Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

Conversation With: Night Beats “We’re just playing music that makes us feel good”

what youth night beats music

Danny Lee Blackwell, singer and guitarist of the soul/psych band Night Beats, chooses his words wisely. He speaks softly, humbly, almost like a musician who’s been asked the same question one too many times. And with good reason. The band he formed with drummer James Traeger back in 2009 has been incredibly busy lately, and getting some much deserved attention. Just last year, they snatched up new bassist Jakob Bowden, signed to Heavely Recordings and dialed in a killer new album, Who Sold My Generation. “The point of it I guess is to open your mind a little bit more,” said Blackwell of the title, “and think about what those words mean. If you turn on the radio, the kinda music that’s blasting on the radio, you really gotta question, ‘Is this what we’ve come to?’”

Last week, before the start of a two-month long European tour, I crashed Night Beats’ green room and asked them some questions about their soul influence, psych music and the state of our musical generation. And, of course, their new album. Read below and enjoy. –Maya Eslami

What Youth: “Night Beats” is a Sam Cooke reference. How and when did you guys get into soul music?

Danny Lee Blackwell: My sister showed me Sam Cooke when I was in middle school or something like that, 12, 13. She had this whole collection, Sam Cooke CD Anthology thing. From there, I got into a Ray Charles kick, and then from there started looking at Doc Pomus and the writers’ of those guys, and one thing led to another, and it just stuck.

James Traeger: I kinda came to it late, but it was Sam Cooke that got me into it. I saw some documentary about him on VH1. I was like 18 or something. A lot focused on Sam Cooke, and it’s just coincidence I guess that I ended up being in a band called Night Beats.

Danny: It’s kind of a hidden meaning. A lot of people when they hear [Night Beats], they don’t really make the connection because, you know, we play loud rock ‘n’ roll. But there’s elements of R&B and soul in there. The reference we get compared to a lot is 13th Floor Elevators. And it comes down to the fact that Roky Erickson was trying to sound like James Brown, in the middle of Texas. It was really unheard of. He had this band called the Spades. And then Tommy Hall (co-founder of the Elevators) basically got it going. If you know they were trying to do the James Brown thing, it makes sense.

Do you like that reference? When you guys started, you were sounding a lot like 13th Floor Elevators.

Danny: It wasn’t necessarily intentional, but yeah definitely.

Do you feel like it was a product of being in Austin, the psych influence?

Danny: Sure. We’re more inclined to be into that kind of music because we’re from Texas and Texas has such a rich, long history of soul music and rock ‘n’ roll and blues, where it permeates through all different things. There’s just so many, Golden Dawn, Elevators, tons. All over Texas. Dallas, Deep Ellum. There was a place to go for musicians. You know, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blind Lemmon Jefferson and all those guys got their start [here].

James: I listened to a lot of Elevators and Golden Dawn, that’s kinda where it ends as far as the Austin psych stuff, for me.

How do you guys feel about being referred to as a psych band?

Danny: I don’t really care too much about it. There are great things that are misidentified. That’s the thing. Psychedelic – if you’re trying to define psychedelic, you’re getting the message wrong.

Jakob Bowden: You’re missing the point.

Like people throw it around too easily?

Jakob: Yes.

Danny: Yeah, absolutely. But you know, everything gets misconstrued. Rock ‘n’ roll became rock, and then there’s a new term, and ten years later there’s another new term for it. When Chuck Berry was doing what he did, I don’t even know if there was [the term] rock ‘n’ roll. He kind of coined that phrase. I don’t think there was that movement going on at that time. And it’s nothing like, “We’re not psychedelic, we’re not this and that.” We don’t really care what you call it. We’re just playing music, you know, playing something that makes us feel good

 The new album Who Sold My Generation is great. And Jakob’s in the band now. How was the recording process like?

Danny: It was the first time we were out of Washington to record. The cool part was that it was recorded a lot quicker than the other two albums, so we were able to do it within a short period of time. And it was a cool experience once we had the help of our producer Nic [Jodoin] and Robert [Levon Been] of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. All those guys were really instrumental in forming the ideas and putting the period at the end of the sentence. And we have Jakob. Jakob’s a songwriter in his own right, he’s doing great. Having someone [in the band] who made music that I already liked and had a deeper connection with, it’s mental. It changes the game.

James: It’s an all new wave to ride.

conversations with night beats towelhead

You said it was your first time recording outside of Washington. What was it like recording in Echo Park?

Danny: It was great.

James: The best part about recording in Echo Park was that there were actual windows and sunlight. In the past, we were in warehouses that had no windows, no light. There was no light at all. Just recording in darkness, versus light.

How was collaborating with Robert from BRMC?

Danny: It was a crazy experience because I’m a big fan of his work. He took so much interest in it that I didn’t expect at all.

How did that happen?

Danny: It was actually through Nic. We were planning on just doing it the two of us – me and Traeger here – and eventually we had to put the bass down. And he was like, you know, Robert has shown interest in collaborating before, like with this other group I had, the UFO Club, that he had reached out to try to work with. So by the time we came out [to LA], he was available. He had some time. So we sent over some demos, and he came back with all this feedback. And that was just incredible to see. He was there every day. We showed up and he was like, “Show me what you’ve worked on.” And I was really impressed. It was a big honor and pleasure to have him. He did things I would’ve never thought of.

