Peter Daltrey & Damien Youth

Damien Youth Interview

Peter Daltrey's collaborator on the 'Nevergreen' album is the brilliant singer / writer / multi-instrumentalist from Hammond, Louisiana, Damien Youth. Damien kindly found the time to speak to Sunnyside Circus and offer his thoughts on this project.

SUNNYSIDE CIRCUS : How did this collaboration spring into existence?

DAMIEN YOUTH : I'd like to say that I grew up listening to Kaleidoscope and met Peter in a smoky pub, we drank for hours and then he invited me back to his place where we wrote and recorded NEVERGREEN in two blurry evenings. Then we parted ways quickly as we were both uncomfortable with goodbye's, do we shake hands? High five? Or kiss like naughty boys? Instead I'll tell you the sterile truth. I had recently acquired the first two KALEIDOSCOPE LP's. I loved them! I didn't grow up with them but I knew that if I had they would have been in the top 20 bands of Damien's ugly little life. Then I heard FROM HOME TO HOME!!!! My God!!!! I was excited so much I played it over and over. Then, after about the fifth listen I felt sad. I looked at the photo of Peter on the first LP and thought, how sad. He was involved in all of this beautiful music and no-one knows anything about him! I contemplated my own fate (which I hate to do! Usually when I start doing that I have to interrupt myself by contemplating the fate of the fat, one-legged guy that lives next door and drives a tractor for a living!) But Peter looked like an ignored genius / poet who saw everything. I wrote THE BOY IN THE BUTTERFLY SHIRT while looking at that LP cover. Some of that song is autobiographical.

I then went on a cyber-hunt for Peter. I found his site and told him that I had something for him. He gave me an address and I sent the song along with a few others. He blew my mind by writing back with full reviews of each song. A few weeks later, maybe a month, we decided to start collaborating

SC : Did you have much input into the NEVERGREEN story?

DY : Not at all! That is pure Peter Daltrey. I was writing SUNFIELD at the time so I was off on my little space alien trip. I became aware of the story as it unfolded so it played a role in the style of music I sent him. I loved the story so much that I sat down with Peter's lyrics and wrote the music and melody to BETHANY ROSELLA. When I sent my version to him he said "Damien! I don't know if I can sing that epic melody!!" He was being sweet, because he did a great job. Most of the time Peter would abort my vocal melodies and just sing what he wanted over the guitar, which I totally understand as a writer. He had to invent the melody that worked with his lyrics.

SC : Are you pleased with the end result?

DY : Well, if you compare it to THE WHITE ALBUM, it needs work; but if you compare it to the WHITE ALBUM demos then it's a masterpiece. Keep in mind, Peter and I were creating a demo. The goal was to get someone to pick it up and let us record it properly. A lot of people love Peter's new work but hate the keyboards. I'm sure that Peter would rather have a string ensemble, but you work with what you have. Look on the keyboards as a "Mind Orchestra" . I still want to record NEVERGREEN. I wanted to fly Peter to the States, bring him into a little candlelit studio, lots of hot tea, and record the acoustic guitars and vocals. Then add real violins and mandolins. Then, one morning, I'd wake Peter up real early, take him out to a field and record the spoken word bits. It could be brilliant! I would also have loved to do more background vocals. You can hear me on a few songs.

SC : Will there be further Daltrey / Youth releases?

DY : I hope so. I sent Peter a few new songs a while back. It was a departure from NEVERGREEN. It sounds more acoustic pop, with drums, bass and acoustic guitar. I just wanted to throw something different at him. I love NEVERGREEN and I think that the last few songs we wrote were the BEST! We were growing as writing partners even as we wrote that album. Then we stopped after about twenty songs.

SC : Any other interesting points with which to sum up?

DY : I think it's interesting..towards the end of writing and recording with Peter I also wrote and recorded SUNFIELD. Some of that LP was ideas that I wanted to send but then I thought...hmmm? I have words for this one, maybe I'll send him the next one. I almost kept the music to HAMMERS AND NAILS!! That is one of my favourite songs on NEVERGREEN so I'm glad that I sent it. I actually sound like a guitar player on that! You can also hear me singing background on that song, during the breakdown.

I have also fantasized about getting together with Oliver Crumb, going into my Julian Starr mode and becoming WALTER GHOUL'S LAVENDER BRIGADE to create a psych LP and have Peter do the vocals! Another psych LP from the Poet Genius! We can act as if it's old recordings that popped up! I think that would blow people's minds, because secretly that's what we want all of our older psych icon's to do, but they never do. They're like: "I have grown. I'm not going back in time. I'm not putting on that old suit!" But I think Peter is proud of his past and he could do a psych LP and then do a folk LP or whatever he wants! He is a different artist to many of his peers. I'm very proud that I was able to work with the man.

Anyone seeking to investigate Damien and his music (and you should!) can find lots of information at the following web-sites: Site One & Site Two

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