The Young Gods

The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985.<ref name="Bio"/> The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler, sampler player Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. For most of their history, the band maintained a trio format with a singer, a sampler player and a drummer, albeit with multiple line-up changes. Treichler is the band's sole consistent member; the current line-up also features Pizzi and drummer Bernard Trontin. During their career, the band have extensively collaborated with producer Roli Mosimann.

The band's music is largely based on sampling and sound manipulation; the tracks are constructed from various samples, such as distorted guitar riffs and string sections. Their later releases have incorporated elements from ambient and electronic music. Their sample-based approach to rock music influenced numerous musicians such as David Bowie, The Edge and Mike Patton.

History

Formation, The Young Gods and L'eau rouge (1985–1991)

Circa 1984, Fribourg-native guitarist Franz Treichler relocated to Geneva and started experimenting with sound collages on his 4-track recorder,<ref name="documents"/><ref name="redbull"/> following the dissolution of his punk band Jof & The Ram, previously known as Johnny Furgler & the Raclette Machine.<ref name="documents"/><ref name="fri-son"/> Inspired by the sampling synthesizer E-mu Emulator,<ref name="melody-maker-1987-int"/> he started composing songs from these sound collages in early 1985 and introduced his roommate, former the Raclette Machine bassist Cesare Pizzi, to the sampler.<ref name="decibel-interview"/> The band started rehearsing with the addition of drummer Frank Bagnoud, who previously played in the same band as Pizzi.<ref name="documents"/>

The band took their name from the track "Young God" from Swans's 1984 EP of the same name;<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/><ref name="mtv-young-gods"/> Treichler was exposed to the track after booking the band for a performance in Switzerland in 1984.<ref name="mtv-young-gods"/> The band made their live debut in the late 1985.<ref name="panagram"/> Their early performances were mostly guerrilla gigs, in which the band played at squats, factories and occupied public places illegally.<ref name="elgarajedefrank"/> In these very early performances, Pizzi operated the samples through tape-playing keyboards and a loop pedal; the samples were stored in cassettes and taped through an answering machine. While they were able to obtain an Akai sampler after 10 performances, their debut single "Envoyé" was produced with this setup.<ref name="panagram"/> The band signed to Belgian Play It Again Sam record label after the release of "Envoyé" on Organik and Wax Trax! Records in 1986.<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/><ref name="popmatters-super-ready"/> A music video for the track was also produced.<ref name="popmatters-super-ready"/> The single cover art featured the band's logo carved onto Treichler's chest; in 2005, he stated that the scar "disappeared after five or six years".<ref name="independent-sounds-like"/> For their debut album, the band started working with former Swans member Roli Mosimann, who went on to become a long-time studio collaborator. The band's self-titled debut was released in 1987 to critical acclaim in the United Kingdom:<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/> the record was named as the best album of 1987 by music magazine Melody Maker.<ref name="melody-maker-1987"/> "Did You Miss Me?", a Gary Glitter cover from the album, was released as an accompanying single. During this period, the band regularly relocated to London.<ref name="decibel-interview"/>

Bagnoud left the band in 1987. Drummer Urs Hiestand then joined the band and the band began working on the follow-up album with Mosimann.<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/> The drumming duties were first offered to Bernard Trontin, a friend of Treichler and band's then-future drummer; he refused due to his conflicting touring schedule.<ref name="daily-rock-interview"/> L'eau rouge was released in 1989 on Play It Again Sam, with non-album track "L'Amourir" and "Longue route" as singles.<ref name="trouserpress"/> Like its predecessor, the record ranked among the year's best on Melody Maker.<ref name="melody-maker-1989-int"/> Pizzi departed the band following the release of the album and was replaced by Alain Monod, who performed on the subsequent tour.<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/> The tour featured the band's first performances in the United States.<ref name="decibel-interview"/> Kurt Weill's "September Song" became a staple of the band's live set;<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/> they subsequently performed covers of Weill's compositions on Switzerland's Festival du Bois de la Bâtie. The studio versions of the tracks were released as The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill in 1991.<ref name="trouserpress"/>

T.V. Sky, Only Heaven and Heaven Deconstruction (1992–1997)

Template:External media For the recording of the band's fourth album with Mosimann, Treichler located to New York, where he subsequently lived for a couple of years; other members joined them for six months.<ref name="decibel-interview"/> The band's first English-language album, T.V. Sky, was released in 1992, with the single "Skinflowers" becoming an underground hit.<ref name="allmusic-tv-sky"/> North American leg of the accompanying tour was documented on the television documentary TV-Sky - The Young Gods US Tour 92.<ref name="tv-sky-doc"/> The band's 1992 live performance in Australia was released as the live album Live Sky Tour in 1993.<ref name="trouserpress"/>

