Jenny Owen Youngs Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 1st 2010 11:30AM by Hanna Lucas
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Jenny Owen Youngs is a singer-songwriter and a smart cookie. (Though, she prefers cupcakes.) Youngs knows her gangster history, has a way with affixes and shares with Spinner a trick to lengthening and maximizing alcohol consumption -- without suffering from the head-throbbing, stomach-turning consequences that can come along with the SXSW experience. Take note.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Oh, man. I would say I make music that is sort of post-something. Post-pop? Or maybe I just like prefixing things with "post-." God, when people ask me this I just try be basic and say pop-rock, but some songs might sound more like the country music I listen to, and others might sound more like the White Stripes or the Strokes. It just depends.

You're playing two showcases at SXSW: one solo and acoustic, and the other with a band backing you. How did you guys get together?

Myself and two other singer-songwriters, Bess Rogers and Allison Weiss, will be accompanying each other rather than worrying about bringing a whole band. Bess and I went to music school together in New York and have known each other for years, and Allison just wrote an e-mail to me about a year ago and was like, "I saw your blog. We could be friends." And I uncharacteristically gave her the benefit of the doubt and we and our music just meshed so well, so now the three of us are going on tour together.

What are your musical influences?

I grew up listening to oldies radio. A lot of Beatles, a lot of Beach Boys. Then I got into Green Day and Nirvana, like the '90s rock stuff. Then, in college, I was listening to Elliott Smith, stuff like that. Now -- like I said before -- it's the White Stripes, the Strokes and '80s Tom Waits. Ah, that stuff's just destroying my world and I'm having to put it all back together in a totally different way.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Well, it's sunny down there in Austin, right? I get sunburned after like half an hour, so definitely sunblock. Advil. And something that will allow me to drink harder and longer, like Pedialyte, to counteract the dehydrating effects of massive amounts of alcohol.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Oh, boy. So there's a venue called Club Congress in Tucson [Ariz.] that's attached to this hotel, and it's a really cool, really old building with a lot of history. But a lot of people have died there, too. Actually, [infamous bank robber] John Dillinger was staying there when there was this huge fire, and when he fled from the fire was when he was arrested. But, anyway, I digress. So there are all these ghost stories about the place, and we had just played there and were walking around in circles on our floor at like 3AM when we saw this open door. Well, we shut it and kept walking, but when we came back, it was open again. So this time, we locked it, and by the time we came back around, it was open again. OK, I know it sounds lame. But, you had to be there.

What's your biggest vice?

It's definitely a tie between vodka and cupcakes.

Do they go well together?

Unfortunately, they do not go well together, no. Apart, they are two immaculate things. But together, they sort of cancel each other out.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I'm so glad you asked this question because it's so hard to fess up to. But I hear Ke$ha all the time -- everywhere I go -- and it grosses me out. But I, for the life of me, can't stop wanting to listen to it. It makes me so angry, but hey. The heart wants what it does.

Lastly, Beatles or Stones?

Beatles, because I've loved them since I was very small. I know the Stones are more badass, and maybe now that I'm older I should start embracing the Stones, but up to this point I have been a Beatles girl through and through. And I know the cool kids like to hate on him and stuff, but I'm also kind of in love with Paul McCartney, and that's that.

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