Civil Youth have been going non-stop since the release of their album, Who Rescued Who last year, and the chapter for the Philadelphia trio includes a month long tour this august, followed by plans to hit the studio and work on the next release. In between their busy schedule, we caught up with the band and talked about their whirlwind of a year, their recent mashup of Paramore’s “Emergency” and Biffy Clyro’s “Saturday Superhouse,” and more. Read the full interview below!
Interview by Dom Vigil
Can you tell us a little bit about Civil Youth for any readers who may not be familiar?
Civil Youth is an Alternative/Rap/Rock trio from Philadelphia, PA that consists of Michael Kepko on Vocals/Keys, Dan Chapman on Guitar, and Evan Seeberger on Drums.
You guys have been incredibly busy since the release of your second album, Who Rescued Who last year – what has been the coolest or most surreal thing you’ve experienced in the past year?
After releasing “Who Rescued Who”, opening for Twenty One Pilots, and Awolnation at Radio 104.5’s Birthday Show has to be the craziest thing we’ve done yet. It was a goal set out to reach, and we reached it within a year.
Later this summer, you’re hitting the road for about a month on The Evolution Tour. What are you most excited for on those upcoming tour dates?
Just being on the West Coast again is going to be great. It’s such a beautiful landscape out there.
How do you feel you “evolved” between Disguised In Color and Who Rescued Who? How have you continued to grow since then?
From “Disguised In Color” to “Who Rescued Who” the songs are more cohesive to a specific sound, and the songs are more mature. Even compared to this new, unreleased record, the songs are the most in depth, complex they’ve ever been. We think this will be the “one”.
What would you like listeners to be able to take away from your music or live performances?
The meaning behind our lyrics, and our weirdness on stage. It shows our true selves.
You are pretty notorious for your high energy live shows, as well. Why is a fun live presence important to you?
Live shows is where we get to release anything that’s built up within us, and by being ourselves, it creates a stronger bond because people are seeing us for who we truly are.
You also just released a mashup of Paramore’s “Emergency” and Biffy Clyro’s “Saturday Superhouse.” What inspired you to combine these two songs to cover? How have these two artists inspired you?
These two bands inspire us, especially with our unreleased album, so heavily. They’ve been a favorite so we just thought it’d be fun to mash them up. It’s a bit of foreshadowing to our new stuff.
You’ve been teasing at a new album out next year – what has the writing process for those songs been like so far? Is there anything you can tell us about any new music?
We do have a new record set for a release May 2017, and the writing process has been the most different yet. Usually I write all the music, but this time around, Evan is writing with me which is unusual for me.
We don’t want to give anything away just yet, but these songs are the most unique, cohesive, catchiest, and heaviest songs we’ve ever put out.
After you wrap up your upcoming tour dates, what is next for Civil Youth?
After the Evolution tour, we’ll be recording our new record, playing a few one off shows, some live radio stuff then hitting the road again in October for an unreleased tour!
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you would like to add?
::Keep the faith::
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