The four bandmates of the surging British rock band Yuck have a collective age well below a century, yet this band demonstrates an innocent wisdom well beyond their salad days. In chatting with guitarist Max Bloom, it’s easy to embrace the honest intentions behind this band. They compiled a knockout debut album and took SXSW by storm, not because they had grand ambitions of making a big splash on the indie world or getting a buzzy reception from the music media, but simply because they have fun writing and playing music together.
They had some momentum behind them from the previous success of Cajun Dance Party, a band that both Max Bloom and Daniel Blumberg played in, but they self-produced their self-titled album and found joy in the creative process. Yuck makes it easy for people to pull for them, not just because the sound is a throwback to the fuzzy guitar rock of the ’90s, but because they are in it for all the right reasons.
Hidden Track: I know you and Daniel were in another band previously, but listening to this album, it strikes me as one of those albums that is so good in part because perhaps it’s bits and pieces of things you’ve had in your head forever. You know, the old mantra that debut albums are so good, because you’ve had your whole life to work on it?
Max Bloom: Right, with the old band, I wasn’t really involved in the creative part of it. I wasn’t even playing guitar, I was just playing bass. I didn’t really want to be in that band for a long period of time. Although, the majority of what I learned and actually used had really been in the past year. With the album, it was made quite instinctively.
I think debut albums are always quite interesting, because the band makes them without the knowledge that it’s ever going to get heard. A band just makes the music for the joy of it, rather than being at the stage where they have to care. Me and Daniel were kind of just making songs and making music, because it was fun. The idea of people hearing it was definitely not on our minds. I think it was kind of just a selection of songs rather than an album, more of a summary of a period of time.
READ ON for more of Ryan’s chat with Max Bloom of Yuck…