YUNGBLUD was born as Dominic Richard Harrsion, in 1997, in an English town, Doncaster. He’s been interested in music and rock and roll ever since he was a young kind and even then he would gladly express this to the world – he was just 9 years old when he made his mom dye his hair red and he also started painting his nails at that time. Among many other things he told us about this experience as well. At 16, he moved to London to realise his dreams. Hard work and being true to himself paid off in the future.
Now, he is one of the prominent figures of Gen Z, which comes as no surprise as he is expressing the emotions and thoughts that his generation can relate to through his music. These include anger, loneliness, sexual liberation, violence and he is not afraid to critize today’s society. We chatted with YUNGBLUD via Zoom, first foremost about you, his fans, his life experiences, festival season, his new music and he even answered some questions from fans. And which hungarian worddid we teach him? – exlcusive interview with YUNGLUD.
How have you been doing lately?
„I mean, it’s all very weird, isn’t it? You know, I mean it’s all very bizarre. But I don’t know man, I’m just trying to see the optimism in everything. I think every day I’m just trying to… I kind of feel more connected to my fanbase than ever, which is kind of bizarre. You know, like I thought, when this first started happening, I started panicking because if anyone knows me and my music you kind of know how connected and like, together me and my fanbase are. I was like, if this is gonna get taken away then what am I gonna do? But it kind of really reflected the point that just because we can’t touch each other doesn’t mean we can’t feel each other.”
We told him that his Hungarian fans sent in some questions, some of which we included in the interview. He immediately got excited and joyfully said:
Absolutely! 100%, I’d love that!
When we told him you sent hundreds of questions via Instagram, he got really surprised and said:
The thing about it is, you know, I forget the amount of people, I literally remember what people comment come to Hungary, come to Hungary, come to Hungary, I see it all the time. I’m like, what, this is sick!
What are you the most grateful for in your life?
„Probably them. This fanbase [is] a family, a community, and somewhere to belong. Legitimately, I think that the thing about that is, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t find them. I know that for a fact. I know that sounds really dark and scary, but the world didn’t wanna know me for who I was. At all. For who I was wanting to be and I didn’t wanna exist in it if I couldn’t be who I wanted to be. Because I’d wake up and I’d be depressed and I’d be scared, and I’d be frightened all day. And even when I go off the trail and go into my head and lose myself in… in Hollywood, in bad thoughts, in anxiety, in confusion, it’s always them who bring me back. Just kind of bring me back to life and put the big shockers on my chest and get my heart going again. So it’s always them, every time.”
Who was your biggest role model as a child and who is your biggest inspiration now?
„Oh wow, so many, man. I loved Bowie, I loved Gaga, I loved Freddie Mercury, and that carries on to now. These genuine performers who invoked for and inspired people and encouraged them to be just who they are.”
No matter who they are, what they are, what colour they are, what race they are, what sexuality, it’s fine to exist in this world as you are.
The next one is from a fan: would you rather play the guitar with Slash or sing with Lady Gaga on stage?
„Oh man, why would you say that? That’s like, the worst. I love you, whoever sent that question, but I hate you, as well. I don’t know! I would… I would… I would probably sing with Gaga, I think.”
Of course we asked him about his new record, which could be released this year, he told us that he is planning to drop a brutally honest album.
This next album is an album about everything. It talks about liberation in terms of sex, in terms of sexuality, in terms of how you identify as a human, in terms of drugs, in terms of love, heartbreak, feeling like there’s so much pressure on your shoulders your back’s gonna break.
Without a doubt we are getting a similarly emotional and deep record as the previous one.
„The first, 21st Century Liability, is almost like a part of this next record to me. This is a document about coming of age, no matter what age you are. It feels like a million different stories, but every one of those stories and every one of those battles each and every one of us face every single day, and every single moment. I just want people, no matter what age, no matter who they are, to listen to this album, and they might identify to only one song, but go, Yungblud was part of my journey in finding humanity. And that’d just be my dream because they were part of my journey in finding myself, and I don’t even know who I am yet, fully! I’m not Mother Theresa, but I’m on my way because of them.”
Are you planning to be a musician for the rest of your life?
„I mean I hope so! I would love to do film, I would love to do all that, but I think my biggest dream is to be playing music when I’m 60 or 70.”
Like Mick Jagger!
„Yeah, that would just be the dream. I think that’s what I always cared about. I never had big, smash hit records in my mind. I just wanted to play stadiums. Playing big shows to people. That’s what I care about the most and sometimes it’s easy to forget that. When you get caught up in all, whatever, all I care about is just me and them being together. Every day for the rest of my life.”
