Interview With Stu Young of The Outsiders

                    L-R Dan Burmester (guitar/vocals), Stu Young (bass/vocals), Niam Hegarty (guitar/vocals) and Dave McDonald (drums)

Critical Mass: Thanks for taking the time to talk with Critical Mass, Stu. For
the people who may be new to The Outsiders, can you give us a little
history on the band? How did you guy's get together?

Stu Young: We started writing together in May 2008 in Wellington, New Zealand. We
did some rough recordings for fun then recorded them a little better.
At first we had no big aspirations for the band, we didn't even have a
drummer at the time. But once we finished recording we realized the
songs were good and we needed to get something going so we got our
buddy Dave in on drums and started playing shows. Since then we've
toured Australia 3 times, the U.S twice, Germany, Belgium, The
Netherlands, Wales, England plus we tour New Zealand constantly.

CM: What are some of the bands musical influences? And do you
incorporate those influences into your songs?

SY: We're all punk rock/harcore fans, but everyone listens to different
stuff. Niam and I are pop punk nerds, I listen to a lot of old soul
music, Dave is big on metal and Dan is really big on country music. So
there really is a lot of stuff influencing us musically.

CM: Is there a principle songwriter in the band, or do you all take
part in the songwriting process?

SY: We all contribute. Niam, Dan and I all write and sing in the band
which means that when we're focused we can put songs together very
quickly and stuff doesn't sound to similar.. Dave is a very versatile
drummer which helps a lot as well.

CM: The band has been here in the states for about a month now, on
tour. Is this your first tour here? And how has the audience been
responding to you?

SY: We spent 3 weeks here last year, played Fest 9 and did about 10 other
shows. The response we got was great so we decided to come back for a
proper tour this year. I'm not always the best at judging but from what

I can tell most people at our shows enjoy our tunes which is great.
We're doing quite a few shows with Cobra Skulls & Nothington which has
been a blast, those guys have really been looking after us

CM: Your debut EP just came out here in the states recently. And it is
great. Now, all of the tracks were recorded between '08 and '09. Was
this released in your home country prior to it's release here?

 

SY: I mentioned earlier we started recording before we even played a show,
the first 5 tracks on  our debut EP are those particular songs. We
released it ourselves at our first show and got a great response from
the EP, which really encouraged us to push ourselves as a band and
what we are capable of doing.

CM: With the tour underway and the EP officially having a U.S.
release, are there any plans for new material in the near future?
If/when this does happen, will it be released here as well as
worldwide?

SY: Well we have been lucky enough here in the states to have Underground Communique

release our EP, but we also have Anchorless Records
releasing our new album 'Shallow Graves'. Its been great having both
labels happy to release stuff here in the states at the same time and
actually work together to help promote the band. In New Zealand
Deadboy Records will be releasing our 'Shallow Graves' record early
next year, and we'll be working on new songs over summer to try and
get another new release out next year sometime.

CM: After your run of stateside gigs, are there plans for more shows
in other countries?

SY: For sure. After this tour we'll probably work on some new tunes for a
couple months then tour Australia & New Zealand in February/March. The
plan is to do Europe and the U.S sometime in the middle of next year,
hopefully with another new album.

CM: With 2011 coming to a close fast, what plans do The Outsiders have
for the rest of the year?

SY: Firstly, we want to make the most of the rest of the tour we're doing
at the moment. We work extremely hard to do this but we also know how
lucky we are to have these opportunities. Once home, we'll be writing
like crazy.

CM: Is there a website you guy's wanna plug where we can get up to
date news on gigs, releases and merch?

SY: Just hit us up on the evil that is Facebook.

CM: Thanks again for talking with Critical Mass guy's. I love the EP
and I hope the rest of your shows here in the U.S. go well for you.
And I'm looking forward to more music in the new year. All the best to
you! Thanks again.

SY: Thanks Chris, if it wasn't for people like you it would be even harder
for bands like us to do what we love. Cheers!!