The Stripdown

DJ Ocean Spray 0:00
Hello, this is DJ Ocean Spray and you're listening to WKNC 88.1 Raleigh, HD one. I am here with an Off The Record interview today, and I am here with Will Younts

Will Younts 0:14
Hey, I'm Will Younts. I am an instructor of record at North Carolina State University. I teach English 101. And I'm also a musician. And I'm a graduate student studying English literature.

DJ Ocean Spray 0:30
Um, so to start off with, how long have you been interested in music?

Will Younts 0:37
Um, I mean, interested in music, I guess, since I was like four or something, probably. My mum played music all the time in the house. So did my dad. It was like REM from my mom and Lynyrd Skynyrd from my dad was a great combo. But then I started playing the drums very randomly. When I was like, seven. My parents just got me a drum set. And it worked out. I ended up like, practicing from like, 3pm to like dinnertime. And then like, after dinnertime till my parents asked me to stop pretty much for like 12 years or so. Yeah, and then. Yeah, so a long time. Okay.

DJ Ocean Spray 1:17
And where are you from?

Will Younts 1:19
I'm from Gastonia, which is about 30 minutes southwest of Charlotte.

DJ Ocean Spray 1:24
And where did you go for undergrad? And like, What did you study?

Will Younts 1:28
I studied jazz music performance at UNC Asheville.

DJ Ocean Spray 1:34
And so I am very curious as to like, why you're studying English at state like what are you wanting to gain from it? Um,

Will Younts 1:46
well, basically, like, after studying music, I worked as a musician for a long time. Basically, leading up to COVID. I was like playing into trio like, four or five, six nights a week, paying my bills playing the drums and, and I felt great mostly. And then COVID happened and all my gigs disappeared. And eventually, like, I started teaching music a little bit more. And then I started a writing club in Asheville. And we just basically friends like sharing poetry and stories we wrote on Sundays at 11. In a park, it was really sweet. It's still ongoing. There's like a chapter at Chapel Hill now shout out Lila Richardson. But yeah, and then I was like, Okay, I think I want to do something more with this sort of interest in words and thoughts and ideas. And my best friend, oh, stone goes here to state and is in more of the science area. And I was like, I want to live with Oh, again. And so I applied to state. And I got in luckily, if I hadn't gotten that, and I would just be living here, you know, planning, probably playing more drums and stuff. But yeah, so I mean, now I want to go on and get my PhD and maybe eventually become a professor, but really just like thinking about things that people putbooks with other people.

DJ Ocean Spray 3:20
That's really cool. And so when you were in college, were you in a band then as well?

Will Younts 3:25
Yeah. So I was in a, I mean, I was in a lot of projects. The sort of, I was about to say the main thing I did, but I don't know what the main thing I did was. I was mostly playing a jazz ensembles through school, but I played in a band of my own called swamp hag, which is like a noise rock sort of thing with my good friend Mary. And then I started playing with my friend Ethan in a band with Indigo D'souza called AQ briskets. We're just sort of more like, Neo Soul thing. And oh, was also in that band. It was the basis of that band. And then eventually, I started playing guitar and MJ Lendermon. And, yeah, I think that actually covers the bands. I was. Yeah, but I would like I would play with other people a lot. Like I would sort of sub in with people and I played with a band called sham for a while. Yeah, different things. I played in a band called Sinai vessel for a very short period of time.

DJ Ocean Spray 4:30
Yeah. And so like, with your interest in English, and music, I feel like they definitely like overlap a lot. Um, so to kind of further explore that, um, I wanted to know, like, who your favorite authors are like books?

