{"id":39286,"date":"2025-11-05T15:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/39286\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T15:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T15:22:16","slug":"yungblud-on-ozzy-aerosmith-and-bringing-sequins-back-to-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/39286\/","title":{"rendered":"Yungblud on Ozzy, Aerosmith and bringing sequins back to rock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four hours or so before he\u2019s due onstage at the Hollywood Palladium, Yungblud is bouncing around one of the venue\u2019s dressing rooms with live-wire intensity to spare.<\/p>\n

Tonight is the first date of a North American tour behind the British rock singer\u2019s latest album, \u201cIdols\u201d \u2014 outside on Sunset Boulevard, a couple hundred fans are already lined up in the broiling late-August heat \u2014 and to mark the occasion someone has bestowed him with an overstuffed basket of treats from back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpotted dick \u2014 you know what that is?\u201d he asks me as he rummages through the goodies. \u201cOh, and here\u2019s a Curly Wurly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down the hall, the members of Yungblud\u2019s band are in a separate dressing room, chilling as an episode of \u201cTop Gear\u201d plays on a TV. Yet in here the singer is \u201cbuzzing,\u201d as he puts it \u2014 too amped to relax even after having just flown in from a fairly sleepless stint in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just excited to get onstage and kick ass,\u201d he says, which is pretty much what he goes on to do: Shirtless over a pair of black leather chaps, Yungblud gets the place roaring with a tuneful and proudly dramatic hard-rock sound that openly evokes the likes of Queen and Guns N\u2019 Roses.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Not long into the show, he unfurls a homemade banner that reads \u201cCONQUER AMERICA\u201d; not long after that, he gives a little speech about the power of music, then belts a cover of \u201cChanges\u201d by Black Sabbath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to f\u2014 look at the person next to you right now, and I want you to tell them that you f\u2014 love them,\u201d he instructs the crowd, which happily obeys his order. \u201c\u2019Cause this is rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, and it\u2019s all about love.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a number of rock-world celebs in the house, including Glenn Danzig and the former GNR drummer Matt Sorum, Yungblud\u2019s sold-out Palladium gig was something like the opening salvo of an aggressive stateside push by the 28-year-old Doncaster native, whose real name is Dominic Harrison.<\/p>\n

In July, Yungblud went viral online with a show-stopping rendition of \u201cChanges\u201d at the Back to the Beginning festival in England, where Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> reunited with the rest of Black Sabbath for a farewell performance just days before Osbourne\u2019s death of a heart attack at age 76.<\/p>\n

Yungblud was hardly an unknown when he teamed with Extreme\u2019s Nuno Bettencourt and Frank Bello of Anthrax to honor Osbourne with his tenderly anthemic power ballad; he\u2019s been making records since he was a teenager pivoting away from an early start as a child actor.<\/p>\n

But after years of dabbling in pop and hip-hop, Yungblud seemed to reintroduce himself with the widely praised \u201cChanges\u201d performance as an out-and-out rocker.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s doubling down on his alliance with the rock establishment with \u201cOne More Time,\u201d a five-track EP due Nov. 21 that pairs him with the members of Aerosmith. \u201cMy Only Angel,\u201d the EP\u2019s lead single, is a snarling glam-blues stomp with intertwined vocals by Yungblud and Steven Tyler and a typically flashy guitar solo by Joe Perry.<\/p>\n

For Yungblud, it\u2019s all part of his mission to bring \u201ctheater and emotion and sequins\u201d back to rock after what he views as a long stretch in which young artists seemed to turn away from old-fashioned showmanship.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years it\u2019s been all about, \u2018I don\u2019t want to dress up \u2014 I\u2019m gonna look like I came from my bedroom,\u2019\u201d he says backstage at the Palladium. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like we\u2019re coming out of grunge again and putting the diamonds back on.\u201d He\u2019s sitting on a brown leather couch, one leg tucked beneath him and the other jiggling with anticipatory energy; as we talk, the singer\u2019s assistant enters the dressing room and hangs those leather chaps on a wardrobe rack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn America, rock stars pick one of two routes: pirate or cowboy,\u201d Yungblud says. \u201cI\u2019m picking cowboy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rock-world <\/p>\n

Rock-world celebs including Glenn Danzig and Matt Sorum caught Yungblud\u2019s show at the Hollywood Palladium.<\/p>\n

(Hon Wing Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

The collaboration with Aerosmith \u2014 and before that with Osbourne, who all but passed the baton to Yungblud in a poignant behind-the-scenes video<\/a> from Back to the Beginning \u2014 is clearly his attempt to bridge rock\u2019s generation gap: the chasm he sees between young people who regard the classics as the music of their parents and older people who think all the youngsters do is rip off what came before.<\/p>\n

