Young The Giant Psyched About Their VMA Bump

Rock band thanks new and old fans with a free EP featuring remixes from Tokyo Police Club, Ra Ra Riot and more.
By Gil Kaufman

Young the Giant's Sameer Gadhia

Young the Giant couldn't believe the huge crowd they drew when they played on one of the main stages at the Austin City Limits festival last weekend. In fact, as far as singer Sameer Gadhia could tell, it was the biggest audience they've ever played for, and he thinks they have the 2011 MTV VMAs to thank in part for their growing popularity.

Nearly a month after playing their breakthrough hit "My Body" on the big show amid a bunch of their hometown fans, Gadhia said the benefits are definitely starting to show. "I think us performing at the VMAs definitely helped a little bit," said Gadhia. "We've always done well in Austin and we have a great time performing here, playing here. It's almost like a second home to us, so we have a very supportive fanbase over here. I think that really does help."

As a gift to their new and old fans, YTG dropped a free remix EP last week on their Facebook page, with a number of remixes of "My Body" by bands (and friends) including Two Door Cinema Club, Tokyo Police Club and K. Flay, as well as a Ra Ra Riot take on "Cough Syrup" and takes on "Apartment" by Captain Cuts, "Islands" by Tapioca and the Flea and Cahb, and "I Got" by DADO. Two of the remixes are by fans who won a contest.

"The idea was to use the content we had and do something new with it," said drummer Francois Comtois of the inspiration for the unusual remix EP. "We're fortunate enough to have friends and friend bands and a bunch of people who wanted to contribute from the start. We had too much good stuff; we had to whittle it down to eight or nine tracks. You want to be able to give fans as much as possible."

Gadhia was really blown away by the jungle beat remix of "Islands" by Cahb, which he said bass player Payam Doostzadeh is obsessed with, as well as the trippy, dub-style electronic remix their pals in Ra Ra Riot did on hit "Cough Syrup."

"I couldn't be happier. It was cool to see people involved around the country," said Gadhia.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1671140/young-the-giant-ep-vmas.jhtml

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