Words: Michael Rabinowitz

There is a point in every young band’s career — those who are lucky enough to make the leap to a wider, national audience — when playing music in public becomes more than just fun and a means to get free beer and chicks.  The fine line between being your private self and becoming your public self blurs.  Your fans, the press, and your managers all want a piece of you.  Expectations are very high.  The music is no longer the dominant reason you turn the amplifier on or put pen to pad.  Reggie Youngblood, lead singer of Jacksonville’s Black Kids, knows this all too well.  After receiving a glowing Pitchfork review of their free-on-Myspace EP, Wizard of Ahhs, the Black Kids, already youthful masters of the dance-pop genre, became the band du jour, and were swept up in a media tornado via a notorious performance at the CMJ Music Fest in NYC this past October, and an ensuing deal with Quest Management (Bjork, Arcade Fire).  This led to the quickest backlash in blog history, all in response to the hype.  To learn the ropes of music professionalism (or perhaps to dodge the critical eyes of the U.S. press), Quest shipped the group off on a multi-city UK tour.  Now, on their first North American tour (and just days before announcing the group's inking with Columbia Records), Youngblood discussed with REAX the rigors of putting his best game face on for the press, as well as the intricacies of his lyrics and why comedy mixed with tragedy makes beautiful pop music.

REAX: I tried to get an interview with you last year when you played Tampa, but your management said you were prepping for a UK tour and wouldn’t be available.  Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but it was right after your CMJ performance and it seemed they were giving you more time to tour in front of the much friendlier British press.  Was this the case?

Reggie Youngblood: Well, that was sweet of them to look out for us like that!  Laughs  We took a beating in New York (at CMJ), which ultimately was good for us.  I don’t think I would’ve changed anything.  I am kind of pleased that we went to CMJ and we totally … Laughs, we totally sucked.  I think that’s awesome.  It kind of showed where we were at and where we needed to be.  

REAX: Was there anything you learned in the UK?

RY: I think relationship-wise, it confirmed what I already knew.  The five of us are intensely private people and it’s hard to be the best version of yourself on the road.  Laughs  I think that is the main lesson I’ve gotten from it, personally.  I am not a very good person Laughs and it takes some will and self-control to get along even with people you adore.  You know, like show some respect.  The effort.  At least for me.  I am sure some people are fine.

REAX: Is this something you had to work on with management?  That you need to put on a game face with the press and fans?

RY: I can kind of see what you’re saying.  The monotony and the rigors of being on the road do get to us sometimes.  Especially when you’re dealing with press.  Sometimes you are totally up for it, but other times you just aren’t really up for putting on a face.  Especially when it seems like not a lot of effort was coming from whoever was there.  Sometimes you just have an attitude problem.  Laughs  But you know, it varies.

REAX: I understand.  Probably, after a while, all the questions just sound the same.

RY: Yeah, the questions were the same.  And I let it bother me, unreasonably, because I got sick of answering the same questions and I felt like, “Christ, no one is doing any legwork.  They are just asking me things they could easily get.”  At the same time, if someone pulled like a profound question on me I’d probably be annoyed Laughs and forget to give a decent answer.

REAX: Hold on.  Let me cross off some of these questions.

RY: Laughs I should be grateful for questions that I can answer with ease.  

REAX: Well let me throw some questions that are new, at least to you.  First, your lyrics.  What drug did you take in the song “Hurricane Jane” that “feels like karate?”  And, where can I get that drug?

RY: Hmmmm.  It is a drug, whether that be booze or whatever your preference is.  I am pretty conservative when it comes to my intake of most substances, besides some sugar.  And cheese.  But yeah, that is a drug reference.

REAX: Then there is the song “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance.” You have androgynous lyrics, like “you were the girl I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little girl.”  Is this just simple wordplay, or are you referencing something deeper?

RY: It’s definitely a form of wordplay because the alternative is just way too boring.  If I had gone with just the straight version of that, to say “you are the girl I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little boy” is so mind numbingly boring that a simple switch of gender makes it that much more stimulating and interesting.  It’s just a simple little trick.  And it bothers some people, which is fun.

REAX: How does it bother people?

RY: Some people just can’t wrap their minds around the reason why I would say that, even though I’m hardly the first person to play with gender.  There is Prince, there is Bowie, there is Morrissey, they’ve all done it better and more blatantly than I have.  I like that it’s polarizing.  I like that people enjoy the song.  But, there is this one bit about it that makes them uncomfortable.  It’s just kind of off.  I think that since we are so blatantly pop, that we need that element to be there or we would just find it incredibly boring.

REAX: But by being blatantly pop, is it comforting to know that people will listen to the song and gloss right over it?

RY: It gives me pleasure that a simple little thing in an almost generic pop song can make people think about it.  It’s getting a lot out of the medium without doing much work.  Laughs  We work within a certain structure and don’t want it to be too generic.  We usually have to use the words in the song to set it apart.  

REAX: You mentioned Morrissey earlier.  Is he an influence on you and the Black Kids?

RY: He’s definitely been an immense influence on me.  I remember the first time I ever saw or heard of him.   I didn’t know who The Smiths were, but in the mid-‘90s MTV was showing “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get” and Ollie and I used to religiously watch MTV.  So we were together when the video came on and our first reaction to mock it, of course, because we had never seen anything like it.  I realized as we were mocking it the song was quite good and it made an impression on me.
 
REAX: His comedy is just as potent as the self-pity lyrics he puts into songs.  Is that part of the Black Kids wordplay you mentioned before?

RY: I think it’s only because of bands that we were in previously, that in the beginning we were trying to be serious, so sincere.  We wrote some songs that I like, but they just weren’t as fun.  When I started working with Owen ... some humor started creeping in and I found it much more enjoyable to write and it made all the self-pity easier to swallow. Laughs   And, I’d record funny songs for friends for their birthdays, or for girls I’d be sweet on.  Those songs seem to get a better reaction than our serious things.  Also, so many of the artists I was enjoying in my early to mid-20s were hilarious.  Like The Magnetic Fields, Divine Comedy, or The Moment.  It was just a matter of time before I said, “these are the songs I enjoy listening to, I should dabble in that style.” 

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