was more of a need to do that.
For the first time, it felt
like I was writing lyrics that I actually cared about, that
meant something. I didn’t have to hide them.
“I
think it’s just growing as a person, realizing
that it’s OK to sing about certain things that I’m
frustrated about and not everything has to be happy and have
a positive feeling to it. It’s OK to write what I’m
feeling.”
Talking
with Joe, it’s impossible to separate his life
with Wolfie from his present. They’re that intertwined.
After all, he and Amanda spent six years of their lives playing
the lighthearted pop of their previous band. It led to a romance.
Because of this, Joe frames nearly all talk of The Like Young
within Wolfie references. It’s enough to make you think
Wolfie and The Like Young are one and the same. Don’t
be tempted to think such silliness. The two acts are as different
as night
and day.
The
best way to discover the difference is to pick up Art Contest.
Barring that, an explanation of the differences between
the two bands’ songwriting styles is probably the easiest
distinction between the two you can cull from mere text.
“I
definitely focus more on lyrics and what I wanted to say,” Joe
says. “I kind of felt with the later
Wolfie stuff we got layered with stuff, like there were lots
of tracks. I kind of felt that if I wanted to move in a direction
that focused more on
lyrics, the music had to be a little more stripped-down. I
think if you have lyrics that are really in-depth and music
that’s
really complicated, they cancel each other out. The main focus
was strong, catchy songs: get in, get out, say what we have
to
say.”
Whether
they’re growing out of the settle-down newlywed
phase or retreating from it, one thing’s for certain:
The Like Young have found a musical fountain of youth and,
despite the impending maturity, blaze through fun-loving tunes.
The
change-up is credited to the couple’s time away from
music, spending time as suburban husband and wife. Doing what’s
expected. Living the American Dream.
Of
course, there are as many American dreams as there are Americans.
Turning into a happily married, albeit boring, couple wasn’t
on the Ziembas’ itinerary. While
the pair struggled to regain their footing after Wolfie called
it day, they also struggled to create a life together. What
they quickly realized was that music, in some form or another,
would be the cement of their new life.
“We
weren’t even sure if we were going to play
music any more,” Joe says. “It was kind of a choice.
Wolfie ended on a really good note, but we were just really
tired of everything and jaded. I kept writing the whole time.
We didn’t have
a plan to do anything. I kind of wrote blindly.” “I
don’t know if we were really burnt out on music. With
Wolfie, the original lineup of Wolfie, Mike (Downey) was in
the band and he left the band before we did the last album.
It kind of wasn’t the same after that. It didn’t
feel right after awhile and it just stopped. We figured we’d
did all we could with music and that was going to be it. I
always knew that I wanted to
keep playing, but we weren’t sure what we’d try
to do, so it took a back seat to other things that were going
on in
my life.”
Now
the pair has found focus once again. If the melodies and
sing-along
vocals don’t show it, the elegant simplicity
of Art Contest proves it: They’re getting older, but
Joe and Amanda Ziemba are going to live the young life, right
down
to straightforward rock’n’roll."
- Aversion ( find article at http://www.aversion.com/bands/interviews.cfm?f_id=200)
"Imagine
a modern-day "American Gothic":
Joe Ziemba, at attention, stoically holding his six-string,
and
his wife, Amanda, primly at his side clutching her drumsticks.
Ready, set, rock for (only) 24 minutes, the painting comes
to life, crunching Weezerifically behind boy-girl vocals
that suggest Elvis Costello crashing a Go-Go's slumber party.
Biting lyrically, inviting sonically — now that's a
marriage made in heaven." -
The Los Angeles Times
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