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References

Dave Le’aupepe of Gang of Youths (Sydney) talks about new LP and future “brutal” music collabs (Jana Angeles, The AU Review, 2015)  http://www.theaureview.com/interviews/dave-leaupepe-of-gang-of-youths-sydney-talks-about-new-lp-and-future-brutal-music-collabs

Fractured Identities (Mandy, thoughtsonlifeandlove, 2014) http://www.thoughtsonlifeandlove.com/fractured-identities/    (2014, Mandy)  

Gang of Youths David Le’aupepe: “I’m Drunk a Lot, It’s Really Bad” (Rod Yates, Rolling Stone, 2016) http://rollingstoneaus.com/music/post/gang-of-youths-david-leaupepe-interview/4604

Gang of Youths David Le’aupepe on suicide, rehab and why he wrote songs - The Feed (The Feed, 2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGMypR-fvkk

Gang of Youths - Magnolia (gangofyouthsVEVO, 2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJzLc8Cj-AY

Gang of Youths on their Debut Album: “People Might Hate It and If They Do That’s Fucking Cool” (Jonny Nail, Rolling Stone, 2015)  http://rollingstoneaus.com/music/post/gang-of-youths-on-their-debut-album-people-might-hate-it-and-if-they-do-thats-fucking-cool/1459

Instagram - tashsultanaofficial (Tash Sultana, 2017) https://www.instagram.com/p/BReePOEBwjA/?hl=en

Instagram - slayerpepe_ (Dave Le’aupepe, 2016) https://www.instagram.com/p/BGMFwz9FiuW/?hl=en

Music helped music prodigy Tash Sultana recover her mental health after a drug-induced psychosis (Kathy McCabe, The Herald Sun, 2016)

Subjectivity: Theories of the Self From Freud to Haraway (Mansfield, 2000, pg. 28) https://analepsis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/subjectivity-nick-mansfield.pdf

Tash Sultana (Aware, awareproject, 2016) http://awareproject.com.au/tash-sultana/

Tash Sultana - Jungle (live on triple j) (triplej, 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpFdHub8XpY

Tash Sultana Live (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKV8mtENt44

TashSultana “played and played until I played the pain away” (Triple J, Veronica and Lewis, 2016)  http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/musicnews/s4547235.htm

Tash Sultana - The Feed (The Feed, 2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIVA-64WfEc

Track by Track: Gang of Youths - ‘The Positions’ (Faster Louder, 2015) http://fasterlouder.junkee.com/track-by-track-gang-of-youths-the-positions/843095

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Unconscious

The idea of the unconscious is that there is a locked part of our brains that we are unable to access unless through dreams, jokes or Freudian slips. Artists are aware that they’re performing but are not necessarily aware of how they’re performing.

‘Unconscious material reappears in the symptoms of neurosis (Mansfield, 2000)’. 

Both Tash Sultana and Gang of Youths perform to their hearts content, hoping that their performances look as good as they feel. The genre of music also influences the crowd’s unconscious response. Slower songs make them sway and dance slower whereas faster, more upbeat songs make them want to jump around and dance faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKV8mtENt44

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5a2fVmasA

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Sensory Knowledge

Sensory knowledge is the theory that all five of our senses are involved in the making of, listening to and performing of our art.

 In a 2016 article by the Herald Sun, Sultana talks about how performing makes her feel. She explains that when she performs, she feels it through her body, which becomes evident when watching her perform live.

‘I get a bit shocky sometimes because of the surge of adrenaline, it’s like an electric current going through my body. That’s why I play sober so I can feel that (Sultana)’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpFdHub8XpY

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Creative Identity

Creative Identity is the way we show ourselves as artists. Gang of Youths have a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude when it comes to people listening to their music. 

In a 2015 album introduction for Rolling Stone, Le’aupepe said ‘I’d rather they hate us for what we are and we do than like us for some bloody facile, shitty reason’. 

In an interview a year later with Rolling Stone, Le’aupepe said ‘I don’t wear fancy dress. I go to parties dressed as Dave Le’aupepe (2016)’. Meaning he is who he is and he’s not changing for any reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0SETUEsDHI (2:23 - 3:00)

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Subjectivity

Subjectivity is the idea that we are influenced by the things we are constantly around. In this case, this results in musicians basing their songs on their personal experiences.

