Gang of Youths
Gang of Youths are an Australian indie rock group from Sydney. The band consists of principal songwriter David Le'aupepe, Max Dunn, Jung Kim, Donnie Borzestowski and Tom Hobden. Kim is Korean-American, Dunn is from New Zealand and Borzestowski is Polish-Australian, Hobden is British, while Le'aupepe is of Samoan-Jewish descent. They are known for their 2017 single "Let Me Down Easy" which became their first top 50 single in Australia. Their debut album, The Positions, peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart in May 2015 and was nominated for multiple ARIA Awards.
Their second album, Go Farther In Lightness, debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in August 2017 and was nominated for eight awards at the ARIA Music Awards of 2017, winning four: Album Of The Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album and Producer of the Year.
History
Gang of Youths was formed in Sydney, Australia in mid 2012, with original drummer Sam O'Donnell. 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' and stated that while "I still align myself with Jesus," he was "just not a great poster-boy for it." 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. 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 he soon 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.
They started work on their debut album, The Positions, in 2013. In September that year some tracks were recorded in New York's Marcarta Recording studio with Kevin McMahon. By June 2014 they were in the Sony Music Australia recording studios in Sydney. 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 deal with his relationship with his former wife, her melanoma diagnosis and treatment for the cancer, their separation and his suicide attempts.
The band performed with Kean Edwards at South by Southwest festival in March 2014. The Positions peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart in May 2015. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015 Gang of Youths received five nominations: Breakthrough Artist – Release, Best Rock Album, Best Cover Artist for The Positions, Engineer of the Year for "Radioface", and Best Australian Live Act for the Gang of Youths National Tour. In December they were recognised as the Live Act of the Year of 2015 and Best Domestic Tour in The AU Review. Their single "Magnolia" came in at number 21 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2015.
In June 2016, a single, "Strange Diseases", was released, followed on 29 July by the six track EP Let Me Be Clear. 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.
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. In April and May the band toured the UK and Europe, followed by a June tour of the USA. 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 to promote the 2018 NRL season.
On 12 March 2018, the group made their US television debut featuring on Late Night with Seth Meyers, performing their single "What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?" In July 2018, the band were the first artist to perform on MTV Unplugged Australia. The concert was recorded at the Cobblestone Pavilion in Melbourne's Metropolitan Meat Market and released on 26 October 2018. On 30 September 2018 they played before the NRL Grand Final in front of a crowd of 82,688 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The band 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 USA and Mexican leg in September/October of 2019.
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 he stated "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 people I love."
On 9 October 2019 the band announced that founding member Joji Malani would be leaving the band. He played his last gig with GOY opening for Mumford & Sons in Oklahoma City on 11 October 2019. He was replaced by multi- instrumentalist Tom Hobden. Hobden played his first gig with the band on 17 February 2020 at Omeara in London.
Band members
;Current members- David Le’aupepe – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano
- Jung Kim – keyboards, piano, guitar
- Max Dunn – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Donnie Borzestowski – drums
- Tom Hobden – violin, guitar, keyboards
- Sam O'Donnell – drums
- Joji Malani – lead guitar, backing vocals
Timeline