To dance on your feet, the vibe of The Young Folks is all you need. Lyrics that will tell you a story, riffs that will blow your mind and a voice that soothes your ears. One thing is for sure, they’ve got them all! They ever evolving and growing as a band.

The Young Folks originate from Stellenbosch. Their sound style has a bit of a twist: they have combined rock and pop to form a unique sound to the ear. Their vocalist has a very unique voice that contributes to the sound of their music a lot. They aim to get their crowds energized and make them dance because they are happy.

What is your definition of a “Malkop” ?

It must be somebody that can leave their normal lives at home and enjoy themselves to the fullest if given the chance. The guy or girl you see crowdsurfing and enjoying the heck out of it.

Where does the name “The Young Folks” come from?

Well, mostly we felt we didn’t care much at the stage when the band started. Per chance we heard the song, “The Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John and thought, we don’t care about the young folks either. Aaand, it was was applicable, because the band started in high school.

What is the funniest thing that’s ever happened during one of your shows?

We had a show at Hidden Cellar in Stellenbosch a few years back when we just started out and it was with a star-filled line-up with the likes of Valiant Swart, Andre Leo, Lucy Kruger, Basson Laubscher, Lucas Swart and more. Charel, our lead singer and guitarist tunes his guitar to quite weird tunings he makes up. Luckily, Mark, our bassist got a brand new chromatic tuner that day. Being quite stressed out to play with all these artists we would like to impress, we got onto the stage and Charel started our first song, but the guitar was completely out of tune. He then proceeded to try and tune the guitar for 15mins, but with the new tuner he had no success, so much so that people tried to get on stage to help him. We could only play 2 songs of the 5 songs we originally had time for. Embarrassing, but funny when we look back at it now.

What can music lovers expect from your performance at Malkop Festival?

We will give you a high energy performance, for sure! You can expect to be taken on a road trip on melodic highways through mountain passes of rhythm and groove.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Young Folks for this interview and I wish them all of the best with their future musical endeavours.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music and Interviews categories on Running Wolf’s Rant.