Will Younts 4:48
Um, well, I guess like, in terms of being an academic I study Herman Melville of Moby Dick fame and Billy Bubfame. But my, I've said for a while that my favorite author is this person named Eileen miles, they wrote a story or a book of short stories called Chelsea girls, which is amazing. And, and also, I've loved Maggie Nelson in the past who kind of got me into Eileen miles and a lot of other people. And is definitely the reason that I'm in graduate school because of her book, The Argonauts, which sort of threw me headfirst into like, theory and to thinking about things both from like a sort of personal perspective and like a really intense theoretical perspective. And doing them at the exact same time, which was really mind blowing when I was in college and undergrad. So yeah, I think that covers I also love Jamaica Kincaid is a more contemporary author from Antigua. Yeah, yeah, that covers that. And

DJ Ocean Spray 6:01
then, like the music side, who are your favorite musicians or like albums or even songs?

Will Younts 6:08
Um, yeah, I love Elliott Smith. He is like my hero in a lot of ways. musically. I don't have that type of relationship with Elliot that a lot of people do, I think, which is like that. They got into him when they were like, super sad teens and like, and that his music sort of helped them feel validated and that and stuff. I grew up listening to him, like in the car when I was like, five, six, like, till I was like, 12. And so it's, I just find it's that it's really beautiful music. And it feels comforting to me specifically. So yeah, I love Elliot. I listened to a lot of Joni Mitchell and Bjork. And, yeah, since I've been in grad school, I haven't been listening to music nearly as much as I used to. for better for worse, I also really liked this band called $75. Bill from New York. It's just like, super weird, like, improvise, not super weird, but weird, improvised music that's just a percussionist and a guitarist. And they kind of play the same rhythm and melody for like, 30 minutes at a time and put little variations and stuff and I think it's really beautiful.

DJ Ocean Spray 7:26
I really liked that, um, you're a fan of both Bjork. And Joni, I feel like they're very different sounds. And so I appreciate the range with that. Do you feel like, like, you see similarities and what you tend to read? And like, what you consume musically as well?

Will Younts 7:47
Yeah, yeah. I think I think that I sort of I just asked this question with my one on one students the other day is like, I, I push them to think about what makes something beautiful to them. And a lot of them are like, that's a ridiculously difficult question, you know, and I was like, Yeah, I don't have an answer. Yeah. But I think what I enjoy in all three of those artists, Elliot, Joni and Bjork is like, there's a certain like tenderness in them all. That doesn't try to I don't know it doesn't try to it's not like romanticizing tenderness in a way like it's not making it easy. It's making it's difficult specifically actually. And I mean, Joni Mitchell is like famous for being a real like Heartbreaker, you know, and you're Bjork is like viciously like a mother and like write songs like that are so sexual and so intense, like Yeah, so yeah, I think there's a tenderness that's like realistic about all those artists and I think that that is one of the things that I love to see in literature also. Yeah,

DJ Ocean Spray 8:59
I'm going to take a little break to play Shelley Duvall from Oh stone and Will Younts.

Will Younts 9:21
The porch light up the rims of the wagon you call Wendy like Shelley Duvall The Greatest of them all

The hen that struts your drive I think she is the mountains cuz she watches and waits and loves you with all her heart

You learned me by asking you wait we tore through the ripping away making up lives without one another and acting them for each other Hey How are you today? I'm fine I'm glad you're here We're still friends We're just friends Two years, two cars, a bike that you build yourself and the feeling of missing home

I still get surprised When you know Every song hanging on the air Like the words are stuck in your hair And I just get to love you and watch

Tracing your back, awake, Your eyes aren't open yet Will made coffee

DJ Ocean Spray 12:07
So you seem to be fairly immersed in like the Asheville scene and have a lot of connections with, you know, the very popular musicians from that area. What is it like to I don't know, I feel like be around so many like talented and creative people