Amidst the commercial success of acts such as Nine Inch Nails, the band signed to Interscope Records.<ref name="allmusic-only-heaven"/> As a part of the label's request, the band worked with a sample clearance expert.<ref name="pennyblackmusic"/> The band's ambient-influenced record, Only Heaven, was released in 1995.<ref name="trouserpress"/><ref name="allmusic-only-heaven"/> Music video for the album's lead single, "Kissing the Sun", was directed by Eric Zimmerman of H-Gun,<ref name="billboard-zimmerman"/> who is known for his work on Nine Inch Nails's "Head Like a Hole" and Soundgarden's "Jesus Christ Pose".<ref name="hgun-musicvid"/> To support Only Heaven, the band joined Ministry's 1996 tour, touring extensively for two years. Hiestand, feeling that the touring lifestyle was tiring, left the band in 1996. Treichler and Monod, then living in New York, regarded his departure as a sign and relocated back to Switzerland.<ref name="decibel-interview"/> To fill in for drumming duties, Bernard Trontin joined the band in 1997.<ref name="allmusic-bio"/>

A companion record to Only Heaven, titled Heaven Deconstruction, was independently released in 1996. The instrumental album featured fully-ambient compositions and soundscapes produced during Only Heaven recording sessions. Treichler originally anticipated Only Heaven to be a double album featuring those outtakes; nevertheless, Interscope vetoed the idea.<ref name="redbull"/> Towards the end of the decade, the label dropped the band, citing low commercial performance.<ref name="trebuchet"/> During this time, the band entered a lawsuit with their former label, Play It Again Sam, regarding their contract.<ref name="bagarregenerale"/><ref name="concertandco"/>

Second Nature, Super Ready/Fragmenté and Everybody Knows (1998–2011)

Template:CSS image crop In 2000, the band released their electronic music-influenced seventh album, Second Nature. Citing the past problems with major labels such as Play It Again Sam, the band sought to release their album on their manager's label, Intoxygene, which Treichler subsequently regretted.<ref name="trebuchet"/> The track "Lucidogen" was also released as a single in that year.<ref name="intoxygene-lucidogen"/> Following the release of the 2001 live album Live Noumatrouff, 1997, the band was commissioned to compose instrumentals for Swiss Federal Office of Public Health at Expo.02;<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/> these compositions were later reinterpreted and released under the name Music for Artificial Clouds in 2004.<ref name="redbull"/> The record was later performed live as a part of which was a collaboration with anthropologist Jeremy Narby.<ref name="amazonia-ambient" /> In 2003, Ipecac Recordings issued Second Nature in North America.<ref name="cmj-second-nature"/>

Between 2003 and 2004, the band was left without a manager and a label.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2005, the band started working on new material<ref name="trebuchet"/> and released the compilation album XXY: 20 Years (1985-2005), featuring career highlights and rarities. The album was released on Play It Again Sam with a new track, titled "Secret", as a promotional single. In that year, the band played their anniversary shows in Montreux Jazz Festival and Willisau, Switzerland, followed by a European tour in November.<ref name="redbull"/><ref name="billboard-xxy"/> The band's performance in Montreux, which was a collaboration with Lausanne Sinfonietta and featured guest vocals from Mike Patton, was later released as a live album in 2010.<ref name="montreux-yg"/> The band's former drummer, Frank Bagnoud, died after a long illness in June.<ref name="frank-bagnoud"/>

In 2006, the band issued Truce Diaries, which was recorded exclusively for the Swiss magazine Truce.<ref name="truce-diaries"/> The following year's Super Ready/Fragmenté marked a return to a guitar-oriented sound in contrast to Second Nature.<ref name="pennyblackmusic"/> Around this time, multi-instrumentalist Vincent Hänni started collaborating with the band, eventually becoming a full member.<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="decibel-interview"/><ref name="trebuchet"/> In 2008, the band released Knock on Wood, which featured acoustic interpretations of their past material.<ref name="Bio"/> The band paid homage to the original Woodstock festival at their 2009 Paléo Festival gig, scoring the documentary Woodstock live with samples from the original artists.<ref name="trebuchet"/><ref name="swissinfo-woodstock"/> Hänni was involved in the recording of the band's tenth studio album, 2010's Everybody Knows; the band sought an improvisation-oriented direction with the addition of a fourth member.<ref name="decibel-interview"/> The record was succeeded by live albums, Super Ready/Fragmenté Tour – Live at Rote Fabrik, Zürich<ref name="yg-fabrik"/> and Griots and Gods – Live at Eurockéennes Festival, Belfort; the latter featured the live collaboration between the band and experimental hip hop duo Dälek at Eurockéennes 2007.<ref name="yg-dalek"/>

