I don’t remember who, but someone texted me, “There’s a new Youth Avoiders album.” Hold up, the same Youth Avoiders who had records on Deranged and everyone assumed were no longer active?
A quick search on the streaming services, and there it was: Defiance. Amazing artwork and not an ounce of spark lost despite going over eight years without a release.
I included Defiance among my picks for No Echo’s Best Hardcore Albums and EPs of 2026 (So Far) feature and got a Facebook message from Nico, a current member of Youth Avoiders, thanking me for the love. He pressed it on his own label, Destructure Records, and said he's interested in partnering with a label with more reach in the U.S. and wider distribution.
Holy shit, Adam. Now is your chance to realize your almost 30-year dream of starting your own label!
Over the last year, I have been selling off all my CDs on Discogs, and it's been lucrative enough to bank the money to make this a reality without dipping into any other accounts. Seriously. CDs.
Nico agreed, and here we are. I launched my label, Bottom Six Records, and am honored to present a new pressing of Youth Avoiders’ Defiance after being a legitimate fan of the band for well over a decade.
Here is my conversation with Christopher and Nico about their history, Defiance, and what they have been up to since the last record.
OK, let’s start by setting the scene. You formed near Paris, France, way back in 2009. Where exactly did you start, and what was the scene like there?
Christopher Gaultier, vocals: The scene in Paris in 2009 was great, with a lot of squats and bars where we could organize punk shows. A lot of touring bands were playing there, and there were shows almost every day. I remember a lot of punk subgenres mixing together at shows. You could have a folk-punk band with, like, a screamo band and a youth crew band.
I was coming back from a year living abroad in the UK. I wanted to be in a band again. I knew Marlon, the drummer, because we'd been in a band together before. I met Christoph, the guitar player, at a show. He is from Germany and was studying in Paris at the time. I also met Bastien, who’s not in the band anymore, at another show. He was also studying in Paris.
It was just a random, “Let’s book a practice and try something.” We had no clear idea of what we were going to play.
Christoph brought some clean guitar riffs on his Stratocaster, and they sounded like the bands we were all really into at the time: Dean Dirg, Press Gang, and Idle Hands.
You kind of touched on it at the end there, but explain your influences. What were you listening to when the band formed?
Christopher: When we started the band, our biggest influences were those German bands and classic hardcore bands like Minor Threat. We were also listening to bands like The Observers, Red Dons, Masshysteri, and Government Warning. One of our favorite bands outside of underground punk and hardcore has always been The Hives.
I was thinking about this recently. If you look at the lineup of Trashfest 2009 in the Netherlands, you get a good picture of the scene that year, with many bands we were into.
Deranged Records was a god to me and a lot of others, putting out records from Fucked Up, Career Suicide, Violent Minds, DS-13, and so many other bands that it would need its own website to cover. How did you hook up with Gord, and what was that experience like with Deranged?
Christopher: We were recording our first album [Youth Avoiders], and we had a U.S. tour planned for April-May 2013, so we figured it would be nice to get a label to release our record locally to save on shipping costs and help us promote it.
We didn’t know Gordon [Dufresne] at all, but Deranged was one of our favorite record labels at the time. We simply wrote him an email to ask if he would be interested. After listening to the recordings, he agreed to release the album, and that was it.
It helped us a lot, and we were proud to be part of it with all the great bands that you mentioned.
I’m going to skip ahead a bit so we can get Nico involved and talk about Defiance. How did Nico come into the band?
And for those who don’t know, Nico is also in Bleakness, who just did a U.S. tour, and Deletär, who are on Sorry State Records and rock like Totalitär. and he runs the record label Destructure Records!
Nico Bazire, bass: My history with Youth Avoiders goes way back. As soon as I heard their demo, I loved it. It was so fresh and different from what was happening in France at the time. I asked them if they would like to release their next record on my label, Destructure, and I ended up releasing everything they did from their following EP onward, which came out in 2011.
We became even closer around the recording of the Spare Parts EP. They were looking for a studio to record those songs, and I honestly don’t remember exactly how it came about, but I ended up recording every record they’ve made since then.
I think I started occasionally playing bass for them as a fill-in around 2022. Then, when they were looking for a new permanent bass player, they asked me, and I naturally turned them down because I was already pretty busy with my other bands! But the other person who was supposed to take the spot backed out, so I basically ended up getting permanently dragged into it anyway [laughs]!
Defiance was already almost finished at that point. I suggested that we re-record the bass parts. Since the songs had essentially been written by the other three members, we all agreed it was a good opportunity to finish the album properly. And considering how long it had already taken, we figured we could take a few more weeks to get it done right.
Yeah, and there is a large gap between releases. According to Discogs, eight years between releases! Why is that?
Christopher: I think it’s a combination of several things. We were playing a lot of shows, sometimes not practicing for months. Also, we had no pressure to make a new record.
We were really happy with our previous album, Relentless, so our goal was to make a new album at least as good as the previous one, which meant spending a lot of time on each song to avoid making fillers.
Just after we finished recording it, we had a break of about a year. Then Nico joined us, and we finally released it.
And Nico put out this record as well as your previous ones.
Christopher: Yeah, it’s working out so well. Everything is easy, so we wouldn’t want to change. It’s out on vinyl on Destructure Records and on cassette on Dispear Records from France. It’s going to be released on cassette in Indonesia via Snick Snack Distro, and thanks to you, it will be released in the U.S. on vinyl on Bottom Six Records. We’re really looking forward to it.
Nico: In the past few years, I’ve slowed things down with the label so I can focus on releasing records by bands I have a closer relationship with. It allows me to be more involved with each record.
Even before being in the band, there was this real connection between us. Not even mentioning the studio side of things, we talked about this album together for months—years?—before we even started recording it.
We regularly keep in touch to see how the band is doing, what they need, whether they have enough records or merch, and sometimes I can help out with more administrative stuff, for example. It’s a really cool relationship that works well for all of us.
The cover is a pretty incredible abstract work. Can you tell me about the artist and whatever you can about the art itself?
Christopher: We used photos for the covers of our previous records. This time, we wanted a change, so we asked Gaspard Le Quiniou from the Arrache-Toi Un Oeil collective to make the design for the new album. They also make amazing shirt designs, illustrations, and gig posters that they screen-print.
We’ve been friends with them for many years, so we felt it was a good opportunity to work with them on this project.
We are into brutalist architecture, as you can see on the cover of Relentless. The lyrics of Defiance were heavily influenced by the genocide in Gaza. The result is a mix of brutalist and abstract elements with ruins in the background that fits well with the atmosphere of the record.
And you just touched a bit on the lyrical content on Defiance. Can you sum up some of the topics you focus on lyrically on this album?
Christopher: We take inspiration from what’s going on around us, from current events, and from what we read or see.
Like most hardcore and punk bands, we speak out against injustices and criticize what is wrong with this world. We have been, and still are, deeply affected by the genocide in Gaza.
We also have a few positive tracks, such as “This Is the Sound,” because it’s important to keep the faith and try to make this world a better place.
Lastly, in the eight years between LPs, what has changed about recording, touring, and basically being in a band?
Christopher: We know each other really well, which makes things easier within the band.
We like recording. Everyone is involved in all phases of the recording and pays attention to details, so this hasn’t changed since the previous record.
The most notable change is that we play fewer shows than before. We’re all busy with our lives, but when we hit the stage, it feels like nothing has changed. The intensity and pace are still the same.
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Defiance is available on vinyl via Bottom Six Records.
Tagged: youth avoiders