Gang of Youths’ EP, ‘The Positions’, is an excellent example of this. Their song ‘Knuckles White Dry’ is about Dave’s experience of dealing with a loved one having cancer. In a track-by-track explanation, Le’aupepe says the song ‘is about being brave long enough to keep our shit together (FasterLouder, 2015)’. The lyrics of the song show how terrible Dave’s experience was. 

“Deep in the breath of a carrier  Coughing up blood is the worst case scenario”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc_AtdUVcAc 

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Social Identity

Social identity is the idea that we change ourselves depending upon who we’re with. 

Tash Sultana explains in an interview that people comment on her social media posts saying that they don’t know her gender. Sultana’s response was; ‘But, like, who gives a shit?...Be who you are as a person (2016)’. http://awareproject.com.au/tash-sultana/

Dave Le’aupepe said in an interview that he never originally wanted to be a musician, ‘In the sense that you go out, you play, you make a paycheck, people know who you are (2014)’. This is the idea that he wanted to be a musician on his own terms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8vGFDLTros

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Fractured Identity

The theory of fractured identity suggests that throughout adolescence, one is exposed to a traumatic even that plays a role in defining a personality (thoughtsonlifeandlove.com , 2014)

Gang of Youths’ lead singer Dave Le’aupepe explores the confronting ideas behind his suicide attempt and why he wanted to die so badly.  ‘I found out she was sick and that was it’.  ‘The want is gone’. ‘Your life is a temporary problem (Le’aupepe, 2016)’.

Le’aupepe’s suicide attempt is just one of the influential moments in his life that have shaped him. He attributes his life saving to Paul Harris and shows his appreciation for June 3rd each passing year. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGMFwz9FiuW/?hl=en

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Creative Influence

Creative influence is the things around us that inspire our creative thinking. 

At age 17, Tash Sultana ended up in a 9 month-long drug induced psychosis. She has used that experience to influence her ‘Notion EP’ artwork. 

In an interview with The Feed, she explains her psychosis and how that experience has shaped her and her music today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIVA-64WfEc

In an earlier interview by The Feed, Gang of Youths frontman, Dave Le’aupepe, explains his suicide attempt and his marriage failure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGMypR-fvkk

Both artists have used their personal struggles to write songs that hold meaning to them and have subsequently gained fame and recognition for their work. 

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Authenticity

Being an authentic artist in music has become more challenging in the 21st century. Indie/rock artists tend to lean more towards individuality.

Tash Sultana as an artist, draws her musical inspiration from reggae to create electronic, layered songs of which sound like no other. She uses loops, distortion, solos, beat pads and a variety of non-conventional instruments to create her unique sounds.

In a 2014 interview with Au Review, Gang of Youths frontman, Dave Le’aupepe, explains how he tends to take his song inspirations from writers rather than other musicians. This in itself creates the idea that authentic music should be influenced by literature instead of other artists.

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Overdetermination

Overdetermination can be interpreted as the idea that everything we do has a deeper, more psychological meaning behind it. 

The music of Gang of Youths brings a lot of this idea to the surface. In their song ‘Magnolia’, the focus is more on the videoclip. The video starts with a car coming towards the frontman lying on the road.

The clip progresses to give a happier feeling with the bandmember dancing in the street. 

Towards the end of the video, the rest of the band can be seen with baseball bats, smashing glasses on a table. This makes the viewer think about the psychological meaning of this. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJzLc8Cj-AY 

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Essentialism

https://www.instagram.com/p/BReePOEBwjA/?hl=en

Essentialism in music is the idea that every artist fits into one particular genre based on their sound. Tash Sultana dismisses this idea. claiming that she is ‘not a genre based artist’ and that ‘music is multi-dimensional’ 

She views music holistically and believes that music should be whatever you want it to be and what you feel, not what society wants you to play. She is an artist who has a take it or leave it attitude when it comes to her particular sound. She believes in playing music for yourself. ‘I literally played and played and played and played until I played the pain away’ (Sultana, 2016).