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Young Guv

Young Guv shares New Single/Video "Nowhere At All" taken from new Album GUV IV via Run For Cover & Hand Drawn Dracula Records.

Young Guv (aka songwriter Ben Cook) released his latest record, GUV III, in March, but the ever-prolific musician is already back with its sequel, GUV IV, due out June 24th from Run For Cover Records and Hand Drawn Dracula (Canada). Where GUV III encapsulates Cook's most instantly accessible guitar pop songwriting, GUV IV represents the most sonically adventurous side of Young Guv--effortlessly moving between hazy, Madchester-inspired rave ups, twangy California jangle, and even homemade sophisti-pop--while always retaining Cook's undeniable melodies. Now, Young Guv shares another early taste of GUV IV, with "Nowhere At All."

The track follows lead single "Change Your Mind" which drew praise from the likes of international media outlets, and finds Cook right at home with a shimmering, drum-machine-led pop tune that glides right into your head and never leaves.


Cook discussed the new song, saying:

"This was the very last song written for these records in Los Angeles. Another nice co-write with James Matthew VII and Tommy Major on the lead guitar. I feel I've always hinted at new wave and sophistapop with the Guv project, and it's definitely something I will be exploring much more

on my next albums.

Lyrics were taken from a little notebook I kept on me while in Taos - I actually had written this originally as this Tom Petty folk joint and they then were tried on a side project song for a jokey

psych rock band we were calling Taosman 5 - but eventually found their home on this track.

I think it's my favorite single."

Young Guv is a long-running project that's allowed Cook (vocalist of No Warning and former guitarist of Fucked Up) to explore countless different sounds--from scrappy first wave punk to '80s influenced R&B and beyond--and the one constant has always been his infallible knack for writing earworm hooks. Written in the high desert of Taos, New Mexico, where Cook and his band holed up at the start of 2020, both GUV III and GUV IV tap into physical and mental isolation to explore the unshakeable pull of human connection and the rejuvenating power of finding love in others and one's self.

The result is two timeless rock & roll records that celebrate all things hooks and guitars while also packing an emotional punch.


In the spring of 2020, Ben Cook, a.k.a. Young Guv, Young Governor, or just Guv, found himself holed up in the New Mexico high desert, his band's U.S. tour having been abruptly cancelled by Covid during its Southwestern leg. Suddenly he and his bandmates were living moment to moment in something called an Earthship — a solar-rigged adobe structure sustainably constructed with recycled bottles and tires — and out there in the serene vastness, a short "ride it out" stint turned into a nine month sojourn that resulted in two albums worth of Young Guv's most compelling and hook-filled songs yet: GUV III and GUV IV.





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