Danceable Realism: Youth Sector on the Duality of 'Pop Couture'
Monday, 22 September 2025
Written by Rishi Shah
“Life is a scam, get your money back,” Nick Tompkins cries to kick off Crime, an early highlight on Youth Sector’s debut album ‘Pop Couture’. On paper, it’s a lyric that sets the tone for another bleak, despondent post-punk track, mirroring the dire state of affairs that Britain finds itself in. But, in the case of the Brighton five piece’s sound, you can think again.
In fact, they might be the most jubilant new band in the country, colouring in their brand of art-rock with gloriously funky basslines and hyper-addictive riffs, from guitar crunch to brass flourishes and synth leads. On stage, it’s backed up by delightful showmanship, from Tompkins’ direct delivery to their uniform of matching pink and yellow shirts.
Beneath the gloss, there is a very real core to Youth Sector, which makes their escapist theatrics all the more vital. “ABBA had really jaunty little disco numbers, but they’re all about heartbreak,” Tompkins points out. “Especially nowadays, when everything is objectively not all terrific, it would probably come across a bit phony if the lyrics were really happy.”
That duality underpins the eminently-danceable ‘Pop Couture’, which is a culmination of the spirited, tongue-in-cheek songwriting that they’ve refined since 2020’s No Fanfare put their name on the map. Ahead of a wide-ranging run of UK and Ireland tour dates in October, we spoke with Tompkins and bassist Josh Doyle about the road to their debut, terrible Tories and if they ever wash their iconic outfits.
Your debut album has been a long time coming, and we heard a whopping eight singles in advance. Why was now the right time?
Nick: “It’s a case of waiting for all the right ducks to be in the right row, essentially, but it wasn't through a lack of trying. When you’re a smaller artist, you need everything to be ready. You don’t want to spunk your debut by throwing it out.”
Josh: “We approach everything cautiously. Sometimes, I’ll try and go all-guns-blazing on something, and I am swiftly reminded of what we are: a bunch of cautious, scared young men!”
Nick: “We’re working with a label, but it’s very independent and DIY. At the size that we are, you need to give each track that chance to build…play the game with Spotify, press and radio more than other artists might have to. If we were the size of Tame Impala, I’d quite like there to be eight songs that I haven’t heard before — to digest it as a whole thing — but I think that’s a luxury nowadays.”
How did The Ball come to find a home on the album, more than two years after it first appeared on your ‘Quarrels’ EP?
Josh: “When we did The Ball, I felt that was when we started to get pretty good. There’s definitely a little bit of sentimental value to it, because it did feel like a new page had been turned.”
Nick: “That felt like a clear pivot point. Sometimes, as a band, you find a good place where you know exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it, musically and lyrically.”
Josh: “Everything that you said there, Blink-182 said about Dammit.”
Nick: “Cut from the same cloth.”
Crime is a real highlight of ‘Pop Couture’ — how did it come together?
Nick: “Because it had come from [Josh’s] jaunty little bassline, it naturally had this joyous feel to it. I feel quite uneasy with anything that’s too happy-clappy lyrically, so I naturally felt the need to temper it, so we don’t become this cringe band that are all high-fiving each other. There is probably a natural disposition in a lot of artists: if the music is sounding really joyous, then you can’t have that on all cylinders.”
Josh, tell us about that bassline.
Josh: “I wanted to write a bassline in the vein of What’s The Use? by Mac Miller. I like the way that moves — I wonder how I can do my own version of that?”
Then you have a song like Fit For Purpose, which is grittier and less flashy, but still centred around an unbelievably catchy riff.
Nick: “There was a centre for asylum seekers, and it had Disney characters over the walls, to make it more comfortable and reassuring for the kids that are coming in off boats, [feeling] scared. Conservative MP Robert Jenrick — all-round bad guy — ordered for all of those murals to be painted over, because he felt it was creating too much of a warm atmosphere for the children. One of the most reprehensible things that a person could think to do.
“Fit For Purpose is [about] this space being painted over to be the most unwelcoming, plain environment that is purely fit for purpose. Nothing more, nothing less. In a way, that’s quite relevant, with the state of our politics at the moment. Everything is falling apart, but you’re expected to accept it, because it’s just about holding together.”
Does your earlier point about balancing light and shade explain why such a bleak story underpins one of the album’s biggest hooks?
Nick: “I was quite into The Hives at the time. Underneath the riff, there’s those four power chords — we never really use them in the band. Over the top of it, I was trying to go for the most hooky melody I could find, that you could hum in your head.”
Josh: “For me, that's our poppiest song, even though it’s got those power chords. I’ve been trying to get you to do power chords for years.”
Nick: “I always wimp out.”
It’s funny you mention The Hives, another five-piece guitar band who wear matching suits. Will they be taking you out on tour or suing you?
Nick: “They’ve got better lawyers than us, so the ball’s in their court.”
Josh: “We would choose a tour, but I guess it really is up to them…”
Your recently ditched the brown jackets and added a splash of pink to your yellow shirts. The lore goes that you were born in those outfits, so where did the new ones come from?
Josh: “One day, we were at the dry cleaner’s together, because on our famous world tours, they’d be going six months without getting washed. We have to wear something when we’re not wearing suits. The suits stink. They’re still washing — they haven't even started drying yet. Since changing to this new outfit, it’s been like a really long, casual Friday for us. More colour in the mix, it’s awesome. We’ve been beaming ever since.”
Nick: “That first gig without having to wear jackets onstage was a great moment.”
Josh: “I don’t think I can ever go back to wearing a jacket onstage. I don’t know how The Hives do it. Big band tech that we don’t have!”
You’re starting the next of these ‘famous world tours’ next month. What does touring mean to you, at this point in your career?
Nick: “I don’t check any of our streaming stats, I think it’s meaningless. When you see people singing along to X, Y and Z, and there’s 10 more people than when you last played, that’s the only metric that means anything.”
Josh: “Our tech, Pete, had a really profound moment where he was like, ‘This is true freedom!’ Touring is where everything pays off and comes together. By the end of the tour, you’re so locked in that you have no fear at all.”
Youth Sector’s ‘Pop Couture’ is out now through Dance To The Radio.
Youth Sector Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed October 01 2025 - NORWICH Voodoo Daddys
Thu October 02 2025 - LONDON Lexington
Fri October 03 2025 - BRISTOL Lanes
Sat October 04 2025 - BRIGHTON Alphabet
Thu October 09 2025 - BIRMINGHAM Muthers Studio
Fri October 10 2025 - FALMOUTH Cornish Bank
Tue October 14 2025 - LIMERICK Kasbah
Wed October 15 2025 - DUBLIN Whelans
Thu October 16 2025 - GLASGOW McChuils
Fri October 17 2025 - STOCKTON KU
Sat October 18 2025 - NOTTINGHAM Grove
Wed October 22 2025 - YORK Fulford Arms
Thu October 23 2025 - BLACKPOOL Bootleg Social
Fri October 24 2025 - MANCHESTER Deaf Institute - Lodge
Sat October 25 2025 - LEEDS Hyde Park Book Club
Tue November 04 2025 - BRIGHTON Alphabet
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