YOUTH IN ASIA

Punk. It’s a four-letter word. It is D.I.Y. It is against convention. It is about getting beatdown and then spitting in the face of your assailant. It is attitude. It is YOUTHINASIA. Selling their souls to the music eight years ago, the band has and always will make good on this deal. They’ve stuck to their guns through nu-metal, emo, screamo, etc. YOUTHINASIA are not scene, they aren’t cool, they’re just good. Formed eight years ago the bands biggest inspiration at the time was to win over the respect of their peers at a high school coffee house. The reality that they would have five internationally released albums under their own label, less then a decade later, was never considered. Dreams of touring, playing festivals like Warped Tour and Wakestock eventually materialize. Radio play, music videos and licensing deals with national retailers like West49 drift into the realm or normality. They start clothing and production companies and write for magazines. After awhile you realize you’re not fifteen anymore, and the music that was once your excuse to dress funny and get high, is now your life.

Still without a single tattoo, YOUTHINASIA has a style that makes an older generation nostalgic. It is removed just far enough from the new scene that the younger crowd call it, “Refreshing…real…and unique”. It’s a style that is not being done justice anymore, yet is still quite relevant. The band rotates on their own orbit, one that’s just slightly askew to both the mainstream and the hardcore underground. However, by being accepted by both worlds YIA has found comfort in their own niche.

While many bands hit their stride early and recklessly burn out, these guys have enjoyed being deliberately selective as they’ve built this modest and beautiful existence. It’s almost ironic how the success of this band is indebted to the efforts of its individual members. This is simply because each individual owes YOUTHINIASIA so much more, than YIA could ever owe them. It is the hand that has guided these boys from adolescence to adulthood and defined their character.

With that being said it would be ridiculous to think that the band would ever cease to be. YOUTHINASIA is like a mother, father, lover and child all in one. To snuff out its existence would be a murder-suicide. While life can be slow and life can be fast, as long as the individuals that comprise this group are breathing, then YOUTHINASIA will live on.