Rooted in the Canberra indie rock scene, the group was formed in 1996 by Narrabundah College school friends Paul Murphy, Toby Martin and Andy Cassell. The fourth founding member, Danny Lee Allen, never lived in Canberra, instead growing up in Maroubra and then Coogee in Sydney, meeting Paul through attending Marcellin College in Randwick. Andy Cassell was one of three partners in the Ivy League / Winterman & Goldstein group of companies. Of the original members, only Martin and Allen remained. The band's first show was in November 1997 at the Warren View Hotel in the inner Sydney suburb of Enmore. At this stage, Allen had played drums for approximately two months. Their first album, Urban and Eastern, was released in 2000.
In 2003, the band played at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and performed on 4 dates with The Vines and The Music on a US West Coast tour.After various configurations, including the temporary membership of John Lattin of La Huva, the lineup was finalised in 2004 through the addition of Cameron Emerson-Elliott on guitar (previously a member of The John Reed Club) and Patrick Matthews on bass (formerly of The Vines). A series of chance happenings lead Epitaph Records boss Brett Gurewitz to hear their second album, Skeleton Jar, in 2004 and release it in the U.S. in 2005. The band supported Death Cab for Cutie in 2005 on a coast to coast US tour.
Their single "Forever Young", a cover of the 1984 song by Alphaville, was used in the television show The O.C. and heavily featured in promos for Australian TV station Channel Ten at the beginning of 2006. The song debuted on the Australian charts at No. 2 in March 2006, and eventually peaked at No. 1. It was also No. 1 in the first ever digital download chart. During 2006, they supported Coldplay in their sold-out tour of Australia. They also won an ARIA for Breakthrough Single.
In July 2006, the band released their third album, Casino Twilight Dogs, which featured "Forever Young", along with the album's second single, "Catching & Killing". On 24 July 2006, Casino Twilight Dogs debuted at #10 in the ARIA Album Charts. The album was produced by Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla.
They supported Kings Of Leon and Interpol on their 2008 tours of Australia.
They released their fourth album, The Night Is Ours, in July 2008 through Ivy League in Australia and in April 2009 on Worlds Fair Records in the US. The song "What is A Life" from The Night Is Ours was featured on The CW show Gossip Girl episode "The Bonfire of the Vanity".
Youth Group toured the US twice in 2009, as well as once again opening for Death Cab for Cutie in Australia, before moving into a hiatus. Though the band are still on good terms, they are focusing on other projects. Martin released a solo album, Love's Shadow, in July 2012 on Ivy League Records. Allen currently lives in New York and tours with We Are Scientists and plays with Brooklyn band, The Drums. Elliott and Matthews are both currently members of Sydney-based indie rock band Community Radio. Matthews also spent time in The Jewel and the Falcon.
The band reunited to play shows in 2015.
Blue Leaves Red Dust
Youth Group Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All bare beneath the sky.
To the untrained eye this land is dry,
There's no waterholes in sight.
There are songs here,
No more geographic lies.
We just have to find them
The lyrics that I sent her
Are sung in clubs and community centres
And everybody's singing their own tune.
Got the call yesterday and we left straight away,
A long way for a funeral.
I saw the souls of all of us in the blue leaves and red dust
And the heat is their embrace.
No more songs of
Tallahassee and Nashville.
We got music
Right outside the windowsill.
I can feel it when I roam
In the pubs and the nursing homes.
I can feel it coming down the wires.
The song "Blue Leaves Red Dust" by Youth Group depicts the Australian landscape and how it appears to be dry and barren. The first few lines describe how the area is filled with tall poles and rabbits, and the land is eroded with holes. However, the rest of the song talks about how despite the appearance of the land, there are still songs and music that can be found if one knows where to look. The lyrics state, "There are songs here, no more geographic lies. We just have to find them and we'll never compromise."
The song then shifts to a personal experience of losing someone and having to travel a long way for their funeral. The singer sees the "souls of all of us in the blue leaves and red dust," representing how the land contains memories and emotions. The song ends with the singer feeling music coming through everywhere, even in the nursing homes and over the wires.
Overall, "Blue Leaves Red Dust" portrays how beauty and meaning can be found even in the driest and most lifeless places. It encourages listeners to not give up on finding the music and the soul of the land.
Line by Line Meaning
Regiments of stoby poles, rabbits and erosion holes
All bare beneath the sky.
To the untrained eye this land is dry,
There's no waterholes in sight.
This land is full of life and beauty, despite its dry appearance. There are unique aspects to this land that only certain people can appreciate.
There are songs here,
No more geographic lies.
We just have to find them
And we'll never compromise.
This land has its own music that cannot be found anywhere else. We need to learn to appreciate it and accept it as it is.
The lyrics that I sent her
Are sung in clubs and community centres
And everybody's singing their own tune.
The music of this land is diverse and personal to each individual who sings it, but it is still united under a common theme.
Got the call yesterday and we left straight away,
A long way for a funeral.
I saw the souls of all of us in the blue leaves and red dust
And the heat is their embrace.
Despite the distance and hardship, people come together in times of grief and find comfort in the beauty of their surroundings.
No more songs of
Tallahassee and Nashville.
We got music
Right outside the windowsill.
We do not need to look elsewhere for great music – it is all around us, in the land and people we know.
I can feel it when I roam
In the pubs and the nursing homes.
I can feel it coming down the wires.
The music is not something that is only heard in certain places, but is a constant presence in everyday life – in the places we go and the people we meet.
Contributed by Scarlett D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Josh Green
Great song :) Thanks for uploading!
Dennis Benzle
first listen to youth group except forever young this is really beutifull
Draenox
indeed! hey no problem mahn (H)