The Youngblood Diaries

Dear Los Angeles,..

2010-01-24T18:46:00.002-05:00

I am coming back to you... You are a sweet temptress!

All month, I have been trying to convince myself that my heart lies within the boarders of the great state of New Jersey... but to be honest it is too damn cold here! I mean, don't get me wrong... I love NJ... and I am still Tri-State to the bone, but I can't take another day of cold. It is a total bummer!

So California, here I come... I am bringing my A-Game, my sunscreen, some running shoes, my nice shoes, my drum set and a positive attitude! See you soon!

I other news... the show with Timbaland on the 29th is going to be ridiculous!!! It is Grammy weekend, and you know that EVERYBODY is going to be in town for the show... if you thought P Diddy, Lil Kim and Keri Hilson were hot special guests, you are about to get your face melted!!!

--
AN

DC...

2010-01-17T02:06:00.003-05:00

Wow...

Tonight was the first night on the Shock Value II Tour and it was UNREAL! I can honestly say that it was one of the best shows that I have seen in a hotttt second. The band is ripping... the lights are ripping... Timbaland is ripping... It was a really good show from top to drop... you forget just how many HITS he has!

If you are coming to one of the shows and you want to be surprised by his set... then don't read this next section... hahaha.

He has a HUGE LED screen on stage next to him... when there are songs that have other artists, a video of that artist performing the song appears! It is pretty much genius!

The HS set was short, but sweet... we started the set with FMC and kept it going with HCT, Over You, NbdyH2K and a couple others... PLUS, we did our own version of Jay Sean's 'Down'... it is a really cool cover and we flex some musicality with four-part harmonies. I get to sing! hahaha. Which was a BRAND new experience. I have never had a mic in my hands. I am pretty sure I like it! hahaha.

The tour rolls on to Baltimore, MD! So stoked to be out... get to one of these shows!

--
YB

The Reason...

2010-01-14T00:31:00.002-05:00

Sooooo... I am just finishing my laundry and packing my bags (insert sad sigh here)... BUT, we are going out on tour with one of my favorite artists, Timbaland.

The dude is literally a monster in the studio... does anyone remember the Aaliyah song 'Are You That Somebody' it is probably one of the siiickest beats ever! Check it:

I just read the press releases for the tour and it is going to be insane... special guests all over the tour... special videos and light shows... it is going to be an education.

PLUS... to my knowledge, his drummer is Nisan Stewart... he is a full grown man and a problem! Hahaha. He has crazy chops... he is on a really great video called 'Kick, Snare, Hat' and he rips all over the DVD! I can't wait to watch him and try to soak up his performances!

I am going to try and write on here every night of the tour and keep you up to date on everything that is happening... the good, the bad, the ugly... get ready for a lot of ugly... Hahaha.

Reporting live, I am Youngblood... now back to the studio...

--
YB

2009...

2010-01-05T12:23:00.002-05:00

You know what time it is!!! Time for cliche top ten lists!!

Just playing, I feel like everyone is doing that, so I will simply say that in music for me, this year was all about: Drake coming out of no where, Gaga taking over, Jay Sean going down, Eminem coming back, Kayne going out of control, Jay Z re-inventing the game... again, The Dead Weather bring the nastiness, Kings of Leon going from cool to annoying in seconds flat, Muse going from cool to cooler and the Black Eyed Peas having a feeling the whole year...

Personal highlights: 3 national tours... 2 of those being headlined by HS, Fashionably Late coming out, 09.15.09, going back home to play Bamboozle in the pouring rain, first magazine cover (Pollstar), 2 sold out shows at Irving Plaza, 2 sold out shows at the LA House of Blues, 2 sold out shows at the Houston House of Blues, 2 sold out shows in Virginia... on the same day, first music video, first full-length film (Alvin 2), first signature stick from VicFirth, signed to Ludwig, signed to Paiste, signed to Evans, signed to Jonas Records, signed to Hollywood records, met Bam Margera... met April Margera, met hundreds of thousands of people, made thousands of friends, made millions of memories, fell in love, wrote a couple songs about that, got my heart broken, wrote a couple songs about that, ate all kinds of crazy foods (most of them in Montreal), spent the year with my best friends, played drums everyday for an entire summer, Christmas at home... finally, Jimmy Kimmel Live (doing that again in 2010 fo sho), The Early Show, The Today Show, Teen Choice Awards, re-bought Confessions by Usher, running in Idaho, my PPP b-day party!!! and getting a siiick fanny-pack, met Jordin Sparks and became friends, met Phillippi Sparks and hopefully become friends (I just want to know what its like to lock up with Michael Irving), traded e-mails with heroes, got healthy, got better, pushed my limits, saw the finish line, broke the tape and now I see the next one... January 1st, 2011.

