Young the Giant Find Success Despite Not Having 'Huge Aspirations'

Once you burn away all the hype, posturing and attitude, rock 'n' roll is first and foremost meant to be fun. As Young the Giant took the stage at New York's Mercury Lounge on Thursday night and tore into 'Apartment' from their debut album, they slowly turned up the heat and dialed up the fun, jumping around onstage and tearing up the set list until the room was shaking.

The thing is, the only way to turn off the fun machine when it's rolling down the road is to simply stop -- and that's what Young the Giant did. Once the final song came to a crashing end, there was a bit of wonton instrument tossing and drum-kit abuse, and then the band just left the stage. That was that. No encore was needed or even expected.

The California-based outfit knows how to punch up the energy level in a room. "We just have a good time. That's kind of the way it's always been." frontman Sameer Gadhia told Spinner. "We never went into it with huge aspirations. We never said we want to be seen, or anything like that. We just want to play. When we go to shows, people are curious, they like the spontaneity of it, they like being caught off guard just a little bit."

Fresh off their first national television appearance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live,' Young the Giant have hit the ground running. "It was kind of surreal, kind of illusive," Gadhia said. "You get there and it's kind of like a small bar. It was a lot like some of the first shows we played, except that obviously there are cameras everywhere." It was a fresh and unique experience for a band that likes to write songs about their experiences. The way things are progressing, they'll have lots of inspiration in the days ahead.

"As a band, in our collective form, it can be really subconscious and spontaneous as to what will influence us," Gadhia said. "It could just be the way our day is unfolding, or it could be a band we all saw together that blew our minds. A lot of our future writing is going to be about traveling on the road."

Even though the band is seeing great success and playing larger venues on their first headlining tour, they still relish playing the small clubs when they can. "That's our bag," Gadhia said. "We love playing the real rock club venues. It's a lot of fun."

Young the Giant Perform 'Apartment' on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'