This is the inaugural interview for my new ‘Keeping In Touch’ series where I will be checking in on artists I’ve previously reviewed just to see what they’re up to. Recently I’ve had the pleasure of corresponding with Meredith Meyer of the uniquely talented band Young Unknowns. And from this exchange of words I came away a little intrigued, a bit infatuated and a whole lot of just amazed. This is a young woman on a mission: to bring a bit of beauty and inspiration into the world. And when it comes to music there is little she won’t reveal.
D. Durand: Hello Meredith, how are you?
Meredith Meyer: I’m pretty good these days.
D. Durand: Literally, what are you doing right now?
Meredith Meyer: I just finished my lazy Saturday morning ritual of having a cup of tea and reading. Right now I’m doing some research about exotic dancers throughout history. This morning I read about Margaretha Zelle, aka The Mata Hari. Did you know she studied to be a kindergarten teacher, but when she got a job and the headmaster flirted with her, she was fired? She also refused a blindfold and kept her eyes open when she was executed by the firing squad. I find that fascinating. She looked those bastards right in the eyes. I’d like to know what was going through her mind at that moment.
D. Durand: Recently, you’ve done a couple of beautiful covers, the Cars classic “Drive” and Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” how did it come about?
Meredith Meyer: Well first, thank you for the compliment. Those came about from me having a lot of time on my hands due to our city being shut down by a hurricane. That was a weird week indeed, and everything sort of hung in the air with this eerie, sad feeling, because unless you were a robot (or a jerk), it was kind of impossible not to feel immense compassion for what was going on with all the loss and devastation. I felt like playing music but I didn’t really feel like writing anything new. I simply had the gentle stroke of luck not to be in a place that flooded or lost power, but I couldn’t really go anywhere either. So I just spent that time working on stuff and doing what else I could do to support other friends who were affected by the damage. I wasn’t really intending to put those songs out, but I played them for a couple of friends who said they really loved them and I should at least let people hear them.
I guess I picked those songs from the batch because I liked them when I was a kid and had no idea what they were about, and revisiting them now, they take on completely different meanings for me. I thought back then that “I’m on Fire” was literally about fire. I grew up on an acre of oak trees and had to rake leaves and pick up dead branches on the weekends. We’d put them all in a pile, and I’d play outside and watch them burn all day long, then roast marshmallows in the embers. When I listened to that song as a kid, I thought Bruce Springsteen must have had to rake leaves too (lol). So of course that song is sultry, but now I actually hear a different sort of unrest in that song. And “Drive” is, of course, not just about getting a ride home, is it?
D. Durand: Tell us a little bit about the history of Young Unknowns, and at what point did you know a band was in the making?
Meredith Meyer: I moved to New York 2 years ago and knew that I wanted to start a new band. After that, I met all the members by happenstance… Matt Arbeiter, our drummer, I met first. On the street. Bryan Percivall, our bassist, came to our duo show. Mike MacAllister, our guitarist/ keyboardist, I met in Austin, Texas, but he lived here. Every person in the band is very talented, there are no hobbyists. So I feel really lucky to work with people I am also constantly challenged by and learning from as well.
D. Durand: How did you come up with the name for the band?
Meredith Meyer: I had an idea to start an art collective of sorts by that name when I lived in California, but it never really got off the ground. The idea was that the purpose driving the collective was just making really good, vibrant art and music, and have interesting ways of finding the audience of people who would appreciate and be moved by it. For instance I used to love playing at weird places, like ice cream shops. Or, one of my all-time favorite places, Leon’s Steakhouse- a 1970’s diner-type restaurant in the San Fernando valley with an old bar in the back, where one summer I convinced the manager to let me play every week in the afternoons to about 6 people. The idea of “Young Unknowns” never really left my bedroom, but for some reason that name stuck with me because it had a certain anonymity to it, while also feeling like some sort of entity. Like an art gang, (lol).
I also believe that creative energy doesn’t judge. Unlike most of our society and institutions, the muse doesn’t care who you are or where you come from, how cool you are, how old you are or what you look like. When it strikes you, you’re its instrument. So Young Unknowns is meant to encompass that idea, that anyone can be a Young Unknown, anyone can be a vessel for their muse. It’s what happens through that energy that is the real magic. I consider music, really good music, to be a mystical art.
D. Durand: When working on a song what comes first the music or the lyrics?
Meredith Meyer: I don’t really have rules. Sometimes a phrase or an idea will stick with me and I’ll write around it. Sometimes I’ll work on a riff or just pick up a guitar and I’ll hear something that turns into a progression, and then the words will come. I don’t have a strict process, therefore, I never get writer’s block. I have more song pieces going on in my mind than spare time. I’m usually racing to get where I can sit down and be alone and get the ideas down before they start driving me nuts.
D. Durand: If the new album was a color what color would it be and why?
Meredith Meyer: If you want to associate the album with a color you can visualize, I’d say look at the painting on the front. It’s called “Downtown” and was done by visual artist Rob Racine, who is also the brother of Bill Racine, our producer. In real life it is very striking and made me feel kind of one with its intensity. It’s empowering and gorgeous and gritty all at the same time, and it’s my favorite painting of his. When I was trying to decide what to go on the cover, I thought about having just a painting, and that one came to me immediately. I was very honored that he was open to having it on our music.
D. Durand: How would you describe the album?
Meredith Meyer: A roller-coaster that goes through the wilderness at midnight and shoots off into outer space. I premiered one of the new songs live in my hometown last week on the Oklahoma Rock Show on their indie station, The SPY FM. The song is called “Everybody’s Goin’ Somewhere.” It’s really about being how people get blinded by shiny things to distract themselves from their real problems, or, as we say in Oklahoma “get caught up in all the hub-bub.” So I decided it would be an interesting change to unveil it with just me and a guitar, live, no effects or tricks, in the place where I was born. (lol) I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s interesting, but I thought it was interesting to do it that way.
D. Durand: From the new album name a song that pretty much wrote itself?
Meredith Meyer: I wrote Target Practice in about 10 minutes.
D. Durand: Whiskey or wine?
Meredith Meyer: Whiskey, but more recently my vice has been conjuring up fearlessness in the face of howling winds.
D. Durand: Thank, its been a pleasure.
Meredith Meyer: You’re welcome.
Young Unknowns are currently writing their new album, no release date as of yet nor title. But, like so many others I am anticipating their next collection of songs and I’ll keep you informed. As for Meredith? Well, the new year has been anything but “…pensive and moody,” her words not mine. Ms. Meyer is jumping on a plane next week and heading to Los Angeles. Once there she’ll be opening up for the Radar Brother’s record release party for their new album ‘Eight’. Then on February 2nd she’s off to London were Young Unknowns will play a couple of shows. Meredith also revealed this will be her first time visiting Europe plans on taking in a bit of art in while in Paris. By the way, her birthday is coming soon, so Happy Birthday and thanks for an awesome interview and safe travels. Peace.