Not every beginning is easy and Dom experienced this first hand during his first set of shows which were played in bars. Dedication is key though, and now he is performing to thousands of people. This means that sometimes weird things happen: can you recall the moment when he broke his leg on stage?
What was it like to perform your very first show as Yungblud?
„I mean, there was no one there. I remember I was speaking to my friend last night who came and videoed those, a guy called Mike. I reconnected with him last night. He was just saying to me „I could see the battle you would have to go for on that first tour„. We were playing teenage club nights, where young people would come on a Friday night and listen to the Arctic Monkeys and Paramore and all the kind of indie bangers, it was called Propaganda in the UK. In the middle of that, when they just wanna get drunk and listen to music, we come on stage, and everyone’s like who is this band? who is this kid?.”
Most of the time people just didn’t wanna know, everybody just went to the bar.
„We would just play to no one. I remember it was hard but you kind of earn your stripes and you’re kind of eternally grateful when you walk out on stage now and we have 5000 people to 10 000 people screaming the songs, and we’re just like, whoa.”
What was you weirdest experience on tour?
„My weirdest experience? I think breaking my leg. Doing a whole tour in a wheelchair was pretty weird. I remember the night I broke it in Houston. I broke it in the ankle. I carried on, I was like, whatever, there was only 3 songs left. I got my mates come on stage and hold me up. I always did a meet and greet after the show and meet everyone in the venue. I was at the meet and greet at the show, and I remember my ankle was just massive. I met everyone till about midnight, and we had to be in Austin at like, midday. We had to be there, our slot was like, 2 pm in Austin. We were in Houston which is like a 6-hour drive. But I needed to go to the hospital. So I remember, I went to the hospital, and I just kept drinking Red Bull. In the hospital, they were like, you fractured your ankle in two places, we need to put a pod on you. Everyone was like you’re gonna have to pull the festival, and I was like ‘we are not pulling the festival. They said you’re not gonna sleep and I was like hire a car, the boys went in the van to kind of like, set up the show, and I came in with 10 minutes to spare, going on stage with a pod on, no sleep, jacked up on Red Bull, went on stage and just did the show in a wheelchair. That was probably the weirdest day of my life. It’s like a drug, man, you can’t live without it.
You were supposed to perform at Volt Festival this year, which is in Hungary. Are you planning to come back, once it’s safe?
„I was legitimately saying this, like I was on the phone with my team yesterday, talking about the upcoming album and everything and I was like we cannot forget these countries. Everyone forgets these countries, and I was like I need to go to Hungary, I need to go to Poland, I need to go to Ukraine. I fucking just love you all. I just need to get there.”
When I played Sziget, it was one of the best festivals of my life.
„Yeah, I mean that I need, I need to see you all, I need to touch you all, do you know what I mean? I will never ever just go for kind of normal routine, I wanna go everywhere. I wanna be in everyone’s faces.”
So, what’s one thing you have learnt from your fans?
„Compassion, bounds, love and a real faith in my generation, and culture and humanity. If thousands of millions of people feel like they aren’t heard, and they come together, they become heard. No one can stop that. You know, it’s just magic.”
Is there one specific thing that a fan said to you that is memorable?
„Every day, man. I do remember this one time, this was really early. It was in The Netherlands, and it was one of the first times, now we have a lot of conversations about saving each others’ lives.”
When someone comes up to me and says “Dom, you saved my life”, I’m like, nah, nah nah, you saved my life and you saved your own life. I was just the soundtrack to it.
„I mean you did that to yourself. One of the really early memories for me was that I was in The Netherlands, and this girl came up to me like ‘can I give you a note?’ We were playing to 80-100 people, and this girl said ‘can I give you a note?’ And I was like, ‘yeah of course you can’. I read it and it talked about how she was from a prim and proper, set in their ways family. She was gay and wanted to go to art school. And she told me that, after listening to Kill Somebody, it gave her the confidence to kinda look at her parents and say this is who I am. I wanna go to art school, I wanna shave my head, and I’m coming out. And that was kind of one of the first times that I saw first hand from a person that my music have done something like that. And I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life. I read it in the dressing room, I was eating a chocolate bar, crying reading this note. Talking to my friend, Alex who was on tour with us, and the walls were covered with band posters. I remember, like iconic, magazine covers.”
You were always very open about mental health and you have a special connection with your fans. You kinda just helped each other. Actually, there’s one thing that really stuck with us. You said that u realized that the things you did not like about yourself maybe were not a handicap, but the best thing that ever happened to you. Was there a specific moment when you realized this or was it a longer journey?
