um Daniel Ricardo features on the on the record the F1 driver how the hell did that come about
and why is my question if either you're like in the studio and needs some energy
that's the guy you need to call so we started recording without any songs we hemorrhaged
our the money so the record company give you a budget yeah yeah basically you're
supposed to go oh we blew it we blew the whole budget and then we had to go and basically get
our own space we made it ourselves learn how to produce we engineered it we would
um we did an entire night on strings and I'd put the mic upside down it was wrong 100 True like
literally and Tom and I had to redo the entire thing well Tom did I was just pressing buttons
welcome backstage to the Isle of Wight Festival it's Ben Barrel here and we're joined by Max and
Tom from gang of youths thanks for having us hello how's it going excellent yeah we just
finished our set I know it had some technical problems but I hear you won the day in the end
you've got going rather slowly but we're grateful people started technical problems have you find
someone in me it's always Max's fault basis it was Tom's attitude actually but we our
that we say technical issues but Tom was just Thomas
insert word of choice okay good well self-censored there that's quite impressive Dave's not here so
yeah sorry is this because you're the newest member of the band is this one yeah you know
what I'm I'm so new I literally uh signed on the dotted line only about 20 minutes
ago I'm sorry true sorry really right yeah why so late a lot very long in legal negotiations
what did the induction period involve a lot of checking finances offshore accounts making sure
that everything was it's just due diligence no just we take yeah we're famously unprolific band
um that take forever to make music and do anything remotely but I was counting the days I was on
the job just in case it was perfect and we're going to go bankrupt so it was a great last show
um thanks for having us Isle of Wight and absolute radio what was it like going from one big band to
another because you obviously you know in the world yeah yeah is it is it weird joining a new
band or were you I'm guessing you're friends before yeah so I actually met yeah I was in
another one before and then I was on tour in Mumford and Sons for five years okay and I
met these guys on the last year of touring we did like a European tour and then a US tour together
and at the end of that US tour which was also the end of the Mumford cycle they asked they asked if
I wanted to join oh so they came to you I mean we stole Tompkins I got headhunted on transfer
deadline day yeah big money deal yeah yeah um can we talk about the Maguire of of them yeah
in real time which is uh one of our favorite albums um we played a lot of traction on on air
and it sounded so great thanks so much cheers it was such a personal personal record for for David
was it difficult for you guys to kind of join that Journey with him or was he quite open about it I
guess we all had slightly different roles in it all I I was the new guy so I was sort of feeling
out um how the band operated and how it worked and then obviously with the the heavy subject matter
around a guy a father that I never actually knew he sadly passed away before I joined the band so
yeah I was learning a lot as these songs were materializing I was learning about him and who
he was and obviously how much he meant to Dave and and the rest of the guys Union for years
yeah it was that's that's actually interesting he said that um no um tats was like a father to
everyone in the band um used to cook us chicken every Monday night we played in dad Dave's Garage
um but I know it's sort of like being brought into the story and I think of Dave
um he wishes he was here he's just his voice and he's really tired um but he would say that it's
supposed to be about anyone's dad as well yeah it's like your connection to your father and
family and we went out to New Zealand aotearoa did some recording there um with the Auckland
Gospel Choir tunnel portal like um indigenous New Zealand music um so to see that side of Dave's dad
and to feel some of that out um with different people from different backgrounds what's real
cool you know what I mean so I feel like we dived into that history yeah yeah as a group
it's nice that you knew him as well and you could kind of offer that perspective too um was Dave I
I read that he was writing the the album kind of right up to the last minute absolutely how last
minute we're talking on the day it's delivery day finishing the album yeah yeah he hadn't recorded
the vocal well he's still writing lyrics yeah yeah coming up with it are you kidding five A.M
he's the kid that like you know gets told about the homework that's doing in a month and he's like
the label team agents manages everyone it's like gentle parenting you know what I mean it's like oh
that deadline oh don't worry man um because it's just not how we respond but yeah Davey
um he always comes through man yeah so you finished all your parts and you're just waiting
for him yeah dude honestly the process was so garbled so good that's a really good process
it was not cardboard it was all back to front like so we started recording without any songs
we hemorrhaged our the money yeah we spent all this money in fancy studio so how does it work
they could have bought we honestly came out we spent all of our money for the record without a
single song The Record Company give you a budget yeah yeah basically you're supposed to go oh we
blew it we beat a whole budget and then we had to go and basically get our own space we made it
ourselves learn how to produce we're to literally we engineered it we would um we did on time on
strings and I'd put the mic upside down it was wrong 100 True like literally and Tom and I had
to redo the entire thing well Tom did I was just pressing buttons this just proves you don't need
the record company now so wow this is an official that's like enough record company exclusive um
um Daniel Ricardo features on the on the record the F1 driver how the hell did that come about and
why is my question it was Tinder right uh he's an old he's a friend of Dave's right that's Aussie's
mate you know just hanging out overseas they all know each other don't they just let you know the
Aussies you know who are annoying and all hang out and um do stuff together even though they've moved
over the outside of the world yeah that still applies to like brilliant people like David
yeah they just all hang out but what uh what was he was he percussion on the record I mean yeah he
played a single snare here it was like a flany's got the songwriting credit in this I'll be furious
um that's another legal Discovery I I yeah no Danny's just the best guy in the world bro it was
good great Cameo if ever you're like in the studio and needs some energy that's the guy you need to
call like a hype man yeah he's just incredible just a bundle of joy and if he gets a shout out
in one of the lyrics as well yeah he does anyone who watches that stuff and thanks that guy's fake
is an idiot total [ __ ] Danny is he's beautiful yeah okay and he's becoming amused by all accounts
now oh in many ways um just want to finish up by asking you uh what you guys are listening to right
now because it's always interesting to get kind of artist's perspective on on songs or albums or
artists they love into is there any particular importance we're sending each other nerdy like
articles and videos about micro tones I watched this weird video of like a harpsichord that had
some of the black notes had two they were like the key was like split in half so if you played
a G major uh G Major scale it's probably wrong basically you had to play that either that one or
that one depending on what key you were in right and it was wildly different note but it sounded
right in the scale it's the most decent answer of the weekend and also I love farm to table by part
two strange that was my favorite oh yeah that's great and it makes me feel a lot of emotions
you can't plug they're better than that plug away come on it's a beautiful uh electronic
classical record um that Tom did with us for now it's incredible you're a [ __ ] if you don't
listen to Peter Alexander p-e-t-r-a-l-e-ess there's a lot of other music out there you
could links in description yeah uh Max and Tom thank you very much thank you dude appreciate it