Young And Sexy Consider Becoming Rich And Famous

Vancouver's Young And Sexy are trying to figure out why some bands make it big and others don't. Why do Coldplay get to tour the world, but Young And Sexy still have to work day jobs just to pay the rent?

"I don't know what we should do differently... or what we could be doing," says guitarist/vocalist Paul Hixon Pittman. "It would be awesome if we could start making a living at it.

"We're all pretty sick of our day jobs. We much prefer making music, and it would be fun to tour for three or four months of the year and make some money at it."

The quintet are only on album number four, so there's certainly no reason to throw in the towel just yet (though the title of 2006's Panic When You Find It might indicate some worry creeping in).

Young And Sexy's latest Mint album, The Arc, sees the pop outfit moving in the same direction they've been following since their 2002 Stand Up For Your Mother debut: constantly refining, layering and beautifying their sonic landscape. Musically speaking, they're sitting exactly where they want to be, but Pittman and vocalist Lucy Brain, guitarist Andre Lagace, drummer Alex Brain and bassist Brent McDonald are smart enough to realize that their new disc isn't going to yield any radio hits.

"I didn't think we were going to get anywhere with this record, just because it's not very different from the last one," Pittman concedes. "It almost seems like you just have to have a few of the right people like it.

"It seems that way to me. I mean... I don't really know how someone becomes someone that makes money."

To their credit, Young And Sexy aren't only in it for the cash.

"When we're playing and working out the songs, that's the best thing," says Pittman. "I feel pretty lucky to be making music with my best friends.

"It's always the same thing: just wanting it to sound good, relatively live-off-the-floor, and with a limited budget. That's always the goal — to make it sound as good as it can be, with energy and vitality."

Young And Sexy have these dates lined up:

June 13 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's (NXNE)
June 26 Calgary, AB @ Science Centre (Sled Island Festival)
June 27 Edmonton, AB @ The Velvet Underground
July 19 Nanaimo, BC @ Green Mountain Music Festival