The Young Gods

The Young Gods in concert on 27 September 2026 at the Bal Chavaux. “We’re all in our sixties — but if we have the energy to do things, let’s go for it. Staying motivated after 40 is like saying, ‘Go for it! Shut up and just do it.’”

Four decades ago, The Young Gods reinvented rock music by using the then-new technology of sampling in a way no one else had imagined. In a rock and pop world dominated by Anglo‑American orthodoxies, they proposed an approach rooted in Europe. While others were recycling samples of old James Brown and Led Zeppelin riffs in a weakened postmodern spirit, as if to suggest there was nothing new under the sun, The Young Gods created a new elemental energy by using the dead matter of rock and classical music as if it were fossil fuel — they rediscovered fire, a fire that ignited their first two albums — The Young Gods and L’Eau rouge. The formula was simple: drums, voice, samples. But what they produced was new.

“The technological limitations of the time — we were born out of those limitations, the excitement of the new sampling technology,” says Franz Treichler. “We had pedals that weren’t designed to do what we used them for; the first electric guitar loops. I’m amazed we managed to make songs sometimes with only one or two sounds. Now it’s totally the opposite. Technology today is incredible, but you can get lost in so many new programs and plugins.”

Although they enjoyed critical success, it was with TV Sky in 1992 that they achieved worldwide recognition. Heavy rotation on MTV, a hit with “Skinflowers,” and praise from U2, Bowie and Nine Inch Nails in interviews.

That success, however, posed a test for the band’s artistic integrity. They could easily have continued through the ’90s in a formulated industrial vein, but as Treichler explains, “It’s always about breaking the formula. When you have a formula, it’s good to challenge yourself and write something else. The first three Young Gods albums were built on sampling and the element of surprise it can bring to the sound — those abrupt, millisecond shifts from classical to cabaret to heavy metal. It was our trademark, perhaps a cliché. So for TV Sky, the fourth album, we decided to limit the palette. No more violins, just guitars. Later we were influenced by the ambient electronic scene and later still by playing guitar live. Challenge brings so many new ideas.”

Such has been The Young Gods’ trajectory: recording and exploring on their own terms, whether covering Kurt Weill’s songs, exploring new atmospheres on Music For Artificial Clouds, the subtle blues‑jazz infusions on Data Mirage Tangram, or more recently, their take on Terry Riley’s In C, which they used as a springboard to new musical ideas that they then developed themselves while touring Europe.

“We haven’t been very quick to release albums, but that’s why we’re still excited to do all this,” Treichler says. “There are times in the industry when you’re hurried to be productive and you stop enjoying it — it’s too stressful. So it’s great to move on to another project... In C. Some people at the label thought it was too niche music, but I said, ‘Come on, it’s the most‑performed contemporary classical piece in the world — look at all the versions online. We did it, it worked, and the label loved it!’”

As far as rock goes, The Young Gods have continued their journey since their beginnings in Fribourg in 1985. Their curiosity and energy remain. As Treichler says: “God’s not dead!”