Will Younts 12:27
complicated there's a lot of personalities, you know, as with any people, but musicians are a different type of, you know, different there's a different stuff going on in the noggin, you know. So, I mean, I can't really speak to what it's like to be a part of the Asheville scene now. When I was really immersed in it, it was really cool. I mean, there's there's this venue called the MA flight that was like a really legendary special place. And for a time our friend Andy Lopes, who's now in Pennsylvania, they were organizing, like they were booking every Monday night, they wouldn't have like local Mondays and like, people would go in and do like weirdest stuff, you know, like, just fully improvised sets, like freaky weirdo stuff. And yeah, I think that it was a really great place for a handful of years. I mean, I also only moved to Asheville in 2016. So I didn't really have a good sense of the scene before that, which certainly was important. Yeah, I mean, I think for me, also, like I was a drummer, mostly. So I was I was literally in the back, you know, I was supporting everybody else. I think that's something that I experienced a little bit was, I think, for a long time, I wanted to write my own music, but I felt sort of stifled by my role as a drummer. And so I didn't really do that. hardly at all. So I mean, that's kind of a negative answer to your very, like, positive question, but I mean, that's my own personal experience with it. And yeah, I mean, it was beautiful. I was it's really inspiring to be a part of such varied sort of projects. And I was like seeing Wednesday all the time when they were like in like basements and stuff. And I was in school with Carly. Yeah, yeah. There's a It was cool. It was just, it was a scene, you know? Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 14:22
So how would you compare it to kind of like the Raleigh Durham area? Scene now that you don't live in Asheville? Yeah.

Will Younts 14:34
I don't know. I mean, I don't. I think that it's really hard to compare them because Asheville is so small. I mean, I don't know population wise. And Asheville because of how its situated. It has to be sort of all scrunched together because of the mountains and everything but whereas in Raleigh and Durham and Chapel Hill, I think of Chapel Hill is part of the scene too. It's so spread out. And like if like, oh, and I played a show last year at school kids in Chapel Hill, and you know, like 45 minute drive, and we're like, asking our friends to come and like some of our friends did come from Raleigh to Chapel Hill, you know, that's a tall order to make, you know. And that's something that I've struggled with here is that I really wish that there were, I mean, for example, like, I wish there was a venue on Hillsborough street. You know, that would be mind blowing. That would be so cool. And I think it's great that y'all host music on campus. I thought I think it's really cool that during hopscotch y'all have like, shows like in front of the library sometimes, right? That's awesome. I think stuff like that should happen all the time. Yeah, I mean, it's really hard to compare it, I think. I think also, here, because there's so many, there's so many more bands, there's so many more people, there's a lot more like styles happening, I can feel like there's a lot more like hardcore and like, heavier stuff happening here than there is in Asheville, at least at the places that I would go to, like, I spent a lot of time at static age and the MMA fight, and it didn't really go into the auditorium or other places in Ashville, where there was more heavy stuff. So I don't know, I think that it would be great if there was just like, a kind of creddie like rundown, you know, spot that a bunch of people pitched in on to like, run. And then you know, have shows. Yeah,

DJ Ocean Spray 16:30
I feel like I'm around like NC State at least we have more. We have a lot of like house shows and and outdoor things. Whereas like around UNC, they have small like little indoor venues. But this time of the year. It's not that fun. Yeah, outside. Yeah. When it's like 20 degrees.

Will Younts 16:47
Yeah, definitely. And that's really difficult, you know? Yeah. And that also makes it difficult to have house shows too, because it's like, all these people breathe and love each other. You know, you don't really know everybody who's coming. Yeah. Complex.

DJ Ocean Spray 17:01
And so other than, Oh, do you have like, you know, friendships or really no other musicians in this area?

Will Younts 17:11
Mostly no. I have two good friends who, as far as I know, still live in Chapel Hill, they both went to UNC named Lila Richardson and Audrey kealan. Who are both like Asheville folks, I grew up around Asheville. who write really great music together. And separately, too, but for the most part, I mean, not really. I'm aware of like some bands out of Durham, but not. I want to, like we know, like the truth club folks, of course, but um, for the most part, no. And we don't really know people who are like making similar music to us. So like, when we want to like, book a show. It's like, Who do we? Who do we call and we kind of struggle with that. Which is at once, like, cool, because we're like, okay, we're, we're doing something special. But then it's also isolating. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 18:07
And so more about you. And oh, do you write the songs are both of you like together? Or how does that work?

