Justin Young - One Foot On Sand

 

JUSTIN YOUNG not the hippest thing to announce that you’re a Boyz II Men fan, but Justin Young seems proud of his adoration of the group. When he was at one of their concerts in eighth grade, Young even gave the popular 1990s R&B group a demo he’d recorded. “It is lame, but I’m OK being lame,” Young said, speaking from Los Angeles on his cell phone. “I’ve been to Boyz II Men concerts my whole life.” Young, who grew up in Hawaii, said he considers the group a big inspiration for his early music — he started recording songs in his bedroom before he entered high school. When he was 16, Young recorded three songs in a local studio with a couple friends for an economics class project. He ended up selling 100 tapes around school and getting a deal with a small label. What might be considered an unusually high amount of success for a teenager was part of Young’s plan. “I had, from eighth grade, decided that I wanted to be a musician, so I was playing at talent shows with friends and I was reading books on how to get a record deal,” he said. “I was calculating my steps.” As he got older, Young’s musical tastes shifted from R&B to a more traditional Hawaiian style. He began carrying his ukulele around school with him, the music he made incorporating elements of reggae and pop. Young said he recorded five albums while with that label, called Neos Productions. His style proved popular, as he sold 70,000 albums throughout Hawaii and had a dozen radio hits. By 2000, he was ready for another change. “I was totally grateful for the opportunity and I did quite a bit of music with them, but I’d outgrown the situation and it was important for me to try some new things with other people,” Young said. “Just being in Hawaii in general in that situation is kind of limiting.” He decided to move to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in an entertainment studies program offered through the University of California, Los Angeles. In his free time, Young searched for producers who might be interested in recording. Eventually, Ed Tuton, a producer who’d worked with musicians such as Maxwell and Eagle Eye Cherry, heard Young’s demo. Young began traveling to New York to work with Tuton, dubbing those recordings “Demo Sessions ... ” “I’d go and do showcases in New York for label people that were interested and go in and play for record labels here and there who were interested,” Young said. “It was an exciting time, because there was hope and prospects and (Tuton’s) pretty well connected.” However, after about nine months of shopping the album around, the momentum “just died out,” Young said. Disappointed, Young slowly began planning his next album, which he’s recorded on his own. “I was kind of frustrated and not knowing what to do,” he said. “It took awhile to find some motivation. I was kind of ready to just put together a bunch of songs that I’d written that I just liked and thought were good and just keep things a little more simple. “Rather than jump through hoops, I wanted to return to the idea of people being inspired by something and giving it to people who want to hear it.” The new album, “All Attached,” is a departure from the Hawaiian music Young grew up listening to and playing. His soulful voice sounds a bit like John Mayer’s, while the influences of reggae-folk singer Ben Harper and the laid-back surf rock of Jack Johnson, also a native Hawaiian, are evident. “(Johnson) definitely proves that you can be understated and simple and wear slippers and a T-shirt and say meaningful things,” Young said. “He’s a great example of how that can be successful. You don’t have to be some big pop star or rock star to be selling out big concerts.” For now, Young said he’ll release the album through a label he’s creating, which he has yet to name. “I’m open to suggestions,” he joked. He’ll start by selling the album in Hawaii and online. (By Leslie Escobar - mbayink 06.14.07)

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