- 6 days ago
YUNGBLUD is back with us at the Hard Rock Hotel New York to talk about working with Aerosmith, new music, and more.
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MusicTranscript
00:00This album was really where I faced myself.
00:06I hit 27 and I really faced myself.
00:12Alright, welcome back in to another Odyssey check-in.
00:15Hard Rock New York Hotel, the Odyssey townspace with Youngblood.
00:19Hello, mate, how you doing?
00:20Mr. Blood, how are you?
00:21Mr. Blood, very well, man, how are you?
00:22Professor Blood, Dr. Blood.
00:23Whatever you want, man. Dr. Blood, Dr. Pepper.
00:26What a surreal year, man.
00:30What an absolutely crazy...
00:32What a fucking mad year, yeah.
00:33What kind of reflections are you doing right about now, into the year?
00:37What are we saying to ourselves?
00:38To be honest, I think I'm really lucky to have a couple of weeks to try and comprehend it all.
00:45I'm on my way home after New York.
00:47After I leave the Rotten Apple, I'm going to the North, so I really can't wait.
00:52I think the biggest thing I'm feeling is gratitude.
00:54I think I'm really trying to make sure that I feel everything, because I think if you don't stop and think about what goes on, and you don't process it, you just end up becoming a dick.
01:08You know what I mean?
01:08So I really want to...
01:10This year has just been so insane, so I think the biggest feeling I'm feeling is auto-gratitude, and I really feel lucky.
01:17Yeah, that's great to hear, because a lot of times, even if you didn't sit down to reflect, you might almost take it for granted.
01:22Yeah, man, you can't take that for granted.
01:25I think this year, again, we've seen a rise in rock music, and I'm kind of thankful for that.
01:31Not even selfishly, in terms of bands that I love, and my peers, and also bands that are older than me, having massive resurgences again.
01:43So I'm really thankful for this world that I have loved since I was two years old to be getting its flowers again.
01:53You know what I mean?
01:53What were you listening it to?
01:55What was on that playlist?
01:57Yeah, I grew up in my dad's guitar shop, so my old man had a guitar shop in the north with my grandfather in Doncaster.
02:05So I was brought up on everything from Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, to T-Rex, Stone Roses, Oasis.
02:16But then I, like, when I was really young, I was, like, an eight-year-old who was into, like, Slayer and, like, Trivium and Aussie.
02:26You know what I mean?
02:26I don't know why I had, like, goth boots on at, like, seven.
02:30Yeah, mascara at eight.
02:31Everyone used to call me Damien from The Omen.
02:34You know what I mean?
02:34I was, like, trying to still beat those allegations.
02:37Yeah, sure.
02:38When you look back at the year, what are your top three moments?
02:42Personally or for watching others?
02:45No, yours.
02:46Absolutely yours.
02:46Personally, I really think, I really think Hello Having Hello, nine-minute single into the album.
02:55Risky, risky shit.
02:57I think when I played my label that they went green.
03:01But I really think that really ties in.
03:05And I think the biggest moment, if I was to round it up, it would be Hello Having Hello into the album release.
03:11Like, Idols is an album that I really took a risk on, I think.
03:17In what way?
03:19I think my third album came out and I was listening to too many people.
03:25I think when you listen to too many people, you kind of create a character or you play a caricature of yourself.
03:34And I think with this album, I really went home to the north of England and was, like, I want to make something that is, like, completely limitless in terms of its imagination.
03:44And leans on the side of, like, rock opera, double album.
03:53It, like, insanity, you know?
03:55I really wanted to, like, make something, like, that would be adherent to, like, Melancholy Infinite Sadness or Use Your Illusion or Exile on Main Street.
04:04Or these kind of rock albums that would, double albums or The Wall that would kind of take you on an adventure.
04:10And in 2025, everyone thought I was a bit fucking mad.
04:14I mean, I was, you know what I mean?
04:15Because I think I got to a point where I was listening to so many people that I didn't have any idea who I was.
04:21So I kind of, I wanted to make an album that would be, like, if this is the end, what the fuck would, would, I don't know why I was thinking like that.
04:31Did you think it was going to be the end?
04:32I don't know, but personally, I don't think the, I don't think the world was ready for Youngblood not to be here anymore.
04:37But I was like, I just don't, I always want to do it when it's truthful.
04:41If it's, if it's not truthful, it's just soul destroying, man.
04:44You know what I mean?
