Dominic Harrison, known more popularly as Yungblud, is probably the only artist right now who cites both Arctic Monkeys and Eminem as influences, and isn’t afraid to wear a dress onstage. The English 21-year-old’s unique combination of punk rock and hip hop has caught the eyes of everyone from Dave Grohl to Billie Eilish, and – more importantly – perked up the ears of young people looking for salvation in music. Our music editor Kat Manos called up Yungblud for a quick chat about his upcoming US tour, why both music genres and gender have become obsolete, and the most important social issues worthy of everyone’s attention right now. Yungblud holds nothing back – and even drops an exclusive about another upcoming tour and new music on the horizon.
Hi, Dom! It’s so great to get to talk to you today because I’m actually a big fan. The first time I saw you was last October at Dave Grohl’s Cal Jam Festival.
Hi, Kat! Oh yeah man, that was so fun. We loved that show.
It was so great. I wanted to start out by asking you about your live performance and really how you conceive of it. All of your shows are so energized and electrifying, and I was wondering how did taking that approach to performance start? It is a conscious effort, or something that comes more naturally to you?
I think it’s the most natural thing in the world to me. It’s where I can be myself mostly. I feel more like myself onstage than I do in real life. It’s a moment where I can be myself and connect to the people who are my family in a way where no one can touch us or hurt us. This level of freedom is unattainable in real life. I look at the community that’s been built so quickly around what Yungblud is and it’s kind of blowing my mind every day.
I craved so much to belong somewhere my whole life, and now I feel like I finally do. That’s why every night I give everything I do. It’s almost like a survival instinct. Because if this ever went away, I would fucking die. I’m like a shark – if you ever stop moving, then you die. It’s the same with this. When I started this project, I was genuinely suicidal and genuinely didn’t belong anywhere. I didn’t believed I belonged on this planet, so I started putting music out there and hoped to find a community purely selfishly initially. But then it became less and less about me and more and more about them. It is a matter of life or death for me. It’s fucking crazy.
You can really feel that energy from the crowd at your shows. It really does feel much more than a performance; it feels like a lifestyle. You always plant a kiss on the lips of your bandmate during “King Charles” and I always wonder what’s the motivation behind that. It feels like you’re trying to say something.
It’s a representation of equality no matter what. I came from a very backward town. At the end of the day, our version of punk is not to divide people, but unite people together and spread love instead of spreading hate. So many people spread hate, so I kiss my guitarist onstage as a representation of modern culture and love, I think. It wasn’t that thought-out at the start, but it means so much to people now. It’s liberation, 21st century liberation – I think that’s what it represents. You can love anybody no matter where you’re from or who you are, you deserve to be loved and you deserve to love back.
Yes, there’s seem to be a great freedom to the kiss. It feels like an artistic choice, but one that has meaning.
Yes, freedom, that’s what rock ‘n’ roll is, isn’t it? That’s what music is. To unlock a sense of freedom you can’t obtain in real life.
I know exactly what you mean. I think that’s really true in your music, as well. It’s simultaneously very rock ‘n’ roll and punk, but also hip hop. I know you’ve spoken about how Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Eminem have been really big influences for you. The melding of those genres feels so fresh and new. Was that purposeful in writing your music, or accidental because those are genres you really like?
I think I wanted to give rock music another voice and come at rock music from another angle because I believe rock music is isolating itself quite a lot. It’s definitely separated itself from the rest of the world because the majority of it isn’t moving with the times. I think the thing about it is that rock is kind of intertwined in my blood. I grew up with a guitar. The guitar was the first instrument I ever picked up, but I found hip hop music myself and started taking ownership of it.
I grew up in a home where rock music was primarily the music that we listened to, but hip hop was mine. At the end of the day, I think genre is becoming more obsolete every single day. So what makes Yungblud is what I represent [with those genres]. I always want it to be more than just my music, but my lyrics and my stories and kind of the energy. You can tell it’s a Yungblud record not by the guitar and the drum kit and the blah blah blah, but because of what I’m saying and how it’s delivered.
I totally agree. That kind of leads me to my next question: you’ve said that you really love speaking out and challenging the status quo. It’s really clear that you talk about important social issues in your music [note: “Machine Gun (Fuck the NRA)” is a popular track off his debut, 21st Century Liability], but what do you think is the single most important social issue that warrants further discussion right now? What feels the most vital and timely to you?
