Young Man is an alternative rock musician by the name of Colin Caulfield from Chicago.
“I’ve always listened to and analyzed music, so once I picked up piano and guitar, it wasn’t too difficult to pick it up,” Caulfield said. “I play guitar, piano, drums, and sing. Rather than any one instrument being a favorite, I seem to vibe most with the combination of voice and piano. I write a song nearly every time I sit down at a piano.”
Caulfield started his band when he was in college.
“Young Man is a concept project I started working on when I was a sophomore in college,” Caulfield said. “At that point (as well as right now) things were constantly hanging - my life was dominated by a transition from young to old. I briefly considered using my own name, but that made everything too specific - there’s an intentional universality within each Young Man song, whether or not it’s about a specific experience of mine.”
Being a solo artist has been an enjoyable experience for Caulfield, but he hopes to do more things with a band.
“’Boy’ and ‘Ideas of Distance’ are definitely solo records, but the next two LPs will be considerably more of a group effort,” Caulfield said. “I liked being the dominant creative force for a while because it made me progress quickly, but I don’t know if I’m cut out to do that forever. I enjoy being in a band and seeing how ideas can grow with the help of other people.”
The debut album, “Ideas of Distance” is based on a long distance relationship Caulfield has been in.
“When I wrote the record, that relationship was being tested not only by distance, but by my looming graduation from college, which signified a significantly new phase of my life,” Caulfield said. “I was attempting to juggle career plans and being in love constantly caught in thinking about the future. Having said that, the album functions on two levels…On one hand, it’s my argument for why being in a long distance is terrible. On the other hand, it’s a more general discussion of love that everyone feels. The recording process was more or less concurrent with the writing process. I did all of it in my room, except for additional production done by my good friend, Phil Tortoroli, who lives in New York City.”
Young Man has toured throughout Europe, the East Coast and Midwest and it looking forward to the West Coast and opening for Cold War Kids on Nov. 1.
In the future, Caulfield hopes to release more albums and be part of a band again.
“I’m really anxious and impatient when it comes to my creative future,” Caulfield said. “There are two Young Man albums in addition to ‘Ideas of Distance’ in the next year, which will conclude the project, but I’m already writing more and thinking about what I’d like to focus on afterward. It’d be great to play drums in a band again, but I have an open mind.”