04:44It's just like, I think that's what's been so beautiful about me and my community was, we've always had, whether it be like starting a festival or gigs or how the, how Youngblood got built in the first place.
04:55It was always through an element of truth and all, always through an element of, like, honest communication.
05:00And when it wasn't becoming honest, I was like, this is, like, this is, this is not what I did this for.
05:06So if you're listening to too many people, when you break it down, you start over, you, you start idols.
05:11How, how big is the group?
05:12Like, how many people?
05:13Literally, it was, I went back to Leeds.
05:16I went back to the north of England, 20 minutes away from where I grew up because the, the, the smell of rain on gravel just reminds me of like the north.
05:26You know what I mean?
05:26And I took my producer who did the first album with me and my guitar player and that was it.
05:32And then a guy called Bob.
05:33A mad guy, a mad Geordie called Bob.
05:37He's still there, isn't he?
05:39Hasn't left.
05:39I'm telling you, he actually hasn't left.
05:42Locked in there.
05:43You know what I mean?
05:43Like, didn't break the cycle.
05:46He's actually grown into the chair.
05:48I'm telling you.
05:49But it was like, it was like we were sleeping there.
05:51There was no time zone.
05:52We really, I really wanted to sweat on an album.
05:53I remember, I remember, I actually had a meeting with Jimmy Iovine before I kind of got into Idols and I had, I saw Billy Corgan do an interview about me.
06:10And what they were all saying is like, you've got to do what you want.
06:14It's got to come from you.
06:15You've got to bleed on this album.
06:17Everyone was kind of saying that to me.
06:19And in my gut, Idols was going to be my next album after Weird.
06:24It was going to be my third album.
06:26But I was dissuaded from doing it.
06:28So it was this kind of, it was this adventure that I needed to go on no matter what it would do, no matter who it would alienate, no matter if people would like it or not.
06:38It's that putting all in on red or black because you believe that the roulette ball is going to land on black.
06:46You know what I mean?
06:47And it paid off.
06:49Now you, I have somewhere to go here.
06:51You run yourself pretty ragged, it feels like.
06:53It feels like you're at 100 miles an hour at all times.
06:55Do you feel a lot freer, a lot more in control because you proved yourself right?
07:02I think, I think when you, when you hit a threshold and like, like with me, like some artists come to the world fully formed, ready to go, packaged.
07:18This is what we are.
07:20I think since I was 18 years old, I've been figuring that out.
07:23I think my albums have been utter truth and about an adventure and learning and growing and absorbing whatever's around me.
07:37I think that's why me and my community are so tight because we've been on this thing together.
07:41And this album was really where I faced myself.
07:47I hit 27, I really faced myself and I really kind of had that, I think, that courage where like adolescent immaturity and insecurity was kind of diminishing a little bit more.
08:04And I was kind of like building the foundations of who I'm going to be forever.
08:08Obviously, I'm going to change a million times, but I kind of landed on something that was all about purity and all about like, instead of thinking about like, when you're writing a song sometimes and you're writing a song with songwriters, it's like you're already thinking about the end goal before you've even written a note.
08:28Instead of like, shut your eyes, dig into your soul and see what comes out of your mouth.
08:34That's how we wrote this album.
08:36It was like an adventure that would never ever need to be sold before it was made.
08:40Do you know what I mean?
08:41I do.
08:41And I like going back and starting it back at 18 years old because what the old man always told me is fall forward or fail forward fast.
08:48Yeah, man.
08:49Fail forward fast.
08:50100%.
08:50I think like, when I look back on some of the choices I've made, they cringe me the fuck out.
08:56But I'm so happy I did it the way I did it because...
09:00Who doesn't say that?
09:01Yeah, because it was just like, I was just always having fun and always trying things out and always been down to run down an avenue.
09:13Whether it was like, fundamentally like, rock music is my soul and my spirit and that's where I belong.
09:20But I've had so much fun experimenting with hip hop and other things because, I don't know, I find it interesting to navigate my way through mediums that are not a part of the furniture for me.
09:35Sure, well, part of that experiment includes Aerosmith and what's going on with those guys.
09:41I gotta imagine that was not on the 2025 bucket list when you made it, so...
09:45No.
09:46Yeah.
09:46I was fucking mad that.
09:47How do you keep up with Steven Tyler?
09:49I think...
09:50It's exhausting.
09:51Do you know what?
09:51I think we're pretty intertwined, you know what I mean?
09:54We're like spirit animals, we're like two puppies.
09:56I feel sorry for Joe Perry, man.
