Tim Reardon is the lead singer/guitarist of the band The Young’uns. The Vernon-based band, which has been around for 25 years and currently comprises of bassist Shane Sperling and drummer Don Mutter, was just voted as one of the best local music acts in 2104 in the Okanagan Life Magazine’ Readers’ Choice awards.
Reardon has also served as music director for Vernon’s longest running music festival, Funtastic.
Q: How would you describe the music style of The Young’uns?
TR: “We play a wide variety of styles, probably the reason we have been successful for so many years.”
Q: What has been the craziest show that The Young’uns have played?
TR: “We played the Armstrong ‘Big Cheese’ battle of the bands years ago and I got electrocuted on stage! That was pretty crazy. After the doc checked me out we came on again later to win first place.”
Q: When you’re songwriting, do you write from the heart or from the head?
TR: “I would have to say a bit of both. Lyrically, more from the heart, but musically a bit of the head helps to put an original spin on things. It’s so hard to be original when everything has been done and commercial music uses the same four chords for almost every song.”
Q: If you make a mistake during a performance, how do you handle it?
TR: “Pretend you meant it or play it twice so people think it was supposed to be there (laughs).”
Q: How were The Young’uns created?
TR: “I was looking for a way to play in the local area, being a new father, and didn’t want to start another road band. Duos at the time were popular and I met Brad Krauza when we filled in for another artist. He moved to the area and we started the band in my garage. We originally wanted to call it Young Guns like the movie at the time, but we discovered there was another band in Vancouver with the same name, so we changed it. Country music was popular at the time and we started out as a country/rock duo. I was always a rocker, however, and over the years we switched drummers several times and returned to rock.”
Q: Name three things you like and three things you dislike
TR: “Like: Solid musicianship, skiing, vacations
Dislike: Posers, closed minds, opera!”
Q: What do you enjoy most about being a musician?
TR: “Making people happy doing something you love.”
Q: How many shows do The Young’uns play a year approximately?
TR: “At least 100 nights/year.”
Q: If The Young’uns could share a stage with any other musician in the world, who would it be and why?
TR: “Depends which member you ask; for me, maybe Rush or Zeppelin.”
Q: Who would you say is the most organized in the band?
TR: “Probably Don because he has the most crap to keep track of (laughs).
– Getting to Know is conducted by enterprising music lover and recent Kalamalka Secondary School grad Aniko Forgo.
