The Uprising of The Young

Published: July 29, 2009

The Young is truly a band that is fueled by love and lives for expressing strong emotion through music. Steven Miller, Eric Griffin and Trevor Greene have called themselves a band for three years now, but have practically grown up together and have been involved in each other's lives for a decade or more.

This All-American, Brit-Rock inspired band named after its mutual love for Neil Young is definitely one of the most promising bands to come from the mountainous Knoxville.

The Young's first EP, "Nylon April," was released in 2008, however, the band's first full-length album, dedicated and created after lead singer Eric's brother passed away, is something beautiful to watch for, called, "After the Crash."

"It's about the things people think but never say," Miller says. "A story of love, death and the death of people we love."

The members mention the hardships of being a band and aren't afraid to tell what it's like being on the road.

Yet, the guys continue to work hard at winning the hearts of fans. Drummer Steve Miller recalls a story from a show the band played a while back in the small city of Morristown and the band's initial doubt of how audiences would react.

"It was a packed bar in a small town," Miller says. "We were scared because it was an older group of people; we had to play two sets, and was the only band performing that night.

"It was cool because we gave them autographed CDs and it was the most genuine audience I can recall."

Being genuine and honest is an on-going theme for this talented group. Using John Darnielle as the perfect example for how its musical career should go, the band mentions that all it wants is to be able to play music and support the band members' family and each other.

The next two years will determine whether or not this endearing band will stay.

"The hardest part is the money," Miller says. "We aren't looking for fame, but would be thankful if we could find a record label to back us financially."

If the band continues to work and move as a single unstoppable unit, a label will be in its immediate future. The Young have grown and its listeners now stretch to places as far as Puerto Rico.

Apparently, the band's music found its way over there some time after the distribution of the first EP.

The Young's sound is catchy and appreciated by a vast group of people: its influences being the aforementioned Neil Young along with Blur, vocals resembling Radiohead and Travis.

Even though The Young consider its work to be mostly a group effort, lead guitarist and vocalist Eric Griffin admits his passion for music enables him to do most of the creative grunt-work.

"Well, I mostly just write a lot of music and look for drink specials," Griffin says. "I'm not afraid for vulnerable situations to influence our music."

This band offers, without a doubt, powerful performances. Mixing Eric's emotional vocals, Trevor Greene's steady pulse on the bass and Steve Miller's complex drum beats, an audience can't help being totally enamored after the show is over.