Will Younts 18:14
Yeah. So our first thing that we put out was called Big Hot looking bright cloud. Which actually, to your question earlier is a little bit out of a William Faulkner book. Totally random. I was like, okay, that's the name of the album. That first thing that we did, which was a few years ago, I think it came out in 2019, or 2020. No 2020 or 2021 2020. I think summer 2020. But um, that was literally a split, and we call it Oh, stone, and Will Younts to try to denote that it was a split, you know. And it went, we did one song together, but I'd written the song. And then everything else was like, oh, wrote it, then I wrote it, and recorded it. We didn't record anything but one song together. And so it was a true split, where it's totally split up. But this record we did all together, we live together. We recorded it in our house. But most of the songs are still written by just one of us, really. We heard this quote by one of our favorite bands Deerhoof about the fact that like, all the members of Deerhoof, like make entire songs like on their own, like in their own houses, like across the country sometimes. And then like they make a demo of it. And then they record pieces that go on to it. And then they say like, oh, we can't even remember who recorded what, and we can't remember who made the original demo. And so they're like, it just belongs to the band, you know? Yeah. And I love that and and that's kind of a principle that oh, and I swear by like we we work hard to sort of get our egos out of it too. feel that we're both that it's a really mutual thing that we're both contributing and constituting the songs themselves. So, yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna take credit for Shelley Duvall, because I think that's like a masterpiece of a song. But yeah, I mean, we definitely share responsibility for all the songs.

DJ Ocean Spray 20:24
And how long have you and Oh known each other. Um,

Will Younts 20:29
I guess we've known each other since like, I mean, 2017 2018 I first met Oh, like when I just knew them as like this badass bassist and indigo, his band, and then this other band called Snuggly. And I thought they were very cool. And they were apparently like, we'd see each other around like unca. And there was like a sort of mutual like, Oh, you're too cool for me thing. So we never really interacted until I started playing in Indigos band, and then we're like, homies, but then we really got to know each other once we started living together in Asheville, in this very special situation, it was during right during the lockdown. Everybody was broke. You know, I mean, broke and on unemployment. And just like staying at home, which was a really wonderful combo to develop a budding friendship, you know, so. Yeah, and then. Yeah, so I guess it's about 2018 Yeah

DJ Ocean Spray 21:31
I feel like it's very interesting seeing I guess you guys are very close friends. I'm seeing you create something together. I think it's really special. I love I don't know, because I feel like you can definitely tell when, you know, a band like just works so well together. And it's just kind of like, like a mishmash of things kind of, and I believe, you know, Justin Morris. Yeah, yeah. It kind of reminds me of like, you know, with his project sluice, you know, he has Avery on the drums. And Avery also drums for Indigo. And then he has Oliver plays. I think the base and then they have this other little sources. They have I forget what it's called. It's like, I don't know, it's like some traditional Indian instrument. Or

Will Younts 22:20
was it a harmonium? Like, the little piano and it has like an Oregon thing. And that like, around Yeah, yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 22:29
Yeah. And so like, they have all of this, but then they also have weird, which is like Olivers project, and it's just, like, really cool. Seeing how like, like, how everybody kind of like, works together and like, how you and oh, like, it's just like something you kind of make together? Um, I think it's really beautiful when that can like, just work out very well for people. Yeah, yeah. Um, let me see. Um, so to go, um, again, about Justin. Your music with Oh, kind of reminds me of, um, sluices music. I love finding like, like similarities between all these people here, like, kind of connected and I guess you guys are all you know, like, around the Asheville kind of, or have been in like the Ashville scene. And it's like, because like, Justin's music reminds me of Indigos music because it goes from like, so quiet to so loud. And your music reminds me a lot of Justin's because it's just kind of like, the lyrics will just be like, my mom says it like he's just talking. Like, I'll just be like, Oh, we just swim in the river. And I'm drinking a beer. Yeah. And my mom thinks it's so funny. And, um, your music, I feel like, is similar to that. And it's just like, very, like, genuine like, you're just saying, like, some like, I feel like you're not trying too hard. You know, like, some people just like, make it so complicated. Um, but I think it's really beautiful.

