Last week was a double kicker for Diamond Youth, the Baltimore-based alternative rock band. Their new EP, Shake, was released on Tuesday the 4th by Topshelf Records, and they started their tour with Turnstile, Turnover, Blind Justice, and Angel Du$t the next day at Strange Matter.
Last week was a double kicker for Diamond Youth, the Baltimore-based alternative rock band. Their new EP, Shake, was released on Tuesday the 4th by Topshelf Records, and they started their tour with Turnstile, Turnover, Blind Justice, and Angel Du$t the next day at Strange Matter.
Like their other albums, Shake is far from disappointing. With its catchy, summery vibes, Diamond Youth brings a fresh feel to the alternative music scene. This album, however, is a little more hardcore, a little heavier than their past albums; this seems to be the trend with their albums as they progress into a sound that they are sure of. “We all grew up listening to punk music and hardcore music, and all these different kinds of music that aren’t just, you know… one particular style,” Diamond Youth guitarist Sam Trapkin said when I spoke to him at Strange Matter. “I think when we started, we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do, and we are a little more. I mean, this idea that we had to sound a certain way. [We’re] just more open to not having to sound a certain way, just kind of letting things happen.”
Trapkin is also the guitarist of Trapped Under Ice, a Baltimore hardcore band. The hints of the hardcore influence are shown here and there, especially on Shake songs like “Red Water” and “Warm Scene.” These influences mix with catchy, indie-rock sounds, shown on such songs as “Can’t Shake the Feeling.” They even do one of those fast-paced hardcore-ish songs that poppier-sounding bands sometimes throw in as a joke, “Maryland Ice Cream.” It’s kind of like “Maybe I’m the New Messiah” on The Ergs!’s Dorkrockcorkrod, or “Weinerschnitzel” on the Descendents’ Fat EP. “I’ve been in all kinds of bands and speaking for myself, I’ve been writing hardcore music since I was like sixteen in various forms, so I think it’s kind of wired into the way I write personally,” Trapkin said. “Everyone in the band kind has their own little weird thing like that, where they’ve been in different bands… Our singer, Justin, didn’t have [the hardcore] kind of background, and he’s been in more indie bands since he was a teenager, like pop punk bands and stuff, so it’s kind of a real mixed bag.”
“I think there is something about hardcore music that may be cool to think about when you’re writing for other genres,” Trapkin continued. “Hardcore is all about what gets the crowd excited, what makes it exciting when you play live, and being able to direct that kid of high energy and essence of really playing hard. When you watch lots of rock bands now, the drummer’s barely into the drums, and also kind of moping around and kind of weak, you know? If you see us play live, we’re definitely all playing super hard.” The band definitely presented this high-energy up on stage last week at Strange Matter, where they introduced “Red Water,” “Maryland Ice Cream,” and “Can’t Shake the Feeling” from their new album. Some other notable songs included “Sunburn” and “The Feeling” from their 2011 Don’t Lose Your Cool EP, and “Separator” and “Cannonball” from 2013’s Orange EP.
Diamond Youth is currently touring the East Coast with Turnstile, Turnover, Angel Du$t, and Blind Justice. While the range of music from these bands is very diverse, the band members themselves have been friends for a while and even play in each others’ bands. It certainly sends a message to those who think musicians should only stick to one brand of music. “Just between us, Turnstile, and Angel Du$t, it’s a total of like eight people, because everyone is in one or the other one of the bands,” Trapkin explained. “All three of the bands are from Baltimore, and all the people that we’ve been friends or are in bands with for a long time, so half the tour is just really close friends. That’s the coolest thing for me when we were putting this whole thing together… there are these three totally different sounding bands that’s all coming from a small group of people. If anything, that is something that I would like for someone who has never heard of our band to take away from the show–that, you know, you don’t have to be in one kind of band. It’s not wack if you’re a hardcore kid and you’re in a band that doesn’t sound like a hardcore band.”
While Diamond Youth draws a large crowd in many of the venues they play in, they certainly did not become a band with the sole purpose of selling out Madison Square Garden and having a bunch of fangirls. “I think that starting a band now is a lot different than it was… ten years ago,” Trapkin said. “I think that now, you have to start a band with the mindset that it has to be something that you enjoy–and if anybody else likes it, then that’s amazing. I think the fact that anyone can hear your band, and that anyone can upload music, is kind of a jungle. If you’re able to cut through any of that, that’s like a miracle. I wouldn’t expect to. We certainly don’t have big motives here. We just do it because we feel like we have to, and that it’s just fun.”
In fact, Trapkin thinks those who are motivated by money and fame are making a big mistake. “If you start a band now because you think that you’re be the next big thing or make a bunch of money, you are an idiot and you shouldn’t start a band,” he said. “Don’t just start a band because you want to be the next big thing, do it because you really have an idea, and think it’s really important that you make that band. Give a reason for it to exist.”
Diamond Youth will remain on tour through February 15, when they will end their tour with a show in Boston. The band adds a fresh, catchy beat to a music scene that relies on the heaviest sounds and guitar riffs, and I am very excited to see what they will do next.
