Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz is a big GOY fan
If anyone’s making a list of well-known GOY fans, make sure you put Adam Duritz on it. He’s the lead vocalist/songwriter for Counting Crows, one of my fave bands going back to the ’90s, and he raves about Gang of Youths on the latest episode of a podcast that he does with co-host James Campion.
The episode is titled “Gang of Youse” and Duritz/Campion spend a whopping 22 minutes — the final segment of the show — talking about GOY and playing a couple songs. I don’t want to spoil it by posting tons of quotes, but here’s how they finish the conversation:
Adam Duritz: I hope this catches on in America and I can’t encourage you all enough — go out and get this record or go on Spotify and listen to this record. It’s called Go Farther In Lightness. I think it’s from just last year…it’s so fucking good and this is the next — they’re the next U2 in some ways.
James Campion: They have a lot of U2 in there.
AD: They have that quality of vulnerability, of real emotion and feeling, and a shitload of epic, slamming rock and roll to go with it. And he is a great writer.
JC: He’s got a lot of Strummer in him.
AD: He does. A lot of Strummer, a lot of Springsteen —
JC: — all the guys that you love.
AD: This is a guy — this is a voice that’s worth listening to.
This is a podcast that’s worth listening to, as well. 🙂 Have a listen for yourself, the GOY conversation begins at about the 1:18:20 mark.
I’ve got no clue how many listeners that podcast has, but no matter — it’s high praise coming from another successful musician/songwriter. And just speaking as a fan, it’s really cool to hear Duritz and Campion identifying with a lot of the same lyrics and themes that caught my eyes/ears when I first discovered GOY and Go Farther In Lightness.
(Adam Duritz photo by Alex Cason Photography. Used via Creative Commons.)