2009 was definitely the best year of my life... thank you so much for all the memories, love, mini-golf, 80s themed madness, mini golf, Starbucks cards, In-N-Out hats, posters, presents for Willis, being cool to my friend Gayne Wetsky, bracelets, necklaces, Bob's Big Boy dinner meetings, post-show dance parties, meet and greet parties, sound check parties, Clifford and the Silver Bullet... for real thank you to everyone that made this year rad-iculously sweet!

Let's do it all over again in 2010!!!

Night By Night...

2010-01-05T12:08:00.002-05:00

So this Chromeo video is basically out of a dream sequence that I still have... hahahaha.

Seriously, how siiick would it be if there was a super exclusive dance party, like really real dancing, not club bumping... AND without knocking into that one dude (you know the one dude that de-rails your flow every other Michael Jackson song, because he is trying to get his moonwalk down... WORK on that shizzz at home, in front of a mirror!!! hahaha jus playin')... AND now imagine Chromeo was DJing the whole thing!!

Sound to good to be true... well it is. BUT this video is probably as close as you can get! Super hot video. I am really annoyed that HS didn't come up with this treatment first!

Enjoy...

Next blog will be my year in review... gonna be hot and weird.

--
AN

Aaron Spears...

2009-12-25T22:43:00.003-05:00

You are about to be injured... Aaron Spears is hands down one of the sickest drummers out right now... I have watched this video dozens of times and every time I watch I see something I never did the time before!

So there's that... Incredible dude, incredible player

--
YB

Insomnia Revisited...

2009-12-16T03:58:00.005-05:00

p.p.s. - This is what face-smashing insomnia looks like...

For the record... I am guaranteeing, right here, right now, that when I wake up tomorrow... the right side of my face will look like it got rocked by a young Mike Tyson (pre-facial tattoo... like late 80s, early 90s... when he was a badass)... AND it will have pillow lines, for sure.

It looks peaceful, but don't be fooled!

--
YB

Modern Drummer...

2009-12-16T03:35:00.003-05:00

Today, I got an interesting e-mail. It began like this... 'Hey dude, saw your blog on Modern Drummer...'

And then I was all like 'what?'... and he was all like 'yup'... and I was like 'pump the breaks cawse I am losin' it ya'll'... and then I remembered, that in point of fact, I had written a blog for Modern Drummer last month! Which was nice and reassuring.

In any event you should definitely check it out

Hahaha. Inverted Para-Diddles and triplet ruffs... look at me tryin' sound all nerdy and stuff. What was I thinking!?!

Thank you very much to everyone over at Modern Drummer for giving me the opportunity to participate in their blog series. It is really humbling to be included as a peer on a website that features all of my heroes...

--
YB

p.s. - it is 3:50AM on a Wednesday morning... this is what insomnia kind of/sort of looks like... its just that my pillow always feels like it is crushing my face... which I guess means that my head is too heavy... maybe?

Music Videos...

2009-12-13T18:16:00.002-05:00

I honestly need more music videos in my life... for real, I never, ever, ever, see hot music videos anymore! Does anyone remember TRL... I mean, the vintage Carson Daly edition? Does anyone remember Guns and Roses' 'November Rain' or Ma$e's 'Feel So Good' or Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy'??? Those videos were hottt! Groundbreaking music videos! I need more of that!

I have been on a quest ALL weekend long to find some hot music videos... and it turns out (drumroll...) they are still out there! It is true... they just aren't on TV. Hahaha.

Check these videos out...

The first one, is Super Junior 'Sorry Sorry'... I really don't know what to say... the video is dance madness... and it is one take... a single shot! These guys are straight badass...

Next, is a video by Bat for Lashes 'What's A Girl To Do?'... This video is pretty terrifying. hahaha. I want/need to know how this video is shot! The animals come out of NOWHERE!! Watch the video and you will know what I mean...

Both of these videos blew my mind... and are super low budget/super creative.

If you have any music videos that you CAN NOT stop watching... let me know what's good!

--
AN

And So It Begins...

2009-12-13T18:02:00.003-05:00

I have been talking about starting up this blog for months... literally, since we played Minnesota this past September on the Fashionably Late tour. It took me a while... but it is finally here.

The concept for this blog is really simple: to share... experiences, pictures, art, music, thoughts, dreams, recipes... anything and everything.

Thank you for checking it out... sharing is caring.

--
Alexander