Sean Van Vleet of Blame My Youth recently stopped by The Fuse Studio 104 to share his impressive journey in music and how he got where he is today. Watch the entire interview below.
Sean’s musical journey began with a band started by his grandfather. “My grandpa started this band called the Chicago Rovers, Irish bagpipe band. And I was 12 years old and I joined that,” he recalled.
Years later, he formed the band Empires in Chicago, which toured quite a bit across the United States, but never quite broke into the international scene. Reflecting on this period, Sean said, “…towards the end of the band I kind of just decided I was done, and I’m like man, I don’t know what I’m going to do because I don’t have a degree or anything like that. I’m like, ‘I still wanna play music, I want to be a songwriter’ and a publisher pitched a song of mine that my band passed on to a TV show, coincidentally called Empire.”
This success led Sean to move to Los Angeles, where he really got into songwriting. He began collaborating with various artists, including a session with Oliver Tree, which led him to really nail down his sound and his musical style.
The pandemic brought a new wave of creativity for Sean, leading to the formation of Blame My Youth. “I’m like, ‘I got pandemic angst man,’” he said. “And the first song was ‘Fantastic’ and, you know, ‘I feel beep! fantastic’ and it, just that chorus, like, came right out. And I’m like ‘Man, I think I want to do this again.’”
Blame My Youth quickly grew in popularity with their debut single “Right Where You Belong,” which was featured in the Grammy-nominated soundtrack of “Bill & Ted Face the Music.” Their follow-up hit, “Fantastic,” got millions of streams and reached the top 30 on the Active Rock radio charts. The band spent the summer of 2022 touring across the UK and the US, sharing their music with a growing fanbase.
Working with producer Joey Moi has significantly shaped Sean’s career. Describing their collaboration, Sean said, “I always say we’re like the punk rock kind of, you know, kind of beat up version of like Bernie Taupin and Elton John.” Their partnership has led to a more refined sound, as Sean explained, “Yeah, you know I’m just not yelling… I’m just not screaming choruses. It’s just a little more refined, a little more singing, like, crooning almost.”
Sean shared a look into a Blame My Youth show, explaining how they blend their older, “screamy” songs with their new sound. To do this, he explained that in between sets, “We take a beer break. In the crowd, with the crowd, we go there, we like drink… and it’s awesome. We come back and we start with that song ‘Running’ and then we do, like, that set.”
One of the most memorable moments for Sean in his career was filming the music video for “Tokyo Rose” in Japan. He shared how he and Joey were watching a video in which Johnny Daigo was performing, and how that inspired the two of them to quickly write a song. “And then while we’re doing it Joey’s like, ‘Dude you got to go to Japan and get this guy in the video,’” he explained. “And I remember leaving being like, ‘There’s no way they’re gonna send me to Japan for this.’ Three, four months later I’m in Japan, Johnny wanted to be in the video. Dude, it was awesome.”
As for a dream collaboration, Sean feels like he’s already living his dream working with Joey Moi. “Oh my gosh, this is like, almost cheesy to say. I feel like I’ve done it with Joey.” he admitted. “And like, for us to be writing songs is legitimately a dream, a dream for me.”
