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The Young Dads

Author: Catherine Elsby
Publication Date: 30 March 2010

“The Young Dads” may seem like a conventional, simple name for a band, but this duo is anything but conventional, and certainly far more interesting than simple.

With a certain wit and fun-loving humor, their style of music encompasses what the comedy-pop genre is all about, and often has been compared to Flight of the Conchords.

The band, consisting of Jesse Andrews, 27, and Micah Shapiro, 28, both moved to New York in 2008. Being that the boys were “very, very unemployed” they started hanging out a lot. With in no time, the humorous lyrics started flowing onto paper. It also helped that both members are multi-instrumentalists and added a unique aspect to their music with the bass and cajón.

By October they started performing at open mic nights and booking their first shows. Since then, the band has continued using humor to their advantage, and attendees of their shows are always in for a big surprise.

“Every tenth show or so I pretend to be German in between the songs, and then Micah gets flustered because he can’t do accents as well as I can,” said Andrews. “I get a pretty good German accent going, and Micah freaks out and tries to do his own German accent, except it sounds more like a Russian.”

Although they keep their audiences entertained with spontaneous accents, their lyrics are just as engaging. Songs such as “Existential Crisis” portray their use of satire. The song’s video is set up in a barbershop quartet style, with the band members dressed in suspenders and red bow ties. With harmonious snapping and overly gleeful smiles, they belt out this:

“Were just a bunch of apes throwing hissy fits on a little blue ball in a huge abyss, we made a couple of toys and some moral codes but we’ll lose them all when the sun explodes!”

Other songs, such as “Four items list” and “Making the pitch” allow their style and sense of humor to shine, which makes rehearsals hilarious, Shapir said.

Andrews’ preference for humor is a little different; “In my case, it’s because I hate writing serious or semi-serious lyrics, because it makes me feel pretentious and stupid. It’s not that serious lyrics can’t be good; it’s just that I can’t write them.”

Whatever the reason is, it’s working; The Young Dad’s Facebook fan page has already attracted 395 fans with comments including “I’m your biggest fan,” and “Fun show last night!”

The band will be playing at 9:00 p.m. on April 14 at Bar 4 in Brooklyn. Other character changing and humorously brilliant performance times and locations are posted on their Myspace page.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theyoungdads

Myspace:  http://www.myspace.com/theyoungdads

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