Over the last decade, Brian Young has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the world's premier power-pop drummers. He first gained attention as a member of the legendary Posies, one of the most influential and respected bands to emerge from the early-90's Seattle scene. After recording and touring with the Posies for the first half of the decade, he then joined New York's Fountains of Wayne in 1996; the group has since recorded five highly acclaimed major label albums, were nominated for 2 GRAMMY Awards and toured the world numerous times. Typifying the kind of critical praise heaped on the band, Mojo Magazine recently described Fountains of Wayne as almost better than anything, ever.
In Brian's playing, one can often detect classic influences like Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos, Ringo Starr, and Blondie's Clem Burke, combined with a hard-hitting, aggressive style befitting todays modern rock. But having worked in two prominent groups with two eclectic songwriters each, Young knows how to give exactly what is required to support any kind of song that is thrown at him. On the Fountains of Wayne album, Welcome Interstate Managers, he can be found switching styles effortlessly, from straight-ahead rockers like Bright Future In Sales and Little Red Light to the 60s-style psychedelia of tracks like Bought For A Song and Supercollider; from the 80's New Wave pastiche Stacy's Mom to delicate ballads like Hackensack and Valley Winter Song and also the percussion sans-drumkit Hey Julie.
Indeed, Brian's diverse abilities allow him stretch far beyond the world of power pop. In his spare time, he has also managed to record and/or perform with artists such as America, Jim Carroll, Burt Bacharach, Mandy Moore, Rachael Yamagata, Greg Dulli, Mark Lanegan, Japanese pop megastar Junko Yagami and numerous others.
Brian is currently in the studio with Fountains of Wayne recording a collection of new songs slated to be released this summer. The band is also scheduled to tour in January, February and throughout the summer of 2009 featuring their critically acclaimed "Acoustic Tour". See
their official website for details.
Online!