Tell me about the title. Is there a message behind Who Sold Our Generation?

Danny: It’s not a question, and it’s not really a statement. It’s more of an opinion, a voice of an opinion. The point of it I guess is to open your mind a little bit more, and think about what those words mean. If you turn on the radio, the kinda music that’s blasting on the radio, you really gotta question, “Is this what we’ve come to?” We came from a time where Chuck Berry was on the radio.

James: Is this the kind of music you want people listening to? What’s on the radio right now? I’d say no. Is that the message you want to have as a generation, as people, as musicians?

Who Sold My Generation is out now on Heavenly Recordings. Buy the album now on Amazon here. http://www.amazon.com/Who-Sold-Generation-NIGHT-BEATS/dp/B0172LXJEI

Conversation With: Zion Wright Rolling Through the Playground

Zion Wright knows what’s up.  The 20-year-old is no stranger to traveling abroad and searching for spots to stack some clips, especially around Los Angeles’ diverse terrain. Between skitching cars, getting slingshotted into traffic and doing back threes up and down Melrose, Zion, and Alex Midler, linked up with some friends from the night before…

Conversation With: Mollie Moore Drawing New Lines of Inspiration

Mollie Moore is passionate about her work. While the mediums may change from graphing to garments, her approach continues to expand the human experience. Mollie does that well, her eye is keen for style and her hand delivers in detail, her impatient curiosity keeps her exploring new destinations abroad. While at her home in Long Beach,…

Conversation With: Josh Harmony A Peek Into His Mind

Josh Harmony is softspoken and shares kindness wherever he may roam. He’s a skateboarder, musician, artist, Dad, and a spiritual human who loves humanity. So we kicked it at his pad, rolled some tape and asked him some questions about skating with Toy Machine, growing up, playing in Freckles, and how can creatives help make the…

Conversation With: The Chats Into the World of These Lads

The Chats are an Australian band of quick wit who know how to leave an impression and start a pit. There’s no doubt about that. A field correspondent named Caroline Peacock spent some time with these gentlemen to see what they were up to while at a show in Washington D.C. Together they talked about…

Conversation With: Launder Dog Walks, Breakfast Tacos and Freeing From Distraction

John Cudlip is the mind, and voice of Launder. When we arrived at his house in Silverlake, we were greeted by his dog Dita. Inside is a home studio, nestled with a range of books and records that age like fine wine. So we hung out on the couch to dive into his to past youth…

Conversation With: Ceramic Animal Love Pits at Chain Reaction

It’s not every day you run into a five-man brotherhood from Philadelphia that has a range of wild keys and smooth vocals all at once. A few nights ago, this handful of feral gentlemen stopped in Anaheim amidst their tour across the states that gathered the likes of youth at a cozy little gem in…

Conversation With: Jake Selover Welcome’s Newest Export

Jake Selover is from Bend, Oregon where the pines scrape the sky. There is green stretched for as far as the eye can see and Jake rips urban terrain wherever it lies between the lush of Bend. Rain or shine, his approach remains speedy and kinda mind-bending on transition. So we asked him about what’s…

Conversation With: Kai Borg The Interview

Kai Garcia embodies respect. A respect well earned and honored. But much has changed for Mr. Garcia in recent years as different things took on new meanings and what used to be important in life just wasn’t anymore. Kai has been going through some significant life changes, some documented, some not, so we jumped at the…

conversation with gun outfit

Conversation With: Gun Outfit Their new album Out of Range is out now on Paradise of Bachelors

Gun Outfit’s rehearsal space is down a long driveway next to the Collar & Leash in Silver Lake. There’s a table out front, with swivel office chairs lined up all around like some super chill conference room situation. I met the band here on one of those sweltering October afternoons where you just wanna curl…

Conversation with: Guantanamo Baywatch One of our favorite bands may have the world’s craziest tour stories

Guantanamo Baywatch are a touring machine. These road dogs know van life better than any other band, and have the stories (and nightmares) to prove it. And boy are they down to prove it. I stood outside the Echo with Jason Powell, Chevelle Wiseman, and ChrisScott one warm and sticky night in Los Angeles, and…

what youth conversation with fat tony

CONVERSATION WITH: FAT TONY Crap hustler Tony Accosta gets real with a real one

Houston born Anthony Obiawunaotu aka Fat Tony is well fed but not fat. He’s a genuine human on and off the stage, a punk at heart with Houston hip hop running through his veins. He’s not afraid to smile in a very serious ego driven Hip Hop world. Everything’s bigger in Texas especially Fat Tony’s passion for living…

what youth conversation with QTY music

Conversation With: QTY And listen to a first taste of the NYC-based duo’s single, “Michael”

New York has always had it’s own sound in music. The Velvet Underground, the Ramones, New York Dolls, and countless other influential bands that’ve paved the road for contemporary artists. But that doesn’t always mean bands want the reminder of that paving. Enter NYC-based duo QTY – pronounced Q.T.Y. – who can’t help but bring…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.