Pizzi's return and Data Mirage Tangram (2012–present)

Template:CSS image crop Following the tour for Everybody Knows, Monod and Hänni departed the band in 2012. Treichler approached the band's former sampler player, Cesare Pizzi, who rejoined the band. The band toured in that year, performing tracks from the first two studio albums, The Young Gods and L'eau rouge, on which Pizzi had performed.<ref name="trebuchet"/> The band also supplied original music for the animated short film, Kali the Little Vampire, which was released in that year.<ref name=kali-vampire/>

In 2015, the band began working on new material.<ref name="academy-music"/> The album was inspired by their residency at Cully's Off Festival. The band performed to small crowds and regularly improvised; Treichler has started playing guitar.<ref name="decibel-interview"/><ref name="trebuchet"/> The resulting record, Data Mirage Tangram, was released in 2019.<ref name="allmusic-dmt"/> Mixed by Alan Moulder,<ref name="sans-fin"/> the album was nominated for IMPALATemplate:'s European Independent Album of the Year Award (2019).<ref name="impala"/> The band had approached Wax Trax! Records, which released their early work, for the record's North American release, which was turned down by the label.<ref name="decibel-wax-trax"/> On 17 July 2020, the band released the accompanying live album, Data Mirage Tangram: Live at La Maroquinerie, Paris 2019 on Two Gentlemen.<ref name="data-mirage-live"/>

In 2021, Treichler stated that the band has been working on a rendition of Terry Riley's In C, which the band has been performing live.<ref name="louder-than-war-interview"/> In June 2022, the band announced their new record, Play Terry Riley In C, to be released on October 21, 2022.<ref name="in-c"/>

Musical style and legacy

Template:Listen The Young Gods's sound has been described as industrial rock,<ref name="decibel-interview"/><ref name="skinny-ipecac"/> industrial,<ref name="cmj-only-heaven"/> avant-rock,<ref name="indepedent-super-ready"/> post-industrial music<ref name="exclaim-rouyn"/> and "sampledelic rock";<ref name="melody-maker-1995-only"/> Treichler favours the term "electronic rock music".<ref name="rpmonline-interview"/> Since their early career, the band have used sampling as a compositional and performance tool,<ref name="allmusic-1987"/> constructing tracks electronically with treated electric guitar samples, musique concrète, classical vignettes and electronica.<ref name="independent-sounds-like"/> Trouser Press remarked that The Young Gods's "unusual vocals/sampler/drums configuration reconstructs rock from the ground up, producing a fiery collage of roaring guitars, blistering rhythms and Wagnerian orchestras, all presided over by Franz Treichler's leering, guttural voice".<ref name="trouserpress" /> Treichler has regarded "abstraction" and "element of surprise" as important factors for using the sampler, since they rendered the listeners to "the first time you're listening to music because you don't know what it is".<ref name="redbull" /> He has cited 60s psychedelia, Einstürzende Neubauten, Kraftwerk, punk rock movement and post-punk acts such as Killing Joke and Wire as influences on The Young Gods.<ref name="redbull" /><ref name="rpmonline-interview"/> Kurt Weill, whose compositions were covered on 1991's The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill, is also an influence:<ref name="redbull" /><ref name="independent-sounds-like"/> Treichler has credited him as a model for the band's "experiments with music but still in a song format".<ref name="independent-sounds-like"/>

The band has infused various styles of music to their sound through sampling:<ref name="decibel-interview"/> 1987's The Young Gods made use of classical and metal guitar samples:<ref name="allmusic-1987"/> the band have described their sound on this record as "new sonic architecture".<ref name="melody-maker-reynolds"/> Their second album, LTemplate:'eau rouge, incorporated cabaret and chanson influences.<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/><ref name="allmusic-1989"/> 1995's Only Heaven delved into ambient territories while "being cherished equally by heavy metal, indie, techno and industrial";<ref name="rough-guide-rock"/> the ambient elements were explored on instrumental albums such as Heaven Deconstruction.<ref name="quietus"/> Focusing on synthesized, found sounds and computer plug-ins on 2000's Second Nature,<ref name="spike-second-nature"/><ref name="chaos-control-interview"/> The Young Gods also occasionally strayed away from their sampler-based formula: multi-instrumentalist Vincent Hänni was employed for the recording of Everybody Knows and the acoustic record Knock on Wood. Treichler also played the guitar on those albums and Data Mirage Tangram.<ref name="decibel-interview"/><ref name="chaos-control-interview"/>

