By: Samantha Shaffer
The Young Wild held a record release show to celebrate the release of their debut EP, For Now Not Forever at the Irenic last Thursday. Formally known as Family Wagon, The Young Wild stripped their old identity and stepped on stage with their new name and new songs oozing with the confidence of seasoned professionals.
Before The Young Wild stepped on stage, fellow San Diegan natives of Dr. Seahorse had a chance to drop some serious beats. Lead singer Trevor Davis was formally on NBC’s The Voice and for good reason, the man can sing and he isn’t afraid to show it. Davis busted out on stage with his powerful, soulful voice accompanied by his band mate, Mark Suhonen’s bouncing club beats.
What happened next was hard to explain, but for the entire set Davis channeled a mix of Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger in his at times spastic dance moves. It was obvious that most of the crowd was unfamiliar with Dr. Seahorse, but once they preformed a very convincing cover of “Man In The Mirror” Davis had the crowd enchanted with his ‘80’s self-described “electro-swag”.
The Irenic is a famous and beloved church by day and all-ages concert venue by night and the crowd that came to see The Young Wild was seriously all ages. With ages ranging from 5 to 50, it was not your typical rock-n-roll crowd. The Young Wild was determined to make even their performance all ages, lead singer Bryan Bangerter invited his 15-year-old bass student to perform on stage during “Not A One”. The sow closed with The Young Wild performing their single, “Moment Goes” with two of Bangerter’s guitar students that were up way past their bedtime.
If you’ve seen The Young Wild’s trolley performance video of “Moment Goes”, then you’d probably expect a soothing acoustic set, but that was not the case. The Young Wild has everything is takes to be a good modern rock band, loud drums, catchy guitar, smooth bass, a cute backup singer, and some quality keyboard for good measure. They’re a promising group with a new name and fresh EP ready to start touring with Barcelona, I was just lucky enough to see them in such an intimate venue before they take off.