The Young Presidents out of New York City are just the band you need to feed your soul with some smooth rock n’ roll. They recently released their new album, Firehorse in May and it has been garnering a lot of high praise for their work. The album which includes both acoustic and electric and was self produced by Mitchell Kaneff and Jake Hertzog. We had the chance to chat with guitarist Jake and are pleased to bring that interview to you here:
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Music Junkie Press: Thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with us here at Music Junkie Press. Now Firehorse has been out for several weeks now. How has it been to have it released?
Jake: We are so excited. This record was a long time in the making and we recorded it at different locations and at different time, and worked through so many songs to get to what this album was. So we are just so happy to have it out and at the same time promoting the music and working on our next project.
Music Junkie Press: Yes, I have to tell you, the response has been great and so well received. You guys have had a couple shows out there, that were awesome. Loner is starting to hit radio play which is very exciting.
Jake: Ya, we are definitely excited about that, for sure. And we are looking forward to continue to push that and definitely try to get out to the West Coast in the early fall.
Music Junkie Press: So you will be coming out here for a tour in support of the album?
Jake: Yes, as much as we can. I think so. It is just getting all things worked out at the moment.
Music Junkie Press: Now, you guys delivered 10 tracks that are emotionally driven, and so vibrant with energy. How was the recording process for you, was it an emotional process?
Jake: It absolutely was. The acoustic side of the record, we recorded in a house on the Stagg Harbor. We set up and took it over like a recording studio and we had one theme for that; which is this slow deterioration of a relationship. And the electric side of the record is really, all the songs related to a very dear friend of the band who left us all to early in this life. So that was very charged emotionally, heavy experience for us writing those songs and then rewriting them, rewriting them over a course of a few months, then finally getting into the studio to record them. And now having them out has been again a part of that process. So this record is probably the most personal music that we have made together so far.
Music Junkie Press: Yes, you can really feel it. It bleeds a lot of emotion, raw honest emotion, which the listeners love to connect with that. But not only that, it is feel good music! Which we love and we need more of these days.
Jake: Thank you. That is one thing, that is an attitude that we try to carry into our music itself, no matter what kind of songs they are. We really feel so lucky that we can wake up and play music everyday, so there is something joyful about that, that we try to reflect in everything we do; the playing, the recording, the writing, and hopefully the promotion as well.
Music Junkie Press: Yes, very true. When you played your shows in Brooklyn, was there any particular song that you couldn’t wait to play live and excited for the fans to hear?
Jake: Well, I was very excited to play our singles live. We have had some success online with our song, Where Do the Angels Go? And also Loner. So I was definitely excited to play those. But we have also been having a great time rearranging a little bit the live versions of Early Exit and Diamond Fix which are pretty powerful live.
Music Junkie Press: That is great. What is your next plan, now with the album out and several new shows, what are you guys working on next?
Jake: Well, we actually have a group retreat coming up to work on some new music, next month. We are going up to Woodstock, New York area and lock ourselves into a room for a few days and work out some new songs. It is something that we have working on trying to put together for a while. We have always talked about doing it, so we are excited to actually do that. Our opinion with The Young Presidents is that the creative process never stops and it is always important to continue working on the band, working on the sound, working on the material, so we are going to launch right into that, now that the record is out.
Music Junkie Press: We love it, we appreciate your dedication to your music and love it!
Jake: Absolutely, that is the artistic journey, right?
Music Junkie Press: The neat thing is that the fans get to follow along with you guys on the process.
Jake: We definitely expect some fun to follow, with updates from that excursion.
Music Junkie Press: The neat thing is also that you guys put out the album on vinyl as well.
Jake: Yes, that is something that we are all passionate about. All passionate about sound, authenticity and the way that the listeners experiences music and in this day and age where the music consumer has so many options, what music to get, how t get it, where to get it. Sometimes the quality gets overlooked so we feel like putting that on vinyl guarantees that we are going to have a say in the way they experience our music. We can show them that vinyl sounds really good, and is something that we are excited about with this project.
Music Junkie Press: Yes, and you guys self-produced this album as well?
Jake: Yes, we had two albums that we did over the past few years, on one we worked with the wonderful and talented John Agnello and on another one, we worked with Grammy winning Rob Fraboni. They both had two very different approaches but they were both also, what I would call “song centered producers”. So we really felt like we learned so much from those guys that we wanted to try giving it a go ourselves, because we really knew exactly what we wanted to do sound-wise and production-wise on this one.
Music Junkie Press: It is great to be fully involved in the process and doing it yourself, brings a whole new level to yourselves with your music.
Jake: Yes there was one more level of intimacy there with the music and you are not A/B’ing every decision in the studio with another person. So we were very lucky that between all four of us, we had all sorts of different musical experiences that we were able to pull together for this and I will also certainly give a shout out to our incredible engineer, the great Ted Young here in Brooklyn.
Music Junkie Press: Your music brings out a variety of influences. You guys pretty much have to have a huge collection of musical influences to bring so much together. How is that on your personal playlists, it must jumps from each genre?
Jake: Ya, I think we are pretty diverse in our taste. We love everything from be-bop and jazz fusion to hip hop and classical music, and certainly classic rock, and slightly post-grunge alternative rock movement. So we have a lot of these different places where we have found common ground as a band, and those are the things we continue to work out in our writing and music creation process. One of the things we pride ourselves on is that we can rock out really hard like a punk group but we can also play intimate acoustic music and we can jam out like a jazz fusion band, I think that is something special about this group.
Music Junkie Press: It is, it also opens up the listener to other styles of music and that is what we appreciate about your music. You invite the listener to appreciate all styles of music and music as the art form. We love that about The Young Presidents. So you guys will be coming out here in the Fall?
Jake: Yes, we are looking at some dates in early fall, probably October. You will definitely be the first to know, we would like you guys out there.
Music Junkie Press: Great, we look forward to it. Lastly, is there anything you would like to share with your fans and our audience?
Jake: We are just so grateful to be doing all of this. Head over to our website at TheYoungPresidents.com and add us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, keep watching because it is a hot time for us and we are really excited for what lies ahead.
Music Junkie Press: Thank you and we will make sure to share all of your social media links. Take care and we will see you in Fall.
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Make sure to visit their social media sites so you can stay up to date on all of their latest news. We look forward to catching them live in the Fall.
~ Marisol
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