Easy to recognise but not easy to define, creative rockers Youth Sector talk streaming, lyrics and zero-hour contracts

You know if you’ve heard a Youth Sector track. You know if you’ve seen Youth Sector (@youthsectorband) perform. From the moment they burst on to the scene with the 2018 single Dig It And Repeat right through to new EP Quarrels, they have a sound and a look that is instantly recognisable.

While tagged as “from Brighton”, their roots are in Maidstone and Hythe in Kent - they are Nick Tomkins (guitar/vocals), Nick Smith (keys/synth), Josh Doyle (bass), Brad Moore (guitar) and Steve Ray (drums).

Their energetic live shows have seen them on the bills of internationally renowned festivals, from Leeds Fest to The Great Escape to South by Southwest in Texas (yes, in the United States). Using frustration-led social commentary and a healthy musical microscope to pick apart modern personal struggles, Youth Sector have the unique ability to pair tough subjects with upbeat, zest-filled toe-tappers. The sky’s the limit. But they are keeping it real. They are writing, touring and releasing. There are highs and lows: from supporting Kaiser Chiefs this summer to needing a Crowdfunder campaign to get their tour van fixed. They’re doing it all properly. We got in touch to find out more.

Morning guys, thanks for joining us! Are we meeting this early because of the day jobs?

NT: Yeah, unfortunately.

Does that mean you’ll have to take a holiday to do your tour in October?

JD: Yep, but Nick T does freelance music stuff, which sort of allows him some flexibility. And because Nick Smith has quite a niche and specialised role, he has a bit more say about what it is that he works. Whereas the other three of us don’t, we all have to work zero-hours contracts, because that’s the only type of contract that will let you have any time off. And, as I’m sure you can imagine, there’s not too many cool zero-hour contract jobs. So it’s always unpaid.

Ah right! That’s hard! What is the state of play with you guys at the moment?

NT: Were are signed to Dance To The Radio, who are a Leeds-based, small-ish indie label. So we did the latest EP with them and I think we’re gonna do the next thing with them as well. It’s not at levels where we can quit jobs! They’re great, though.

You’ve just supported the Kaiser Chiefs at a couple of gigs - have you noticed a spike in streams off the back of it?

NT: With streaming it’s very difficult to attach numbers to any real-life scenario. It’s not really something where you do a good thing and then the next day or a few days later the streaming numbers are way up. It’s more like, you know, you populate the year with as many good things as you can. And then the cumulative effect of it is hopefully that you’ve gained a bunch of traction over that time.

NS: We did a post about the Kaiser Chiefs gigs and they performed really well, with lots of people commenting saying how much they enjoyed the set. We saw people there who said ‘Well, I never heard of you, but I loved it’. And so it’s nice to feel like we’re getting some new fans afterwards.

Are you religious stream-watchers?

NT: It’s easy to become a stream-watcher, especially when you’ve just put something out. And to an extent it is a metric for something, but it’s best to not really give it too much thought because, ultimately, it isn’t the only thing that demonstrates success. Streaming is such a strange world, with algorithmic plays and editorial playlist things and stuff.

NS: When you see the people come to the gigs, that’s how you know the tracks are doing well. It’s who turns up, ultimately.

That’s refreshing, isn’t it? Releasing a record and then touring the record, going back to the old-school way of doing things.

NT: Yeah, it’s just better. Even when the streams are doing well, the adrenaline rush of seeing that… it’s just like, ‘Oh, that’s good’. But that’s it. Whereas when you play a gig, and you have 30 people at the front that are all shouting the lyrics, that’s a real connection that you’ve made with people and you can see it for yourself and it means something. The classic ways are tried and tested for a reason, it’s a real way of connecting people with the music.

I agree... and congratulations on the EP as well. We’ve seen you described as ‘Post Punk’, ‘New Wave’ and even ‘Art Rock’ - where would you put it?

JD: We have officially discarded ‘Art Rock’!

NT: That Art Rock label was given to us, I think it was by DIY, on the first thing that we put out and I think the only reason was the bass on that song was doing a polyrhythm but not a complicated one whatsoever. So I think just the subtle presence of that made people go oh, this is like some weird stuff.

JD: When people ask in our general lives, I just say ‘New Wave sort of funk’. That’s it, really.

Obviously, the 80s has a significant influence on the music, in the way you guys dress when you’re performing and in the video for Won’t Stop The Wheels. Is there a reason behind that?

NT: Musically, Nick Smith, especially, is massively into 80s stuff. So that kind of works out very nicely for that kind of thing. But then also the clothes. My girlfriend designed the suits. And yeah, I guess the 80s thing comes mostly from the dagger collars coming out over the suits, which just kind of evolved over time because originally we had normal collars but my only mustard shirt happened to have that type of collar.

JD: We used to have these suits with these grey ties and we looked more like Dwight Schrute. Which was cool in a different way.

I saw on your Instagram that the track Benign Fire In A Small Room is about being the last one to notice that you’re not doing so well. How do you dig down to find the lyrics to find the rhythms for that one theme?

NT: I think the lyric process is definitely the hardest bit but also feels the best when you get it right. How it usually works is that at the same time as the track is being written I’ll have, you know, topline melody ideas that go with each section. And when you’re just exploring the melody you just kind of throw random words and phrases down that sound OK with that melody and then it’s usually just a couple of bits pop out and they feel like they fit.

The idea of the song brings itself out once you know which bits and pieces feel right. So it’s figuring out what you want to say and how you want to say it in those early stages, which is the tough bit. And then once the idea clicks, it’s really rewarding to put it all down.

NS: People comment on the quality of Nick’s lyrics, actually, and I feel quite fortunate to be in a band with someone who cares so much about the lyrics and they’re not just a throw-away thing.

And you guys are coming up with some really sort of upbeat, energetic music. Are you not like ‘Oh, Nick, you’re just bringing us down again, man’?

NT: Yeah, I think it’s my job to bring everyone down. The music is quite upbeat. It’s not really a conscious thing, but if I thought about it the other way, and the lyrics were also just celebrating everything being brilliant, I think it would be a little bit insufferable for people.

Especially with how things are at the moment in the country and in the world, people would just be like ‘What world do you live in?’.

Do the band all align on that? Because the songs can be politically and socially orientated. Is that the vision?

JD: Yeah, certainly none of us disagree with any of the messages in our lyrics.

NS: Yeah, I’m fully left-wing and proud and support all the social commentary that Nick puts forward in his lyrics. I felt like, on Benign Fire, it wasn’t overly political but that the lyrics resonated with me quite a bit as someone who’s had to deal with internal struggles and things.

JD: We’re all struggling. It’s left-wing struggle. We’re all hanging on by a thread.

NS: We are ‘left-wing struggle rock’.