Gang of Youths are an Australian alternative rock band from Sydney, now based in London, that formed in 2011. The group consists of David Le'aupepe, Max Dunn, Jung Kim, Donnie Borzestowski and Tom Hobden.
Their third studio album, Angel in Realtime, was released in 2022 and debuted at number one in Australia and number 10 on the UK Albums Chart. Nominated in three categories at the 2022 ARIA Awards, it won Australian Album of the Year at the 2022 J Awards and was preceded by their comeback single, "The Angel of 8th Ave.", which became their second Australian top 50 single. The album's accompanying EP, Immolation Tape, followed in May 2022 featuring acoustic renditions of the album.
History
2011–2012: Formation
Gang of Youths were formed in Sydney, Australia in 2011, with original drummer, Sam O'Donnell.[1]David Le'aupepe and original lead guitarist, Joji Malani, first met in 2002, both aged 10, attending Hillsong, an evangelical church in northern Sydney. In subsequent years, they befriended O'Donnell and Chicago-born Kim at the church's youth group. Although Le'aupepe described himself during this time as a 'loner'[2] and stated that while "I still align myself with Jesus," he was "just not a great poster-boy for it."[3] In 2008, after leaving his previous school, Le'aupepe started attending the more prestigious Mosman High School, where he continued performing his own songs at school concerts, along with Harley Streten (soon to be known as Flume). Also, at Mosman High was Kiwi Max Dunn, who befriended Le'aupepe during their final year of high school in 2009.
The band's first gig was at Sydney's Hibernian House on 21 June 2012, supporting local band Tigertown. Tigertown's drummer Kurt Bailey was so impressed with the performance that he later became their manager. For the next 5 months, the band practiced and recorded some demos until their next gig in late December of that year. They started playing regular support gigs in small Sydney venues and local community station. FBi Radio began playing some of their demos, including "A Sudden Light" and "Strange Diseases". Word started filtering out about their impressive live show and on 27 February 2013, they played their first headline show, at the re- opening of Sydney nightclub Candy's Apartment. They released their first single "Evangelists" on 16 August 2013 and were featured on national youth station Triple J's Unearthed segment. They then embarked on a national tour, supporting Cloud Control.
2013–2016: The Positions and Let Me Be Clear
They started work on their debut album, The Positions, in 2013.[1][4] In September that year, some tracks were recorded in New York's Marcarta Recording studio with Kevin McMahon.[5][6] By June 2014, they were in the Sony Music Australia recording studios in Sydney.[5] Drums on the album were shared by O'Donnell, Novacastrian Dom "Donnie" Borzestowski as well as session drummer, Joel van Gastel. In October 2014, O'Donnell left the band and was replaced by Borzestowski. Le'aupepe is the sole songwriter and his lyrics on The Positions tells the tale of his relationship with his former wife, her melanoma diagnosis and treatment for the cancer, their separation and his suicide attempts.[6]
In June 2016, a single, "Strange Diseases", was released, followed on 29 July by the six track EP Let Me Be Clear.[12] The 5 original songs on Let Me Be Clear were originally written as part of material for The Positions, whilst the 6th track was a cover of "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell. The band played at Splendour in the Grass in the same month.
2017–2018: Go Farther in Lightness
Le'aupepe fronting the band in 2017.
In February 2017, the band finished recording their second album-- Go Farther in Lightness with a release date announced as 18 August. They then relocated to London amidst issues with the renewal of keyboardist Jung Kim's Australian Visa.[13] In April and May, the band toured the UK and Europe, followed by a June tour of the US. An Australian national tour in September followed the release of Go Farther in Lightness, after which the band returned to London for another UK/Europe tour in October. Three tracks from Go Farther in Lightness were voted into the Triple J Hottest 100, 2017, taking out 2nd, 5th and 10th in the countdown. Their song, "The Heart Is a Muscle", was used by Fox Sports (Australia) to promote the 2018 NRL season.[14]
Gang of Youths toured Australia again from November 2018 on the Say Yes to Life Tour.[18] All 20 shows in the circuit sold out, with over 33,000 tickets purchased.[19] The band performed for six nights at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney and eight at the Forum in Melbourne, breaking both venue records for most sold-out shows on a single tour.[20][21] Further, they supported Foo Fighters for 7 nights in the US during their Concrete and Gold Tour in October 2018, and Mumford & Sons for 16 nights during the European leg of their Delta Tour in April/May 2019, and the US and Mexican leg in September/October 2019.
2019–present: Total Serene and Angel in Realtime
In September 2019, Le'aupepe announced that the band's long-awaited third studio album would be released in 2020. He added that the lyrics of the album will be about dealing with his father's death the previous year. In an interview with Reuters,[22] he stated that: "this record’s gonna be about my father and how he died, and how he lived, and everything I found out about him. That’s the only thing I can really write about. It’s gonna be about him … and about the people I love".
Founding member Joji Malani left the band in 2019.
On 9 October 2019, the band announced that founding member, Joji Malani, would be leaving the band. He played his last gig with Gang of Youths opening for Mumford & Sons in Oklahoma City on 11 October 2019.[23] He was replaced by multi- instrumentalist, Tom Hobden, formerly of Noah and the Whale and a touring member of Mumford & Sons. Hobden played his first gig with the band on 17 February 2020 at Omeara in London.
In October 2020, the band began posting footage to Instagram of them recording their as-yet-untitled third album.[24] A self- produced single, "The Angel of 8th Ave" was released on 15 June 2021, and it was announced that an EP was due for release in July 2021. In an interview with NME, Le'aupepe said that they had "scrapped 2 versions of the album," and it would be released "at some point in the next year or so". A three-track EP, total serene, was released on 16 July 2021.[25]
On 10 November 2021, the band announced their third album Angel in Realtime, which was released on 25 February 2022, alongside a world tour and single, "Tend The Garden".[26] On 1 December 2021, the band's performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired, where they premiered the song, “The Angel of 8th Ave".[27]
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Gang of Youths have won 4 awards from 20 nominations.[48][49]
The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia since 2001.[52] Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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