HotStar: Young The Giant

Morrissey appears to like Young The Giant.

“I could break down with happiness at the new debut CD by Young The Giant,” he wrote on a fanzine website. He gushed about Sameer Gadhia’s vocals, said the album had “a perfect tone” and dropped a few more accolades before putting a fine point on it: “Every three thousand years, a band comes along who restore that precious component of faith.”

The eponymous disc has also been called a pop masterpiece by the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today said single “My Body” was an alt-rock anthem.

But Young The Giant has also made advances from its energetic live shows. C3 Presents put the band on the Lollapalooza mainstage and MTV producers added them to the Video Music Awards show after seeing a performance. They’ve performed to the main crowd at Austin City Limits festival, and at Music Midtown, Australia’s Splendour In The Grass and Netherlands’ Lowlands, among others.

“At a time when there is so much music, it’s good to see phenomenal music find its way to people and get recognized,” Paradigm’s Jeffrey Hasson told Pollstar. “It’s great having a band that can translate it live in a way that enhances the experience, and that’s been proven through ticket sales.”

The band has built its audience from touring for the past two years, Hasson noted. Paradigm has slotted them with Minus the Bear, The Futureheads, Marina & The Diamonds and Steel Train, among others.

“The Austin headline show at Emo’s sold out 300 tickets a month out, so we put it outside and we end up selling out 1,000 tickets,” Hasson said. “Those victories started happening in multiple places. Slim’s in San Francisco sold out two weeks in advance – and that’s when one of the MTV producers saw the vibe and wanted them on the show. They saw the interaction the fans give, and how into it they are. I think that interaction is what the story is about.”