Conner Youngblood: Interview

We had the chance to chat with one very determined and extremely talented young artist, who we hope already know from our previous reviews. Wobbling electronics, amazing voice and vision beyond the boundaries of music genres. Conner Youngblood.

Hi Conner! First thing is first - how are you and where are you? 

Conner: Howdy! Currently in good ol’ Nashville, Tennessee.

You've just released an EP, Confidence, how does it feel to finally get your hard work out there into the world? 

It’s always a really great, but weird feeling actually. A lot of the songs I’ve been sitting on for a while itching to have people hear them thinking they’re all awesome, and then the second you release it—you want to change things. The best/worst part of releasing something is having to decide its “finished”. But at the end of the day, I love sharing my music with people.

What inspired this album? 

It started with the song Confidence. I had been working on it for a while, and it originally had a completely different name/beat/vibe at the beginning that was boring and uninspired. I went through about 12 different versions, and getting really frustrated with the direction. But then, out of nowhere, something clicked, and the entire song got a makeover—the production, lyrics, and melody. I ended up writing about trying to find the confidence to write the song itself. Mercury and Comatoast then followed in this musical quest for confidence, while Heaviness was actually a song I had written a couple of years back alongside Vegas.

I read in an interview a few years back that your creative process, at least back then, was a sort of pick something that could be an instrument up, play it, record it, repeat. It's all too cool sounding to me, to have an oozing amount of talent and creativity at your fingertips and to be so independently capable of creating a song by yourself. How'd you get to that point? 

That’s still pretty much the process. I’ll loop a handful of instruments over one another until I have something basic enough to sing and write over, and then once I’m in the studio I re-imagine that 5-10 second loop into an entire production with far more detail.

Where'd you learn how to play? 

I guess I’m pretty much self-taught at everything besides the banjo. I’ve taken banjo lessons since middle school, and also had a couple of years of piano lessons in high school. Most of the learning comes from listening to as much music as possible.

Was there any collaboration on Confidence? 

Nope, just me. It can be a frustrating process at times, but it’s pretty rewarding when you’re happy with the finished product.

What's next for you? Any tours? New albums? 

Doing a little 10-date tour in the US later this month through the east coast opening up for Morcheeba. And working on new music as we speak. I’d love to hopefully finish an album by the end of this year, but we shall see.

 I hear you're a Yale kid - have you finished? What's next? 

Yup, Yale was fun, all done. Right now its just music for me.

And, what's life as a musician like in Texas? 

It’s really quiet, which is more my style compared to LA or NY. There aren’t too many distractions, making it easy to focus on writing and recording.

Tell us one random thing that the Stereofox readers can sink their teeth into. 

I really wanted to be a professional skateboarder when I grew up, and then I realized just how scary the tricks got past 180’s.