T.C Young Interview
Q: Your actual name isn’t T.C Young. Is there any particular reason you chose that as your moniker?
A: Having a separation between myself and the music just felt comfortable to me. I find that when I am writing, or recording, that side of me is very personal, and I still have trouble getting off the stage and saying “This is Collin; this is how I feel.” I suppose as people we are just incredibly messy. Approaching the project with the alias T.C Young allows me to sift through and thoughtfully curate the most poignant moments that represent me honestly, while simultaneously having an illusion of distance. I guess it just feels easier to perform a song about something incredibly personal, walk up to stranger, and to be someone else.
Q: I was reading about your travels during 2013 and 2014. I wanted to know how that affected and influenced your album Rebels?
A: I would say that very little of the record is actually about the time I spent hitchhiking from Russia to Morocco. Before I embarked on that trip I was very stable, the girlfriend who at the time I thought was the love of my life, the 9-5 job at a post shop and that sweet 401k. Being 21, feeling like I had reached the end of the journey, it felt very unsatisfying and abrupt. There were many moments and factors that contributed to my decision to leave my life behind and become a leather tramp for half a year, but Rebels was more about the aftermath of that trip. I think we have this idealism that love conquers all, and I still believe that it can. The phenomenon that became the centralized theme of Rebels was that love can conquer all if you let it, but as we get older things get less simple; the plans you were busy making never include the people that you haven’t met yet. Suddenly you are confronted with this person, and while you fall for them, you aren’t really sure they are worth giving up everything that you have already told yourself that you want. That trip, while it was life changing in many ways did close a door on a life that I could have had if I had stayed. Rebels represents the consequence, the wondering, the prophesy of all those major moments.
Q: Rebels seems to be a very personal album about a specific relationship. Can you talk about how that's reflected in the songs?
A: Actually the record encompasses a couple of relationships I have had over the past few years. After returning back from Europe, I was convinced that all I needed for the foreseeable future was to save money and travel the world to my heart’s content. Yet I was confronted with incredible people along the way. They make you remember what it was like to be so close to someone, and in turn they make you feel lonely without them. Songs like “Needs” and “Prelude In D Major,” they embody that initial spark, that chance you feel, that maybe this is possible, that the two ways of being can coexist, but at least in my case, they never could. “All Of Those Things’’ and “Gravity” are both about that same realization, but are actually about two different people. I think if I could pick a moment in the record that represents the overarching theme it would be, “I heard you say, that all of those things that made you mine, were all of those things that made you wonder why.” That elusive paradox when the reasons start to matter more as you grow closer than the actual feeling. Writing about it, then cementing it into a recording, it allowed me to have the closure I needed to move on with my life, to not dwell on the past and the figs untaken.
Q: I read that you played most of the instruments. How do you know what to play first in a case like that and do you think it has an effect on the song?
A: For over a decade now I have been fascinated with the recording arts. From recording to mastering, having a background in engineering definitely changes the way I approach working on a song in the studio. There are so many more ways that I have control over the sound, what microphones, where I place them, the pre amps and compressors that I chain together for certain instruments, sometimes you can get a little carried away. I generally have a vision of what the song will eventually sound like in my head from the get go, but as I record, the kinks of the music always give me new ideas of where to go next. Generally I start by laying down the percussion using a demoed vocal and acoustic track as a layout. Once the rhythm is recorded and arranged I can start stacking other instrumentation on top, but sometimes I have scrapped songs mid-way through and started from scratch just because more vivid arrangements come to mind, or the rhythm in place didn't complement it properly. I will say that working alone as a one shop musician has its advantages, I get to work the 24 hour days in the studio, and not have to worry about the fortitude of others, or trying to explain how I want something done or to sound. That being said, I do love working with live musicians, capturing a performance and gaining different perspectives. I was definitely playing the record as it was being made for a few friends throughout the process.
Q: Do you play live? And do you have a full band for performances?
A: Yes! It has been swell! I have been playing with a dear friend and frequent collaborator Augustus James. We have played in the DC area together as well as up the east coast and a few dates in the mid west. Generally the performances have been very different from the record. There is a video of 'Weekend' on Youtube that was done at Echo Garden Studios where the album was recorded, which gives a good representation of how I arrange the songs live. I definitely would like to get a full band together when I return to DC at the end of the year and do a show, but I'm very happy with stripping it down and doing something different for now.
Q: What else do we need to know about T.C Young?
A: During this whole interview I think I have sounded a tad bit depressing. I don't want anyone to feel that my core belief is that there is no possible outcome where two people can meet, bond like no other and keep their ambitions to-boot. This record has just been my sonic autobiography of the past few years, and while it hasn't always been easy, I have been surrounded and supported by the dear friends I have all around the world, and I feel truly lucky to be where I am today. I'm currently traveling around the U.S.A. and living out of my 1973 Dodge Van with Augustus James, playing shows, busking, camping and loving all the surprises along the way. If anyone reads this and comes to a show, I would love to have a whiskey with you.
