Denver Writes Talks With Austin Young About His Sound, His Influences, and His Heroes

Photo by Jim Mimna

Earlier this week we published a feature article on how Listen Up Denver! is teaming up with Denver Writes and Amp The Cause for a series of interviews profiling several of the artists scheduled to perform at the Denver Day of Rock on Saturday, May 23rd.  For the first piece in this series, ten year old Clary Reichley got to sit down with local Blues guitarist Austin Young to talk about his sound, his influences, and his heroes.

Young, a Colorado native, picked up his first guitar at age 12 and hasn’t put it down since. Self taught, he churns out the Blues and displays his music with electrifying passion that defies his young age. He engages his audience and can match any seasoned performer that currently draws large crowds. His inspirations run the gauntlet of the Blues from historical giants such as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters to contemporary masters like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Currently Austin and his band perform locally and nationally in established music clubs, numerous music festivals, private functions, and special events. He incorporates the sheer honesty of the Blues and performs it with a modern, high energy sound that remains faithful to its traditional roots.

Clary Reichley: Why did you become a band with the musicians from “NO difference”?

Austin Young: Well actually that was an old band of mine called “NO difference” and there’s this thing that makes no difference if you’re young or old to play the blues. So that’s kinda where we coined that phrase. Right now, actually, my band is The Austin Young Band. I’m playing with my friend, Alex Goldberg on bass and my friend, Forest Raup on drums.

CR: How would you describe your sound?

AY: I would say high energy, Blues Rock, with an emphasis on the high energy. That’s the main focus that we try to deliver for each and every show.

CR: Who would you count as major influences on your band?

 AY: There’s a lot of them… I’m a big Stevie Ray Vaughn fan. I’m a big Jimi Hendrix fan. Joe Bonamassa fan. The other guys take influences from Jack White and Bob Marley. So it’s all over the place.

CR: Where was your first gig together and how did it go?

AY: First gig together, oh goodness, was probably in Denver at a place called the Rusty Bucket. It was a really fun show, it wasn’t as tight and prepared as we would have liked, but it was well received by everybody. I thought we worked well together.

CR: Have you been working on any new material lately?

AY: Yeah we have. We got some new original material that we’re gonna play at the festival.  We’re really excited about that. We’re gonna put that out on a new CD coming up. It’s supposed to be released this summer.

CR: What is your favorite venue in Colorado and what venue would you like to perform in?

AY: Well I think the venue that I would most like to perform at is Red Rocks, of course. That was actually where I went to my first concert. I fell in love with it the first time I was there. My favorite place to perform is actually in Winter Park. At a Blues festival called Blues from the Top and it’s in this park in downtown Winter Park and draws in about two to three thousand people. We’re gonna be there this summer again.

CR: How does being a self-taught guitarist effect your music?

AY: Well, learning new material goes a lot slower than I would hope it to be. Our band is focused more on listening than reading charts or reading music. And that’s where I think we get the high energy from because we’re more focused on delivering the energy than being precise on all the notes.

CR: Where do you go to college?

AY: I go to the University of Denver. I’m a marketing major, accounting minor, and history minor.

CR: Who is your hero(s) and why?

AY: Oh man, I have a lot of different heroes. I would say guitar-wise Stevie Ray Vaughn just because I really admire his playing.  And just in general my hero would probably be my mom. She’s actually the manager of the band and she supports me wherever I go and works twice as hard as I do.

CR: Where do you find you write most of your songs?

AY: I actually write most of my songs on the bandstand when we’re playing. You know, it’s something where a riff will come out here and there and then I’ll build on it later. Sometimes during sound checks we’ll just be playing and messing around and develop a song out of it. I find that it’s really hard to just sit down and say “We’re gonna write a song”. It’s just letting that inspiration flow, rather than forcing it, cause if I force it, it just doesn’t turn out right.

AUSTIN YOUNG

Saturday, May 23rd
Welton St. Stage
5:15 – 6:15