„Yeah man, I’d say it is a journey. When you realize that everything that people oppressed you for, that you were conditioned not to like about yourself, gets embraced by your people, and you belong in a word where what are flaws to the rest of the world are attributes to everyone else. You kinda go like, I’m happy for the pain, I’m happy that I’m suffered, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have met these people, and I wouldn’t feel, you know, I wouldn’t feel like who I am.”
Which song of yours would you show a person that doesn’t know you yet.
„Ugh, I don’t know, let me think about that. I would say, I would probably say… Polygraph Eyes or Parents.”
If you weren’t a performer, what job would you like to have?
„An astronaut! Or an archaeologist.”
If you were a boxer, which song would be your entrance song?
„Whew, If I were a boxer… probably Killing In the Name by Rage Against The Machine.”
How many pair of pink socks do you own?
„Uhm, legitimately like so many. Boxes and boxes of pink socks. A box of pink socks just came [he showed us a box full of pink socks]. Pink socks, I don’t know, I’m just very lucky, that when we started becoming big, people are like, can I send you pink socks? And I’m like, yes, I need them! I still wash them though. I can’t wear a new pair of socks every day. That would just feel weird.”
Favourite Disney movie?
„Oh, Tarzan! Without a doubt! That was the first movie I ever saw, and I fell in love with Jane, I was like ahw, Jane ahw.”
Favourite flavour of ice cream?
„Mint chocolate-chip without a doubt.”
Is the song going to be released anytime soon?
„Aghhhrrr! Well done, good segway! I did not even expect it, cheeky! I think so, yeah, I’m finishing it, I keep saying to people I gotta get it right. If I get Ice Cream Man wrong, I’m gonna give you food poisoning and I can’t give you food poisoning. When you have Ice Cream Man, it’s gotta be cooked just right.”
The next one is a hard one. Choose between performing in one city for the rest of your life with a whole set, or performing the same, one song for every country around the world.
„Erm, performing the same one song to every country around the world. Because, you know that’s what it is all about.”
Do you have any hidden talents that we don’t know about?
„I can get an After Eight or a cookie from my forehead to my mouth without touching it. I promise you, one day when I’m very drunk, I’ll show the Internet.”
Dream vacation?
„Uhm, wow. Vacation. Uhm, we don’t know what one of them is. I think probably I’d love to go to somewhere like India or Thailand. I’d love to go somewhere I have not been yet to kinda see their culture.”
If you could change only one thing about the world forever, what would it be?
I get to kill hate. Hate would just get to leave forever.
„Just punch it in the face.”
In the beginning what was your parents’ opinion about your songs?
Erm, I’ll just say, I remember kind of like with my life, I don’t think they got me, which is fine, they did not get me at all, I don’t think. They got me in stages, you know. [Growing up], rock and roll was very present in my family, so when I wanted to paint my nails, and whatever, they kind of were like, okay cool, you know what I mean. I grew up in a guitar shop, so it was kinda normal. It was not my parents, it was always the people of society that didn’t understand me. It was teachers, it was youth leaders, MPs. They did not wanna… they clocked out at 6pm so they did not need to know me. I remember this story about my mom. I was 9 years old, I said „mom, can I dye my hair red? mom please” and she died my hair red at nine. I got these New Rock goth boots on and baggy tripp pants and I was like walking in sweatbands. I remember my mom took me to the city, took me to London for the day, for a treat, for a day out. And my mom was so pregnant with my sister Isabella, and I was like nine or ten and this posh, snooty little couple walked past me, and was like „how can you let your son dress like that?” and my mom was so pregnant and full of hormones and I remember her screaming at this lady in the shop like „he’s being himself! it’s people like you that are going to ruin this world„, and I was like, yes mom, I love it!
Is there a message that you would like to share with your Hungarian fans?
Yes! I miss you! I’ve not even touched the surface of being in Hungary as much as I want to. I promise you I’m gonna be there, and we’re gonna have the craziest show: let’s riot, let’s shut down streets let’s just touch each other I can’t wait to rage with ya. I will you soon Hungarian BHC!
That’s all we planned, but before we go, there’s one thing we would like to teach you. I don’t if you know how to say „I love you” in Hungarian.
YUNGBLUD: No, please teach me!
MUSICDAILY: Okay, so it’s szeretlek.
YUNGBLUD: Szeretjek
MUSICDAILY: Yeah, kind of, sze-ret-lek.
YUNGBLUD: Szer- what?! One more time!
MUSICDAILY: Sze-ret-lek
YUNGBLUD: Szeretlek!
MUSICDAILY: Yeah, exactly, thank you!
YUNGBLUD: Szeretlek! Szeretlek! Szeretlek! Szeretlek! I’ll say that on stage, I’ll remember that! Thank you so much, I really loved that guys!
