In the Green Room: Any Young Mechanic
To blanket label this 5-piece would be a mistake. This expansive poetic-art-folk-alt-rock-honky-tonk project feels like a steady hand on the back, lesson in history and first love all at once, with their debut album The Modern Show is Ruining The Foot.
Image Nash Blight
You’re on the cusp of dropping your debut album The Modern Show is Ruining The Foot, congratulations! Following the reception of your latest singles, how are you feeling about the record finally coming out?
I think the main emotion we’re feeling is relief – we’ve been sitting on the record for almost three years which to us feels like a really long time. We’re so proud of the record and the time in our lives as a band that it captures, it’ll be so great to have it exist the way we envisioned it, as one cohesive work.
How long has this material been in the kitty?
We recorded the album in September of 2023 over three days.
We find a lot of the magic of Any Young Mechanic is within the warmth, rawness and immediacy of your music live. Did this live chemistry influence the way you recorded the LP?
For sure, one of the recording restraints we created for ourselves with the album was to have no cuts or overdubs, so that everything you hear is one continuous performance of a band in a room together. We believe in leaving in the mistakes, both as a way to resist the ideology of generative AI and also because of the character and specificity they add to what a recording of a song is.
Your poetic lyrics are also a staple of any AYM track. If you could pick a few lyrics from a song off the record as your favourites, what would they be?
I’ll go with something that’s not out yet, from a track called ‘Every Time You Put Me Up, I Get Down Some New Way’. “Sense it don’t make / Sane it don’t scan / Why shouldn’t I take you as you am”
Are there any songs off this record you’re particularly excited to see out in the world?
Maybe the aforementioned ‘Every Time You Put Me Up’, and also ‘Atlas, Here You Are’, because we don’t play that one live very often, as it’s quite a reduced instrumentation.
You’re currently on the road again in the UK/EU. Take us through this experience. How has it been touring together?
It’s the best. Touring really dislocates you from your home life in a way that I find to be very positive. You can spend more time with your thoughts through the lens of new places, you get to hang out with your friends all the time and have your encounters with new places together, it’s really special. We’re really excited for some of the EU shows in countries we haven’t played in before like the Netherlands, Croatia and Czechia. And we love to get on the Tube in London, functional public transport - it’s a dream come true.
How have you been finding the reception of the European and UK audiences?
So great; people really listen over here. People are so ready to be enthusiastic about your music and are appreciative that you’re there playing to them. It’s nice to see people in the crowd who we met last year at the shows again, as well as obviously loads of new faces
After your foreign adventures, can Adelaide expect a show in celebration of the release?
We’d love to – someone book us a gig please! But we’ll also be booking plenty of our own DIY shows with some amazing local musicians through caps lock records, which we all help out with! So come to one of those shows too!
If you could build a lineup with any artists on it to complement this record, what would it look like?
Our dream album launch show would be Gilly & Bede, Resting Mind Flowers, Ebop and Nika Mo, basically all of our friends who we made and continue to make our music around and who are a part of our little corner of the music world.
Any Young Mechanic’s The Modern Shoe Is Ruining The Foot is out now via 23 Recordings and Warner Records. Listen here.