Will Younts 24:01
Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a real I think that's a real sort of thing. One of the one of the great things about, you know, the fact that everybody can make art and you can just put an album on the internet, or put a poem on the internet or whatever. Is it there often is like, somehow, like, more sincerity in it. Because I mean, I feel really uncomfortable in like a studio setting where I'm like playing drums and they're all perfectly miked up, like, I like when I tell people that oh, and I recorded our record, like all in our house. Like they're like, Wow. And I'm like, No, it's so like the given like, that's so exactly what we want to do. You know, it's not special. Like it's, I mean, it's, it's special in the most ordinary way.

DJ Ocean Spray 24:46
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like it makes. I feel like you can definitely tell the difference. music like that. Yeah. And so do you play anything other than the drums? Yeah,

Will Younts 24:56
yeah. So I play drums and guitar mostly. I I mean, really, I mostly play guitar. If we're looking at stats right now, yeah, I'm still competing with my, you know, seven years old to like 17 You know, era that was a lot of drumming, but But I play guitar all the time, and I play bass and keys and sing and whatnot, too. So, throughout our record, like it's all mixed up, okay, yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 25:21
Um, and do you guys use any like pedals or anything? Like, I guess, different to make your sound.

Will Younts 25:30
I'm not pedals in general. Um, we, I would say our secret weapon is this little eight track that we have. That is like a digital eight track. It's a Tascam. So it has the the supposin Mojo to it. It's a digital eight track that is like, so limited in what it can do. But it has a really great sound to it. And in a lot of times, we'll run that into O's like Tascam four track. That's an actual tape and stuff. And yeah, no, yeah, we don't have any real like, things that we do it consistently for sound. But also, I mean, we play a lot of acoustic instruments, when we record. Even if it's gonna be a loud song, it might still be mostly acoustic, which is like a sound that we sort of attribute or that I sort of attribute to like, bands like low Melda and Joni Mitchell, stuff like that. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 26:32
Um, and what would you kind of like classify the music you and Oh, make as like, genre wise? Or even like a little description? Um,

Will Younts 26:43
I don't know. I think think that, uh, well, one thing that we say sometimes it's sort of a description is that it's soft songs played loud. And then it's quiet songs played loud. I'm terribly, terribly opinionated. And sort of resent the idea of classifying music by genre for a number of reasons. But yeah, that's another conversation. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 27:19
And like, how would you compare the music that like you make versus what you listened to? Like, would you? What do you listen to that maybe you take pieces of that doesn't necessarily sound like what you ended up making?

Will Younts 27:35
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would be so flattered if anybody ever said that any of the music we made sounded anything like any of the artists I listened to. But I feel like they probably won't really sometimes we get compared to Alex G, which I think is strange. Because I don't think we're nearly as like, sort of cynical and like, dark as Alex to us. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, I actually just remarked to Oh, the other day, as we were like, practicing a little bit for a show. That didn't happen. I said, it's, it's, I think it's cool that none of our music sounds anything like the music that we listen to. I don't know how completely true that is. Maybe that's a totally, like egotistical, like, you know, dream or something. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's certain that I think the thing I can say is that we make certain decisions based on people we like, like the drum sound of this law Melda record called Hannah is like, so beautiful, and like full and rich and stuff. And we specifically, like tried to do that. And one song called Meteor song I made. I was trying to make like a shoegaze song, you know, like, more like, Phil over him or something, but, and then also, like, the entire idea of like, doubling guitars and doubling vocals is like, I'm like, trying to sound like Elliott Smith, like, because it's a beautiful sound. But I think, you know, you try to do these little things. And then ultimately, you find that that's those aren't the things that actually make that person sound like them. You know, it's their songs, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 29:16
And I feel like, it's very interesting to me, and I guess, I know, at this point, you're drumming and not necessarily like, writing the songs. But, you know, previously, you drum for iggy and stuff. And that's like, a very different sound to what you're making now. And, you know, I mean, I guess, MJ Linderman is closer to like, your current sound, but I feel like and, you know, while at that time, you know, you weren't, these aren't the songs that you were writing. I feel like it's definitely valuable to like, gain experience from making these different sounds and stuff and contributing to music that's like very different from what you're doing now.