Treichler's lyrics are mostly sung in French and English. The Young Gods and L'eau rouge largely featured French vocals while 1992's T.V. Sky became the band's first English-language record. On the subsequent records Treichler mixed the two languages; in 2005, he stated: "I hope to find a solution in between. But they're very different to sing; they both have their rules."<ref name="independent-sounds-like"/> Lyricwise, Treichler often uses double entendres: the track "L'Amourir" from L'eau rouge can be interpreted as "an intense love song or the end of a love affair".<ref name="independent-sounds-like"/> The title track from L'eau rouge is regarded as "a celebration of 'red water'" and is a reference to menstruation.<ref name="allmusic-1989"/> The track "Lucidogen" from Second Nature illustrates "a fictitious drug which would make people more clairvoyant" and was inspired by an anti-World Trade Organization riot that Treichler witnessed in Geneva in 1998.<ref name="spike-second-nature"/> On The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock 'n' Roll, authors Simon Reynolds and Joy Press argued: "Treichler's lyrics brought out all the militaristic, fascistic tendencies inherent in Romanticism, Nietzsche et al., only to transcend and transfigure them";<ref name="sex-revolts"/> in a 1995 interview, Treichler dismissed Reynolds's and Press's Nietzschean interpretation of his lyrics.<ref name="mtv-young-gods"/> Template:Quote box

David Bowie has cited the band as an influence when he was asked in 1995 if his record Outside was influenced by Nine Inch Nails, stating: "The band that I was actually quite taken with was three guys from Switzerland called the Young Gods... I'd been aware of them previous to knowing about Nine Inch Nails." Bowie further praised the band's approach in sampling and looping guitar riffs, which he tried to employ in his record.<ref name="bowie"/> U2 guitarist The Edge namedropped the band as an influence on his soundtrack work for 1990 musical adaptation of A Clockwork Orange and 1991's Achtung Baby.<ref name="u2-1"/><ref name="u2-2"/> Devin Townsend reported Only Heaven and Second Nature to be among his favourite albums.<ref name="quietus-townsend"/> Other artists influenced by The Young Gods include Disco Inferno guitarist Ian Crause,<ref name="disco-inferno"/> Sepultura,<ref name="sepultura"/> Napalm Death,<ref name="napalm-death"/> Mike Patton,<ref name="redbull"/> Ministry,<ref name="assimilate"/><ref name="al-jourgensen-2023"/> Nine Inch Nails,<ref name="redbull"/> The Chemical Brothers,<ref name="observer-superready"/> Kill the Thrill<ref name="kill-the-thrill"/> and Laika.<ref name=laika/> Template:Clear

Members

Template:Multiple image Band members as adapted from the official website:<ref name="Bio"/><ref name="yg-members"/>

Current

• Franz Treichler (aka Franz Muse) – vocals, sampler, computer, guitar (1985–present)
• Cesare Pizzi (aka Ludan Dross) – sampler, computer (1985–1988, 2012–present)
• Bernard Trontin – drums, electronics (1997–present)

Past

• Frank Bagnoud (born Patrice Bagnoud)<ref name="frank-bagnoud"/> – drums (1985–1987)
• Urs "Üse" Hiestand – drums (1987–1996)
• Alain Monod (aka Al Comet) – sampler, keyboards, guitar (1989–2012)
• Vincent Hänni – guitar, bass guitar, electronics (2006–2011)

Discography

Studio albums

• The Young Gods (1987)
• L'eau rouge (1989)
• T.V. Sky (1992)
• Only Heaven (1995)
• Second Nature (2000)
• Super Ready/Fragmenté (2007)
• Everybody Knows (2010)
• Data Mirage Tangram (2019)
• Appear Disappear (2025)

Instrumental and cover albums

• The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill (1991)
• Heaven Deconstruction (1997)
• Music for Artificial Clouds (2004)
• Play Terry Riley In C (2022)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:AllMusic