Tunage: What is Youth Martyrs? Is it a representation of a group’s beliefs or is it simply just a band of average dudes just trying to make some music?

Hunter: Well, Gonzalo describes it as this sort of effort to bring back the older sound that our youth seems to have lost touch with. This is not to say we are the only ones doing this, but that we fully support this movement and enjoy playing this type of music.

T: How does Youth Martyrs stand out from the vast sea of local San Diego bands?

H: I suppose our sound stands out because it is a collection of various genres. It seems that each of us is into completely different music, but we all share a deep respect for unfiltered and unedited rock and roll. I find River listening to 80's new wave stuff like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Gonzalo is off listening to old blues and country music like Led Belly and Willie Nelson. I'm into everything from hip-hop to old punk music and Thomas and I both share a love for "Gun Club.”

Tunage: What artists are your major influences?

Paulie: I have a crazy long list, bear with me.  Im a fan of all genres but my transformers would be Outcast, for their musical superior ability to push the envelop, Nas, for storytelling and his lyrical content, Coldplay, for making epic tunes, and conveying emotion through sound, and, of course, Jay Z, for translating music into a lifestyle and later entrepreneurship. Those guys together would be like Optomus Prime.

T: How old were you when you decided you wanted to get into making music?

 P: I've always dabbled with instruments, turntables and poetry. I would say around 19 I took hip hop serious.

T: When you start to write lyrics do you have messages in mind you try to stick to or do you just let the words sorta spill out onto paper?

P: I do both.  I've got messages for the most part, I usually write with an agenda or topic in mind.  I freestyle write a lot too. See in hip hop, it's common to put out a 16 to 24 bar verse of thoughts or ideas just for listening  purposes.