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It’s been a banner year for the English rock star Yungblud. In the last month alone, he released a joint EP with Aerosmith, titled One More Time, and he picked up his first three Grammy nominations — one for his acclaimed solo album Idols, one for his single Zombie, and one for his emotional performance of Black Sabbath’s Changes at the band’s farewell show this past summer.
“This year more so than ever, it’s been a trip for me because I wrote an album called Idols about looking at a photograph on the wall and turning to that photograph for answers, and realizing the answers really come from within you,” Yungblud tells Q’s Tom Power in an interview. “The real trip about this album was, after it, I got to meet [my idols], and sing with them all, and know them all. The end of the year has come. I’m feeling a million different things all at once.”
Growing up, Yungblud got more exposure to rock music than most kids his age. Much of his childhood was spent in his grandad’s guitar shop in Doncaster, U.K., where he was basically surrounded by walking encyclopedias of rock history and even a few rock legends.
WATCH | Yungblud’s full interview with Tom Power:
“You had all these rock stars coming through this tiny town — that was pretty cool,” he says. “There’s this tiny little market town with a guitar shop on the high street [with] the likes of Noel Gallagher coming through, and Johnny Marr … and Bryan Adams.”
But in the guitar shop, Yungblud was also surrounded by incredible musicians whose music hadn’t yet taken off. They understood how difficult the music business can be for emerging artists, and tried to dissuade him from pursuing a career as a musician.
I cannot dilute myself anymore to try and fit in with modern music.– Yungblud
“I think my dad and granddad were almost like the grim reapers for musicians that couldn’t catch a break,” he says. “I think you kind of look at the posters on the shop wall of like Ozzy and Bowie and Iggy and Lou Reed, and even bands like Slipknot and Korn and Tool, and all these guys that I looked up to. But then, in a more tangible setting, I had the guys who worked in the shop who were from 19 to 40 that I would look up to and be like, ‘What’s it like to play on a stage?’ … To kind of be in this position now is just crazy. It’s a trip.”
WATCH | Official video for Zombie:
‘Depth not dopamine’
When writing and recording his latest album, Idols, Yungblud was adamant he wouldn’t compromise on his vision, like he felt he did on his self-titled third album.
Rather than trying to make a big hit, he says he was looking for “depth not dopamine” — something entirely different from the catchy, repetitive, short-form songs that dominate pop music today.
“I wanted to make nine-minute songs, I wanted to make interludes,” he says. “I cannot dilute myself anymore to try and fit in with modern music, or the modern algorithm, or playlisting, or radio or the modern formats…. When you make a record from your soul and your heart … you kind of can’t lose.”
Watch or listen to the full interview to hear Yungblud talk about his collaboration with Steven Tyler and what he remembers from singing at Osbourne’s last show.
The full interview with Yungblud is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Yungblud produced by Jane van Koeverden.
