*Serf Barto & Mikey Rhinehart from Weekend Youth*

Weekend Youth was just crowned the winner of the inaugural SoFi Napa Battle of the Bands and they are also the first Napa Noise monthly spotlight.

Forming in 2019, the band consisting of Mikey Rhinehart and Serf Barto had a bit of a rocky road to get to where they are. Both are veteran musicians from the Napa music scene and have played in various projects over the years. They started Weekend Youth with the plan to combine their experiences and influences into a contemporary and modern sound that was not currently being heard in Napa.

They touched on all the things going on with them, including where they have been and where they are going and spoke about their songwriting process and some other fun tidbits.

*Serf taking a nap during their performance at SoFi Battle of the Bands*

NN (Napa Noise): Congratulations Weekend Youth on your victory. How did you feel about the whole battle experience?

MR (Mikey Rhinehart): For being a first-time event, it was very well executed. It brought a lot of community and cool musicians together that maybe would've never been put together otherwise. And to see all the businesses come together, it was truly a great communal event.

SB (Serf Barto): I had three different high school teachers come up to me. My psychology teacher and both of my English teachers from high school came up to me. It was cool, the community really came out.

NN: How do you feel about the overall Napa music scene right now?

SB: It is coming back.

MR: Yeah, it's exciting to see a bunch of new faces in the music scene. It's fun to see a lot of the musicians from previous bands starting new projects and it's great to see kids in high school (Noetic Pause) form a band and get second place! I think that's great and really helpful for the music scene.

SB: I agree completely. I also saw Sike play, and they were awesome. Their singer was great. It's cool that they were Napa School of Music kids. I didn't get to see Noetic Pause live, but I heard they were great. I feel like music kind of went away for awhile in Napa, wasn't as vibrant but now it does feel like it's coming back.

MR: I would agree. We have to still stay together as a Napa music scene and continue to support each other.

*Mikey Rhinehart performing in San Francisco*

NN: Weekend Youth have a very current sound. How do you tap into what is happening now, what is your songwriting process and what sort of things have been influencing you lately?

MR: We try to listen to all sorts of genres of music and stay in touch with music from the Bay Area and LA. The songwriting, the most important part is that the music that you're making feels authentic to the people that are involved. When Weekend Youth was becoming a duo we struggled with that and finding our identity, but we took a step back and really honed in on what both of us could bring to the project and took the songwriting from there molding it into our strengths.

SB: I think COVID was really hard for me, I felt like I lost myself a little bit. I wasn't writing and I felt kind of stuck creatively. There was a song we working on forever, and that one song, figuring our way through it. Saying "No, we need to take a step back and figure out how to make it make sense for us". That was the moment where we really figured out who Weekend Youth really was. It sounds dramatic, but it's true.

MR: We re-wrote this song 4 or 5 times, and we got one of the final mixes and we both collectively felt that it wasn't right. We went completely back to the drawing board and took a different approach to the song writing. We work with a great team of producers, the Canvas Group, and we really honed in on what we wanted our sound to be. "Mental Hell(th)", is that song, and it's coming out on August 16th. A little sneak peak there.

NN: It seems like you guys are really gaining traction in San Francisco. It's been a process, but you guys appear to be working with the crowds there. How has your experience in the city been with audience and radio and just trying to break into that market?

SB: It sounds silly maybe, but it's a lot of dreams come true for me. I love Bottom of the Hill, I grew up listening to Soundcheck. The fact that we got played on Soundcheck and we have a great relationship with Bottom of the Hill now, those are really exciting for me. It's been a dream of mine for awhile and it feels like we're getting closer.

MR: It's all about performing to the highest ability that you can no matter what the size of the room or audience is. You can gain traction by putting on a good show, you never know who's in the crowd. It's just a building process. Staying active on social media and connecting with the fans via that, letting people know we're coming back to the city. We've been getting lucky and bands have been noticing that and wanting to play with us. We're really fortunate and greatful for the opportunity we've been given in San Francisco.

NN: What's your favorite song to play live?

SB: "Frequent Flyers" still. It may not be the popular choice, but that one's so fun to sing live for me.

MR: I'm gonna go with "I Can't Sleep Without the TV On". It's got a really fun drum part.

NN: Doesn't have to be Weekend Youth specifically, but what are your best Napa show memories?

SB: Honestly the community stuff. Porchfest last year and SoFi this year. I feel like I forgot how special community is, it's just cool to hang out with the other bands we admire. Being around a bunch of creative people is really important.

MR: I agree with Serf. The last Porchfest and SoFi this year. We've played a lot of venues in town, and they're all fun, but I think Sunday was really special. It was a cool thing to see Napa alive again.

NN: What are your favorite venues in town, past or present?

MR: Uptown, favorite to play and watch shows.

SB: I'd say Blue Note. They've been really good to us.

NN: What's the best thing you've heard or seen lately?

MR: Shaboozey’s new album. It's a very unique sounding album that I haven't heard done well. It's mixing R&B, country & hip hop. I've heard other people try and do that but it has not been executed as well as Shaboozey does. So shout out to Shaboozey in Nashville.

SB: Seeing Sike at the battle was great. I also really enjoyed Houseplants, I thought they had a really cool sound. I'm also excited that Slippery People is in Napa.

NN: Last question - what's next for you guys? Any shows or music coming out soon?

MR: We're playing August 12th at Brick & Mortar in SF. We're doing August 17th at Jam Cellars in Napa.

SB: A really important one is on August 24th we're playing Napa Yard at a benefit for fentanyl awareness, the Michael Leonardi foundation. We're opening for The Framers.

MR: We also have a new single, "Mental Hell(th)" that drops August 16th!

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Stream Weekend Youth on all streaming platforms.

Follow them on Instagram

See Weekend Youth live in Napa at Jam Cellars on August 17th and at Napa Yard on August 24th

August Spotlight: Weekend Youth

September Spotlight: Eggcorn

Napa Noise