Back to the Beginning, in particular, was \u201cthe first time in years that generations of rock musicians came together under the same bill without any kind of hostility or negativity,\u201d Yungblud reckons. \u201cEveryone embraced each other.\u201d (Anyone who\u2019s seen Oasis\u2019 blockbuster reunion tour<\/a> \u2014 a nightly gathering of bucket-hat-wearing men of various ages \u2014 might say the phenomenon is spreading.)<\/p>\n

Yet that blending of eras also happens on \u201cIdols,\u201d which sets very Gen Z thoughts about trauma, gender and identity against elaborate arrangements with a scope and ambition borrowed from the days of the LP. After he recorded the album, Yungblud even invited a camera crew to document a live performance of the music at Berlin\u2019s Hansa Studios, where U2 and David Bowie famously worked, for a black-and-white concert film, \u201cAre You Ready, Boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a scene in the movie where you\u2019re struggling to hit the high note in your song \u201cThe Greatest Parade.\u201d You tell the director there\u2019s no way you\u2019re gonna dub it later \u2014 that that\u2019s for pop stars. Delineate the difference between pop and rock for me.
Pop stardom isn\u2019t always rooted in truth. Everything\u2019s slick, everything\u2019s perfect \u2014 it\u2019s the ideal, right? Whereas rock music is full of mistakes. It\u2019s full of ill voices, and it\u2019s sweaty and smells a bit. It\u2019s rooted in: I\u2019m gonna get it in this room even if it hurts me.<\/p>\n

As someone deeply invested in a certain rock lineage \u2014 but who writes with a grasp of the emotional jargon of our time \u2014 are you glad to be living in an age of therapy-speak? Or do you wish you\u2019d been around back when nobody talked about their feelings?
With art at the moment, it\u2019s so specific that sometimes it cringes me out. [Sings] \u201cI am depressed today\u201d \u2014 it lacks poetry. What was cool in the \u201970s is that if you weren\u2019t necessarily allowed to talk about it, you\u2019d find an interesting way to demonstrate the idea. You\u2019re Lou Reed and you want to sing about wanting to f\u2014 everything \u2014 well, they\u2019re not gonna broadcast that on the radio, so you have to do it more poetically.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Your song \u201cZombie\u201d was inspired by your grandmother\u2019s experience with alcoholism. How has your relationship with drugs and booze changed over the past four or five years?
I\u2019ve never really been into drugs. I\u2019ve got ADHD, and drugs kind of send me the other way \u2014 make me sleepy. I don\u2019t want to be numb, I want to feel everything. Booze \u2014 I\u2019m British, so I love it. But I\u2019d say with this album, I kind of cleaned it up a little bit. I lost a lot of weight. Growing up in the public eye is a very weird thing \u2014 you have no control over any narrative on the internet. So I\u2019d turn to alcohol or food for a sense of control. But then I started boxing a lot, and you can\u2019t be hungover when you\u2019re sparring with someone or you\u2019re gonna get knocked out.<\/p>\n

Who shaped your ideas about sex appeal in a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll context?
Michael Hutchence. Axl Rose. Bowie in Berlin.<\/p>\n

When you were a kid and you saw images of those artists \u2014
I was mesmerized. I was like, these guys just look like superheroes to me. I was obsessed.<\/p>\n

You ride a horse through a snowy landscape in the music video for \u201cHello Heaven, Hello.\u201d Did you know how to ride a horse before that?
No, though I\u2019d been on a horse before.<\/p>\n

You look good on it.
You know what\u2019s interesting? My mum\u2019s father\u2019s a gypsy \u2014 full-on rode horses and wagons and s\u2014. So I used to get on as a kid and just slap the horse\u2019s arse and see what happened. For the video I had two days\u2019 preparation, and the guy said it was in my blood.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed your fur-lined robe.
I put that on because it was f\u2014 minus 15.<\/p>\n

Where were you shooting?
Bulgaria, which was cool. I\u2019d recommend going, honestly \u2014 beautiful country. This Bulgarian man says to me, \u201cIf you put a layer of Vaseline on, it gives you a minute before you feel the cold.\u201d So I\u2019d slather it on, put on the coat and then do a take. It\u2019s a layer of blubber, innit? Like I was a f\u2014 Thanksgiving turkey.<\/p>\n

When Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine invited Yungblud to take part in Back to the Beginning, the singer expected Morello to ask him to prepare something noisy and jagged like Black Sabbath\u2019s \u201cThe Wizard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gonna want my crazy energy,\u201d he remembers thinking. Instead, Morello told him that Osbourne\u2019s wife, Sharon, had requested he do \u201cChanges.\u201d \u201cI was like, F\u2014,\u201d he recalls with a laugh. \u201cBut also: All right \u2014 this is a moment where I can show the world that I can sing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the result had a bit of Freddie Mercury-at-Live Aid to it, not least when Yungblud \u2014 onstage in full daylight \u2014 led the crowd of tens of thousands in a final a cappella chorus he says was unplanned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of like shagging,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d climaxed, but I\u2019m like, How do I prolong this for them?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yungblud says he was originally supposed to sing \u201cChanges\u201d as a duet with Limp Bizkit\u2019s Fred Durst but that Durst had to pull out of the festival after a family emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you imagine if he\u2019d done it with me?\u201d he asks. \u201cFred Durst\u2019s a legend, but it would have been a completely different story. It\u2019s like the universe gave me a day to make two years\u2019 headway in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yungblud grew up immersed in rock music thanks to the guitar shop his family owned in Doncaster. In 2016 he appeared as an actor in a Disney Channel series called \u201cThe Lodge\u201d; his debut album as Yungblud came out two years later. He went on to collaborate with a broad array of singers, rappers and DJs \u2014 Halsey, Marshmello, Avril Lavigne, Lil Yachty \u2014 but by 2022\u2019s self-titled LP he was feeling \u201clost,\u201d he says, amid the pressures of a music industry that \u201calways wanted me to twist what I was doing a little bit because rock had been asleep for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yungblud <\/p>\n

Yungblud is scheduled to tour the U.S. again in 2026.<\/p>\n

(Hon Wing Chiu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

These days he doesn\u2019t perform many of the songs from the synthed-up \u201cYungblud\u201d on tour, nor does he expect to in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that was what that album was meant to be,\u201d he says. \u201cIt pushed me to the place where I was like, I\u2019m gonna make something that I want \u2014 something centered in rock \u2014 and if people don\u2019t like it, I\u2019ll just stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impersonating a record executive, he recounts a conversation he says he had before \u201cIdols\u201d: \u201c\u2018What if we just turn the guitars down a bit?\u2019 F\u2014 off. This is it, or you can drop me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to corroborate, Capitol Music Group Chairman and CEO Tom March laughs. \u201cI love Dom,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that is his energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few weeks after the Palladium gig, Yungblud checks in from London on a video call. He\u2019s just returned from his tour on our side of the pond and declares it to have been a total success on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican girls are crazy,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been reminded that I\u2019m a prude of an English boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Yungblud, the EP with Aerosmith grew out of a complimentary email he received from Perry after \u201cIdols\u201d came out. The guitarist had suggested they meet up in L.A. to talk, \u201cand I booked a studio just in case we wanted to get frisky,\u201d Yungblud says. Within an hour, he, Perry and Tyler had started writing \u201cMy Only Angel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yungblud, <\/p>\n

Yungblud, from left, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry perform during September\u2019s MTV Video Music Awards.<\/p>\n

(Arturo Holmes \/ Getty Images for MTV)<\/p>\n

For Aerosmith, which last year said it was retiring from the road due to damage to Tyler\u2019s voice, the collaboration is obviously a way to get back in front of younger rock fans. (Tyler has been accused of sexual assault by two women who say he abused them in the 1970s. He denies the accusations, and last year a judge dismissed one of the women\u2019s lawsuits; the other is set to go to trial in May 2026.)<\/p>\n

For Yungblud, the EP provides him with \u201cmusic that sounds like I can play it when I\u2019m 70,\u201d he says. \u201cThe coolest thing about writing with someone who\u2019s 76 is they don\u2019t give a f\u2014 about innovation. They care about: Does this song make me feel something?\u201d<\/p>\n

Next spring, Yungblud will bring the tunes from \u201cOne More Time\u201d and from \u201cIdols\u201d back to the U.S. for another tour as part of his continued effort to win over the country he\u2019s always cherished as the birthplace of rock.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica is fascinating and exotic and amazing and grandioso,\u201d he says. \u201cThe cowboys in the desert and Mt. Rushmore and being on the road with the gas stations and the eight-hour drives \u2014 it\u2019s like a dream. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come on \u2014 nobody loves a gas station during an eight-hour drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlim f\u2014 Jims?\u201d he exclaims. \u201cI\u2019m telling you, I honestly do.\u201d<\/p>\n