Interview with guitarist Sam Trapkin | By Nicholas Senior
Diamond Youth are the type of band you didn’t know you needed in your life. After teasing listeners with a seemingly endless barrage of excellent EPs, they have finally released their debut LP Nothing Matters via Topshelf Records. The band find a way to make rather disparate influences gel magically. You can hear shades of Muse, Queens Of The Stone Age, The Beach Boys, and Weezer, making Nothing Matters eminently listenable and breezy, even when it turns up the pace and volume.
Describe the writing and recording process for this album. Who did you record with?
Let’s see. I guess the best word to describe the writing process was “thorough.” Maybe “exhaustive,” if you will. Just a lot of quiet days and nights spent holed up in our rooms grinding it out. We write a lot of stuff, and probably like 75 percent gets thrown out. I guess we’re picky.
We recorded with our new friend Davey Warsop at Hurley Studios in Costa Mesa, Calif. I suppose the recording process wasn’t anything out of the ordinary; we didn’t record drums in the woods or something stupid. It was a really wonderful experience. Some of the guys in the band hadn’t really experienced proper Mexican food at such a high volume, so they were pretty psyched. We probably gained a collective 20 pounds during that recording.
How has your sound evolved since Shake?
Right around the time we recorded Shake, I moved to California. I think the whole surf [and] desert thing rubbed off on me a little bit out here. The vibe of the LP is kind of surf-y.
Any touring plans coming up in support of the new album?
Yes. We’ll be doing a full U.S. tour with Superheaven starting May 15, right when both of our records come out. They’re our favorite band to tour with by far. Rozwell Kid is also on the tour, and they’re awesome too.
Do you plan to pay homage to Deion Sanders for inspiring you to start your band?
Listen, I think there’re a lot of lessons to be learned from sports and athletes. I would do an homage to Deion way before I would do one for any musician. Being in a band is pretty easy, you know? You write some music with your friends, record it, then drive around and play it for people if you’re lucky. Being an athlete takes real discipline.
Share one random fact about Diamond Youth.
[Guitarist] Justin [Gilman] was randomly in a Netflix commercial last year (watch below).
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