09:58Joe Perry's like a cat and we're like fucking dogs.
10:01You know what I mean?
10:03Like Joe's in the corner, like shut up and we're just like...
10:06Yeah.
10:06What kind of dog are you?
10:08Fucking Jack Russell.
10:09Okay.
10:10100%.
10:11That's a lot of energy.
10:13What's on the 2026 bucket list?
10:14What are we going to check off the list?
10:15I think...
10:16What's our goal?
10:17My vibe is I'm really excited to do our American tour, which is why I saw that in a minute.
10:23Yeah.
10:23Fucking nuts.
10:24Yeah.
10:25Red Rocks in a minute.
10:26Yeah.
10:26Someone told me Radio City had like 100,000 people in the queue to get into Radio City.
10:32Uh-huh.
10:32Which was it?
10:33It's pretty wild.
10:34111.
10:35Unbelievable.
10:36That's crazy, man.
10:36I didn't even know that many Youngblood fans in New York City.
10:40I'm like, all right.
10:41Killer.
10:42Yeah.
10:42Got to do MetLife next then, aren't we?
10:44Yeah, you are.
10:46I think just to keep going, I really want to release the second part of Idols.
10:53I really want to...
10:55Is that ready to go?
10:56It's ready to go.
10:56Yeah, it's ready to go.
10:57Really?
10:57It's been ready to go forever.
10:59I've just started a new record with...
11:00How many nine-minute songs?
11:02No, none.
11:03Okay.
11:03I think there's one line.
11:04I think the longest is six.
11:05Okay.
11:06So like, yeah, short in comparison.
11:08Yeah.
11:09But I really want...
11:10Yeah, I really...
11:10That's what I'm saying.
11:11I really want to finish the world.
11:12It's such a world that if I don't put that out next, even though, again, as an artist,
11:18I'm writing a new album and I'm almost like departed in my soul because I wrote it, printed
11:25it to wax and put it out, I've got to finish the Idols too and put that to the world because
11:30the world needs to feel that environment.
11:35Yeah, well, I mean, after Grammy nominations, after number one singles, authentic to your
11:40core, I tell you, my favorite part of this entire year for you, watching it at least
11:45from the outside, is after the first, the number one, what do you do?
11:50Call mom and dad.
11:51Yeah, man.
11:51That was really cute.
11:52I've got to call me mom and dad.
11:54That was so wonderful.
11:54Yeah, I've got to call me mom, man.
11:56Uh-huh.
11:56You know what I mean?
11:57She's just, I love me mom.
11:59She's fucking nuts.
12:01Well.
12:02She's crazy.
12:03Doesn't fall too far from the tree.
12:04Right.
12:05Can I tell you something about my mother?
12:06Do you know if you get takeout food, right?
12:08Uh-huh.
12:09If you get fucking Chinese takeout food, she'll invite the takeaway man in.
12:13This is dangerous.
12:14She'll be like, do you want a cup of tea?
12:14This is dangerous.
12:15So dangerous.
12:16But she'll just like, it's just like this fucking takeaway man.
12:18And I'm like, I'm sorry.
12:21She won't let him fucking leave.
12:22He's got like 10 other deliveries to do, like fucking hot and sour porks going cold
12:27in the car for number 10.
12:29But she's having a cup of tea in my house.
12:30Well, if that's the case, I'm knocking on the door in the holidays.
12:32Yeah, I'm telling you, shout out my mom.
12:33She's fucking nuts.
12:34But I love that.
12:35Yeah, it's pretty cool because, as I said, my dad brought me up in a guitar shop.
12:40So for him, it's wild, you know?
12:43Well.
12:43And I always send me gold discs home to them to put in the shop or my bedroom or whatever.
12:49You still have the bedroom?
12:50You still have the old bedroom?
12:51Same house?
12:51Same house?
12:52Same bedroom?
12:52Still got my posters up, man.
12:53That's right.
12:54Fucking crazy, man.
12:55New kids?
12:56New kids in the black poster?
12:57Which one was it?
12:57No, it was fucking, it was Billy Joe, Kurt Cobain, Bowie, Amy Winehouse.
13:03Okay.
13:04Yeah.
13:04I want to see these.
13:05Yeah, right on, man.
13:06I've got to get someone to take a picture.
13:07Please do.
13:08Dr. Blood, Professor Blood, the Aussie Check-In.
13:11Rock and roll.
13:11Thanks for having me, man.
13:12All right.
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