Q&A: The younger lovers Brontez Purnell has a little band in California named The Younger Lovers, who play some of the catchiest revivalist-garage around. You might recognise him as Junx from Gravy Train – the electronic-pop group that threw Seth Bogart (AKA Hunx) into the scene. The Younger Lovers’ latest album Rock Flawless is being released through Bachelor records. Their latest video for ‘We Are The Younger Lovers/Keeps On Falling Down’ has been online for several weeks. We managed to catch up with Brontez through the magical power of the internet – we left in the CAPS and exclamation marks!! for your reading pleasure. Where abouts are you based? Oakland, CA BABY!!!!!! Got a day job? I work at a pot club in the Castro. I first found out about you guys after watching Vice’s New Garage Explosion doco. Do you think you guys have a fair bit of a fan base? Our fan base is mostly GIRLS, some hot fags, and strangely HELLA bros that like girls and fags. When Gravy Train wound up, Seth went on to do Hunx with a bit of help from Nobunny. How did The Younger Lovers come about after that dissolution of Gravy Train? I started recording The Younger Lovers in 2006. I finished Newest Romantic in 2007 and it came out in 2008 while I was still playing with Gravy Train – about a year before we officially broke up. Hunx and his Punx followed.
The new video is rad. What other dances aside from “Squash The Bug” and “The Sick Twist” can we expect? THE CARWASH (IT’S D I R T Y). Where can all of us back here in New Zealand listen to your tracks? Newest Romantic is on Retard Disco. Rock Flawless is on Bachelor but not available for download, so ask a friend with Euros to buy it for you. Stay tuned though, we got a hand full of 7 inches coming up... Who are you listening to at the moment? The Raincoats, Martha and the Vandellas’ Shoe Leather Expressway, Deee-Lite’s Dewdrops in the Garden, Dirty Cupcakes (our sister band) and other stuff. Do you know much about the NZ music scene? I only know the Coolies. Do they still rock out????? What does the future hold for The Younger Lovers? Hopefully people actually knowing who the fuck we are.
INTERVIEW BY KEVIN KARTUN
Who’s in the band with you? Do you write and record all of it and Adal is the live performer, or are you both the brains behind this operation? I wrote and recorded all of Newest Romantic, and like 99 percent of Rock Flawless (Mateo played bass on a song, Matthew Melton played some guitar, and this guy who plays congos for my dance company, Tagi Maalik, played on some songs). I always start with the drums first ‘cause it’s my favourite instrument right now. Adal joined about a month ago. Mateo has been my main squeeze for two years. Him and Adal were in a teenage band in LA called Das Mega Cool. I’m about to do two new 7 inches – one I record with the boys and one by myself. I’m such an erratic egomaniacal asshole that I don’t want to damage anyone by having them try to record with me! It could be brutal! Tell us about the new album – is it good plain old garage fun or are you trying to get a bit more emotion and whatnot behind the music? IT’S ALL THAT! Newest Romantic was all about teenage love blues – it’s very wide eyed. Rock Flawless is a bit more bitter and intense and if you can imagine more of a dance party. It’s hard to find any digital releases of any of your stuff. What’s that about? Well Newest Romantic I think is on iTunes. Bachelor put out a limited 300 copy vinyl-only run of Rock Flawless. I’m hoping someone will put it out in America so it’ll go to iTunes or something, or people could just order it on the internet. Everything has to be so instant now. Burger Records is gonna put out a tape of it soon I hope. I remember being a Kill Rock Stars mail-order rat and waiting three or four weeks for one record! The times they are a-changing... I’m doing a new record on Southpaw next year. I begin recording next month. What do you do when copies are all gone? Maybe someone will reissue it and do the download thing *fingers crossed*. You know what’s fucked up? I don’t even have a copy of Rock Flawless right now!
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A poem from Brontez “Morning Train” (written during a free writing exercise)
Morning Train rolls in Beep! Beep! Over the loudspeaker The conductor speaks “You sir! Who thought it was funny to play at the Edge! I’ve done this job for years and you would’ve been TOAST!” “Toast” - he says (This reminds me that I forgot to eat)