Will Younts 30:00
Yeah, absolutely. I'm sorry for interrupting you before I understood your question. Yeah, totally. I mean, being a drummer for like, a long time, and then sort of entering into more the front of the stage, like playing guitar, like that felt like a step out for me. Because also like with with MJ was like, improvising a lot, like playing a lot of stuff that like he didn't write and didn't ask me to play. And so there was like, a big creative element there. And that was true for iggy too. Like I was coming in, after a different drummer, who played who just kind of like, played the parts. And I came in and like, did a whole bunch of stuff. And oh, and I would like improvise together a lot. And and so there's a lot of creativity happening. But that's really different from like, the creativity happening. sort of isolated, like in a room writing a song, you know, it's really different. Yeah, yeah, it definitely. Was, it played a huge part, I think. And it was a really big transition, especially singing like, I, I still don't really feel like I sing. I feel like I sort of talk. And I don't know, kind of make my talking into a melody, you know?

DJ Ocean Spray 31:17
And to kind of change gears a little bit, do you go to a lot of concerts and like, see a lot of live music.

Will Younts 31:25
I don't. I'm sort of, I kind of feel like I'm in, like hibernation as a musician, right now, in certain ways. I, I really struggle with concerts a lot of the time, like, like, a few years in a row I played, or I can't remember in a row, but I've played hopscotch several times. And. And I really liked that music festival, because it's like, in the city, their venues are like, Spread out, spread out and stuff. But still, I really struggle with large concerts. And so like, if a house show is happening, I'll try to go to the house show. If your show is happening somewhere like school kids at small, I'll try to go there. But for the most part, like I really don't go see music. It's also like difficult for me, because I'm not on Instagram. And I feel like people only promote via Instagram. Right now. I am the era that used Facebook events a lot, you know, and that was awesome. And you can see who was genuinely coming for sure. And somebody might post they might say, Oh, my car's broken. No. Can anybody give me a ride? You'd be like, Yeah. But yeah, so I so I really struggled to like find out about shows that I'm interested in. I mostly go see like, big, like, like, I saw one of my favorite singers here at state called Cecile. McLorin Salvant. Just last year, I was like, oh my god, I can't believe she's playing here. And yeah, I mean, mostly, I don't really go see music. Yeah.

DJ Ocean Spray 32:58
And so with that, do you play many concerts? Like nowadays or?

Will Younts 33:06
No, Oh and I when I intended to play a release show like a couple of weeks ago, but COVID has been wiling and yeah, so we didn't do that. And that would have been our first show and like several months we played I think I think our last show was we played at school kids in Raleigh, we open for my friend Paige her band is called pagan rage. She's from Asheville. Of pictures of Vernon fame. But and this great band called stress fractures, I think from South Carolina. And yeah, no, no, we don't play often. We've joked about having like a seasonal show, like four shows a year like tops Yeah. Yeah, it can be it can be easy to sort of lose your steam if you play a ton for me.

DJ Ocean Spray 34:06
Yeah. So going forward, you still you guys, like want to play shows? Just you're not super into like the whole like touring thing.

Will Younts 34:18
I mean, broadly. I think I can speak for here. Broadly, no, not super into the whole touring thing. We've never toured the two of us, that might be a dream, you know. You know, if we were opening for a band that we really loved or something, but other than that, you know, just trying to, you know, put things together. You know, that sounds stressful.

DJ Ocean Spray 34:47
And so do you. Obviously, a lot of your time is taken up. Now teaching here and going to school but do you plan on continuing to make music with Oh

Will Younts 34:59
Yeah, absolutely. I don't I'm I'm finished this semester. So I'm not entirely sure what, where I'm going to head after this. I might stay in North Carolina might go to Chapel Hill or Duke or something. might not get into any PhD programs. So I might stay here, maybe Oh, and I will hit the big time. But yeah, we definitely intend to keep making music together.