I mean, I wrote a song about it – I think gun violence is still a massive issue that needs to be the forefront of everyone’s mind right now. Again, look at what happened in Colorado the other day. It’s so funny, I looked at the news and went, Okay thank god only one person died. Isn’t that fucking crazy? I looked at the news as a fucking young person and went, Only one person died. It’s horrendous in this day and age that I can say that it was only one person. I was ashamed at myself. It ate me up for hours. That’s a massive issue that needs to be talked about on a global scale.
And to be honest, I think liberation in the LGBT community is still a big issue that still has a backwards mentality towards it. We are moving towards equality in marriage, which is an incredible thing, but moving toward a nonbinary culture and trans rights need to be fucking talked about. To me, gender is becoming just as obsolete as genre. I think we’ve been taught in society, and we’ve been conditioned, even in the clothes we wear that a girl should wear a dress because it will put a trigger in a man’s brain that will say, She has a vagina and she can make a baby. Or a man gets put into clothes so it triggers something in a girl’s brain that says, Okay this man can give me a child. I think that’s fucking wrong. I think you should be free to love who you love and speak more about that and be who you are no matter what you are.
You definitely do challenge those gender roles in your live performance. You wore pink at every show during your last tour and that felt very pointed at well.
100% and I’m wearing a dress onstage this tour. I’m wearing one every single night this tour.
It’s definitely the 2019 version of fuck you, I’m going to do whatever I want.
That’s what I’m saying. A lot of people misunderstand me for a bratty kid who’s disrespecting an older generation. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the people who do that almost skim-read my brand. Everything I do has a lot of thought to it. I’m a liberal. I want to provide liberation not just for young people, but for people in general. I ain’t disrespectful. I ain’t saying to say fuck you to your parents or fuck you to an older generation – that isn’t me. I’m saying fuck you to the people who are holding back a liberal future because they can’t fathom it.
You’re kind of talking about this a little bit already, but how do you feel your music specifically can really help these social issues come to light?
It’s an access point. I always do a trojan horse, mate. I don’t want to be a 70-year old bloke in a Def Leppard t-shirt singing songs about Margaret Thatcher and the good ole days. I hate that. It’s all a trojan horse. I want to fucking jump around and add a fuck-load of fun to it so it gets into people’s heads and gets them to think. I don’t want to tell people what to do, I don’t want to tell people what to think ‘cause I ain’t got all the answers. I ain’t fucking Mahatma Gandhi, you know what I mean? I just fucking want to make people think and make people question because at the end of the day, I want to empower people that they can question because their voice is just as important as anybody else’s.
That’s so beautiful. You’re a little bit younger than me, but hearing artists like you talk about the things you do gives me hope for the future and younger generations. it’s so exciting what you’re doing.
Oh I love my fans so much, I tell them every fucking night.
It definitely feels real when you tell them that onstage. You’re so genuine. My last question to wrap up: you’ve played these massive festivals and you’ve traveled all over the world and you’ve done pretty big collaborations with great artists [note: “11 Minutes” and a cover of Death Cab For Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” with Halsey come to mind], but what’s on the horizon for you?
I am just getting started. That’s the most exciting thing. A lot of people go, Oh you’re doing so well and I go, Cool, I’m not 1% of where I want to be yet. There’s so many collaborations coming with artists you wouldn’t even think. There’s so much new music coming sooner than you may think. We’re announcing another US tour soon to give you some exclusive. My manager is looking at me like, Why the fuck did you just say that? I don’t care – print it, baby!
This tour sold out so fucking quick. My agent said, Let’s just see how we do, no pressure on it. I don’t want you to get your hopes up because some of these markets you haven’t been to. You had big crowds at Warped Tour, but you never know if they’ll come back. But the tour sold out in five minutes. I’m just getting started, I’m gonna put more music out. Build a culture man, that’s all I’m bothered about. I’m not arsed about how many fucking plaques I got next to my name or whatever. I just want to build a culture of people who genuinely believe the same things and fight. For me, it’s not about record sales; it’s about how many people I walk out to.
This interview has been mildly edited for clarity.
