After forming in the late 1990s, the four-piece released four critically acclaimed albums – Urban & Eastern (2001), Skeleton Jar (2004), Casino Twilight Dogs (2006) and The Night Is Ours (2008). The band achieved major worldwide success with the release of hit single ‘Forever Young’, an Alphaville cover which was recorded for the.
IT IS a Seinfeld moment. Youth Group drummer Danny Allen bounds into the interview and proudly exclaims to the band's frontman, Toby Martin, that he has just scored a "Costanza".
It is then explained that a 'Costanza' refers to an episode of sitcom Seinfeld in which the character George Costanza finds the perfect car spot and doesn't want to move.
In Sydney, like New York, a good car space with proximity to where you need to be can be as rare as hen's teeth. Which perhaps explains why Allen is so excited today to find a park outside the cafe. Both Allen and Martin are discussing the band's latest album, Casino Twilight Dogs, the follow-up to their debut Skeleton Jar.
Allen, the more animated of the pair, leaps about in his chair as he describes the recording process and the excitement of being in California for the Coachella festival, the state's annual music festival - kind of like their Big Day Out. The affable Martin chooses his words carefully when he speaks.
Especially when he's talking about that song - Forever Young. A cover of a track by '80s outfit Alphaville, the band were asked to record it by the producers of teen drama The OC.
Casino Twilight Dogs Forever Young Movie
The producers had initially heard Youth Group's song Shadowland and loved it so much they decided to use it in an episode of the show. From there, they commissioned the band to record Forever Young.
Casino Twilight Dogs Forever Young Full
The song took on a life of its own when it was released in Australia, racing to the No.1 spot, the indie rock band attracting a gaggle of teen fans. The band were just happy it made it into the top 50.
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'It was weird,' Martin says of the reaction to Forever Young. Searching for a way to explain it, he hits on the Socceroos' World Cup campaign to use as an analogy. 'Us having a hit song is like the Socceroos making the semi-finals of the World Cup when you didn't expect to make the tournament,' he says.
Youth Group formed in the late '90s. These days, only Martin and Allen remain from the original line-up. In 2004 the group added Cameron Emerson-Elliott (guitar) and Patrick Matthews (bass), formerly of The Vines, to their team. Matthews joined following his somewhat acrimonious departure from the Vines, after they imploded on stage at the Annandale Hotel.
Youth Group say they are grateful to have a new audience. Whether Forever Young is a curse - if it will be the albatross around their necks - depends on how they want to view it.
Certainly, there were many who saw the band support Coldplay on their Australian tour, who only seemed to clap when Forever Young came on.
That track is the last on the album. Quarantined, some say, as it is markedly different to everything else on the record. Martin knows some people will hate some of the tracks on the album. Then again, the band's profile means the album will reach a new audience, especially in the US.
Youth Group have steadily garnered a fanbase there, thanks largely to The OC and a little help from their friends, the band Death Cab For Cutie, who brought them on tour last year.
Death Cab and The OC are inextricably linked as the band is the favourite of the show's Adam Brody, who plays Seth. While neither Martin nor Allen are what you would call devotees of the show, Allen admits to having a near brush with celebrity at an LA party. As he recalls it, Brody was getting drum lessons from Death Cab's drummer.
'Later, he (Brody) walked out of the party and I was this close to going up and saying hello, but he was going one way and I was going another and it would have looked pretty stupid to chase him.'
Ah, the travails of youth.
* Youth Group's Casino Twilight Dogs is out now
Originally published asYouth on their side
LETRA
Forever Young (Letra/Lyrics)
Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?
Let us die young or let us live forever
We don't have the power but we never say never
Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip
Music's for the sad men
Can you imagine when this race is won
Turn our golden faces into the sun
Praising our leaders we're getting in tune
Music's played by the mad men
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really wanna live forever, forever, forever?
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever?
Some are like water, some are like the heat
Some are a melody, some are the beat
Sooner or later they all will be gone
Why don't they stay young
Casino Twilight Dogs Forever Young Lyrics
It's hard to get old without a cause
I don't want to perish like a fleeing horse
Youth's like diamonds in the sun
And diamonds are forever
So many adventures couldn't happen today
So many songs we forgot to play
So many dreams swinging out of the blue
We let them come true
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever?
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever?
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever, forever?
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever?
Datos de esta canción
FOREVER YOUNG es una canción de Youth Group que se estrenó el , este tema está incluido dentro del disco Casino Twilight Dogs. Agradecemos a Hector(Hip Hop) por haber sudido la letra de Forever Young.
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