Q: Your actual name isn’t T.C Young. Is there any particular reason you chose that as your moniker?
A: Having a separation between myself and the music just felt comfortable to me. I find that when I am writing, or recording, that side of me is very personal, and I still have trouble getting off the stage and saying “This is Collin; this is how I feel.” I suppose as people we are just incredibly messy. Approaching the project with the alias T.C Young allows me to sift through and thoughtfully curate the most poignant moments that represent me honestly, while simultaneously having an illusion of distance. I guess it just feels easier to perform a song about something incredibly personal, walk up to stranger, and to be someone else.
Q: I was reading about your travels during 2013 and 2014. I wanted to know how that affected and influenced your album Rebels?
A: I would say that very little of the record is actually about the time I spent hitchhiking from Russia to Morocco. Before I embarked on that trip I was very stable, the girlfriend who at the time I thought was the love of my life, the 9-5 job at a post shop and that sweet 401k. Being 21, feeling like I had reached the end of the journey, it felt very unsatisfying and abrupt. There were many moments and factors that contributed to my decision to leave my life behind and become a leather tramp for half a year, but Rebels was more about the aftermath of that trip. I think we have this idealism that love conquers all, and I still believe that it can. The phenomenon that became the centralized theme of Rebels was that love can conquer all if you let it, but as we get older things get less simple; the plans you were busy making never include the people that you haven’t met yet. Suddenly you are confronted with this person, and while you fall for them, you aren’t really sure they are worth giving up everything that you have already told yourself that you want. That trip, while it was life changing in many ways did close a door on a life that I could have had if I had stayed. Rebels represents the consequence, the wondering, the prophesy of all those major moments.
Q: Rebels seems to be a very personal album about a specific relationship. Can you talk about how that's reflected in the songs?
A: Actually the record encompasses a couple of relationships I have had over the past few years. After returning back from Europe, I was convinced that all I needed for the foreseeable future was to save money and travel the world to my heart’s content. Yet I was confronted with incredible people along the way. They make you remember what it was like to be so close to someone, and in turn they make you feel lonely without them. Songs like “Needs” and “Prelude In D Major,” they embody that initial spark, that chance you feel, that maybe this is possible, that the two ways of being can coexist, but at least in my case, they never could. “All Of Those Things’’ and “Gravity” are both about that same realization, but are actually about two different people. I think if I could pick a moment in the record that represents the overarching theme it would be, “I heard you say, that all of those things that made you mine, were all of those things that made you wonder why.” That elusive paradox when the reasons start to matter more as you grow closer than the actual feeling. Writing about it, then cementing it into a recording, it allowed me to have the closure I needed to move on with my life, to not dwell on the past and the figs untaken.
Q: I read that you played most of the instruments. How do you know what to play first in a case like that and do you think it has an effect on the song?
A: For over a decade now I have been fascinated with the recording arts. From recording to mastering, having a background in engineering definitely changes the way I approach working on a song in the studio. There are so many more ways that I have control over the sound, what microphones, where I place them, the pre amps and compressors that I chain together for certain instruments, sometimes you can get a little carried away. I generally have a vision of what the song will eventually sound like in my head from the get go, but as I record, the kinks of the music always give me new ideas of where to go next. Generally I start by laying down the percussion using a demoed vocal and acoustic track as a layout. Once the rhythm is recorded and arranged I can start stacking other instrumentation on top, but sometimes I have scrapped songs mid-way through and started from scratch just because more vivid arrangements come to mind, or the rhythm in place didn't complement it properly. I will say that working alone as a one shop musician has its advantages, I get to work the 24 hour days in the studio, and not have to worry about the fortitude of others, or trying to explain how I want something done or to sound. That being said, I do love working with live musicians, capturing a performance and gaining different perspectives. I was definitely playing the record as it was being made for a few friends throughout the process.
Q: Do you play live? And do you have a full band for performances?
A: Yes! It has been swell! I have been playing with a dear friend and frequent collaborator Augustus James. We have played in the DC area together as well as up the east coast and a few dates in the mid west. Generally the performances have been very different from the record. There is a video of 'Weekend' on Youtube that was done at Echo Garden Studios where the album was recorded, which gives a good representation of how I arrange the songs live. I definitely would like to get a full band together when I return to DC at the end of the year and do a show, but I'm very happy with stripping it down and doing something different for now.
Q: What else do we need to know about T.C Young?
A: During this whole interview I think I have sounded a tad bit depressing. I don't want anyone to feel that my core belief is that there is no possible outcome where two people can meet, bond like no other and keep their ambitions to-boot. This record has just been my sonic autobiography of the past few years, and while it hasn't always been easy, I have been surrounded and supported by the dear friends I have all around the world, and I feel truly lucky to be where I am today. I'm currently traveling around the U.S.A. and living out of my 1973 Dodge Van with Augustus James, playing shows, busking, camping and loving all the surprises along the way. If anyone reads this and comes to a show, I would love to have a whiskey with you.