DJ Ocean Spray 35:24
So you, this is your last semester to get your Masters? Okay, yeah. Um, and, like, is your main? I'm just curious, like, your main focus? Would you say it's music or has kind of English and like writing kind of taken the main focus in your life?

Will Younts 35:45
Yeah, I mean, since I've been in school. My studies have been my focus, for sure. But I think most importantly, like, the way that I'm thinking about it, is that right now, I'm in a position where I'm able to study with people and read books and talk about books. And get paid to do that. And teach also, I do enjoy teaching. And, yeah, for me, I mean, music is a part of my life. And I think the way that Oh and I approach music is that music is an act, you know, it's a verb. And I, when I play music together all the time, just on the couch, you know, and we don't record, you know, 90% of it. But that's still music, you know, it's not less music, because it is a recorded. And I think that that's how, like, most people have like perceived music for like 1000s and 1000s. of years. So yeah, I it's not that music is like, falling by the wayside or something. Exactly. And that, I don't know, I think it makes me sad to say that it has. But yeah, it's just, it's just shifted a little bit my relationship to it. Because I used to really stress about music and really freak out about it. used to bring me a lot of like, fear and anxiety, you know, and it doesn't anymore, which I think is good.

DJ Ocean Spray 37:19
Um, this is circling way back to an earlier conversation. But um, I've been thinking about it. So you said that you have been mostly focused on Melville with your studies here. And then you mentioned like a Faulkner quote, and stuff. Are those like, is that the type of like, like, very, like, clap, I guess, classical kind of like literature that you're into? Like, I don't know, because I feel like people go in. I mean, obviously, people can like all different kinds of things. But I find it very interesting that I'm, like, those are some that you gravitate towards. Like, do you do you like the kind of like, I don't even know how to describe it.

Will Younts 38:05
Nautical stuff. Yeah. I'm not not more than like the less canonical stuff. Like I mean, like I said, like, my favorite book, I think is Chelsea girls by Ali miles who's like a queer, like, you know, I mean, that's a bunch of stories about what it was like to be a closeted lesbian. Having sex like with boys in Boston in like the 1950s. You know? Yeah. Like, that's a complex experience, certainly, mostly unrelated to Melville. On the surface, right, but yeah. But I'm also I'm not a big Faulkner lover. I didn't finish the book that, that that title came out of, you know, I find him pretty grueling, but but Melville has a certain humor and a certain like political like incision, incisiveness That, I think is just like delicious and amazing. And, and, like, I mean, my thesis is going to be about like, his, the way that he sort of uses the figure of a child to sort of argue for something, you know, which is, I mean, it's a very sort of queer theory reading of him, you know, and that's happened a lot. And if I've one of my favorite movies is called boats of AI by Claire Denny. And it's like an adaptation. It's like a queer adaptation of one of novels, stories, and it's very famous for that. So for me like it, I mean, I'm not more I don't gravitate more to like canonical stuff, and, you know, less canonical stuff or more contemporary stuff, but it is important for me to sort of disentangle like, the idea that like the Canon is old and like crotchety or something like we get to do with texts, whatever we want, you know, So, yeah, um,

DJ Ocean Spray 40:01
and so you said you're not a big social media user, but where can people find I guess you're like Bandcamp or Spotify?

Will Younts 40:11
Yeah. Our Bandcamp is Oh s and w y.bandcamp.com. Or you could just search Oh stone and Will Younts Y O U N T S, the same goes for a Spotify as Oh stone and will Younts.

DJ Ocean Spray 40:28
Yeah. Thank you so much for coming in. Again. This is DJ Ocean Spray with well yawns and you're listening to WKNC at a point one, Raleigh, North Carolina HD one and I'm going to send the listeners off with gendered socks. One of the songs off of their recently released album you helped me say it so Enjoy.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai