History
Both Simon Katz and lead singer [2] Sam Martin were in the band Iglu & Hartly, but after a 2011 hiatus, the two reformed with three of their long-time friends to form Youngblood Hawke. [3] Their name is taken from the Herman Wouk novel of the same name. [4] In October 2011, before landing a recording contract with Universal Republic, Youngblood had a residency at The Satellite [5] in Los Angeles. Aside from that, the group has performed at South by Southwest, playing showcases such as Comedy Central Workaholics showcase, [6] and Purevolume House. [7] [8] [9]
The band was based in Silverlake, Los Angeles, where they were working on their debut album and worked odd jobs on the side during the recording process. [10] Youngblood Hawke's first single "We Come Running", was described by LA Weekly 's Kevin Bronson as showing the quintet's "skills at grabbing hold of the pop jugular vein". [11] Their track "Forever" was the Starbucks Pick of the Week for September 2012. [12] Before that, they joined the lineup for both the Echo Park Rising Festival [13] as well as Lobsterfest. [14] "We Come Running" was also featured on the soundtrack for the association football video game FIFA 13 . [15] "We Come Running" was also used in the first episode of The 100 . [16] In 2014, another song from their debut album, "Stars", was featured in a commercial for the streaming service Netflix. [17]
Youngblood Hawke's video for their debut single "We Come Running" was featured on Rolling Stone , "where they play music and scuba dive with sharks in time" in hopes to help promote the conservation of sharks. [18]
The band is currently in the process of recording their second studio album [19] and its lead single "Pressure" was released in early 2014. [20] [21] They "plan on releasing a cover song accompanied by a band-made music video every month until the album is released," starting with Private Eyes by Hall & Oates which was released on March 2, 2015. [22]
The band's song "Knock Me Down" was released on July 30, 2015, as the second single from the band's forthcoming second album. [24] A lyric video for the song was released on May 30, 2017, nearly two years after its initial release. [25] Meanwhile, the song was featured in a commercial for PlayStation 4 [26] and also in the UFC documentary Road to the Octagon. [27] The song was later used in an Applebee's commercial [28] and was also featured in the soundtrack for Madden NFL 16 . [29]
The band's song "Robbers" was released on June 15, 2017. [30] Another single called "Trust", co-written and co-produced by Andrew Taggart of The Chainsmokers, was released on February 9, 2018. [31]
On July 28, 2020, the band announced their second full-length album Edge of the World, which is set to be released on October 9, 2020. [32] The album's lead single "Waking Up the World" was released on August 6 via the band's SoundCloud channel, one day prior to the song's scheduled release date. [33] The album's second single called "Criminals" was released on August 28, followed by "Find a Way" as the album's third and final single on September 18. [34]
Buzz Bands LA touched on the band's extended hiatus, writing "[the band] has been in the background, ensconced in things like day jobs, solo projects, musical collaborations and impending parenthood." [35]
In 2021 Sam Martin released a solo single called "Patience" under the name Sunshine Boysclub. [36]
