Gang Of Youths are stars in their native Australia, as the rockers’ past two albums — including their latest, this year’s Angel In Realtime — topped the charts. Now, they’re starting to gain more traction in other parts of the world, too; The new LP was top-10 over in the UK and its lead single, “The Angel Of 8th Ave.,” hit a No. 7 peak on the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart in the US.
They’ve also become a regular presence on American late-night TV and last night, they took to the Jimmy Kimmel Live! stage for a rendition of “Forbearance.” The band was washed in blue light for their rendition of the David Gray-esque song, with singer Dave Le’aupepe seated behind a keyboard as he played and sang.
Le’aupepe previously told Stereogum of the song, “The song ‘Magnolia’ did f*cking well back home, and I’m weirdly f*cking proud of it. Because I hate most of stuff I’ve ever done because I’m a critical self-deprecating asshole. But ‘Magnolia’ still speaks to me because it’s just the uncoolest thing in the world. It’s just this bleak song, but it has this truth and vibe about it that I do really love performing and love hearing. That day I did something that was more sinister when I was off to go and end my life. I didn’t say goodbye to my father who was like the one person in the world that I should have at least said goodbye to. And I’ve always felt guilty about that. […] So the song’s about trying to make it up to him, I guess. Just being by his bedside, on the floor, giving him shots. Like maybe there’s something about caretaking that sort of generated some kudos for me in the good books of God. That’s obviously not particularly doctrinally sound, but I think it’s the guilty conscience thing.”
Watch Gang Of Youths perform “Forbearance” on Kimmel above.
