Industrial titans Youth Code prove they are more powerful than ever with new EP Yours, With Malice. Vocalist Sara Taylor speaks with AMPED about finding vulnerability in anger, unexpected influences and finding joy in catharsis.
Words by Paulina Subia | 23 May, 2025
Sara Taylor isn’t interested in only being known for her anger. “I think that if you’re only angry, it seems boring,” she explains. “It just seems so atonal, to only be angry.”
Youth Code is vocalised by Sara’s teeth-rattling screams and her partner Ryan George’s gothic electronica. The Los Angeles-based duo feeds a new strain of industrial with an experimental sensibility, melding with pop, hardcore and dance influences. Their sound is not easily defined, but is driven with a pulsating heartbeat that bleeds in the face of adversity.
As a frontwoman, Sara is a genuine force to be reckoned with, operating on an energised aggression that is entirely her own. She credits the “foremothers”, naming Kim Gordon, Cardi B, Sexyy Red and Madonna as “vibe inspirations”. “The mothers before us have paved a way for us to do whatever the fuck we want in this world,” she says. Sat wearing black, wide-rimmed frames and shining hoops, her silver manicured claws alternate their grip between a coffee cup and a hot-pink vape. “If that’s the type of vibe that I can cultivate and pass on to people that are younger, that’s what I want to do.”
Since forming in 2012, Youth Code had barely stopped to take a breath. Two full-length albums and numerous EPs and singles coincided with worldwide tours, opening for artists including Chelsea Wolfe, My Chemical Romance and Skinny Puppy. Aside from a collaborative record with King Yosef in 2021, Youth Code had not released new material in nine years – but Sara makes clear that there was no true ‘silence’ from the band, who from 2016, were on tour for nearly four years straight.
“In ways, yes, there is an absence, but also, this is not easy music that everybody is going to understand,” Sara continues. “We have to be missionaries for what we do and go out on tours so [the music] is accessible to everybody. There’s a notion that we’ve been away for a long time. But we’ve been pretty fucking active the whole time.”
When the world shut down, Sara and Ryan tucked themselves away, harnessing life’s frustrations and their evolved musicianship to craft their most brutal, stunning work yet: 2025’s Yours, With Malice. When told that there’s a certain romanticism to the title, Sara lights up: “I think ‘malice’ might be the most salacious way to say ‘anger’. ‘Malice’ is a little spicy; it has a very effeminate tone to it. Like, I’m not gonna kill you; I’m maybe gonna just torture you for a real good one.”
She continues: “I wanted to come back and be like, ‘Oh, if you thought that we were gone, you’re tripping. We’re back and we’re stronger than fucking ever.’ [Yours, With Malice] was very much an intentional right hook to the world.”
The five-song EP merges hard-hitting violence with a vulnerable edge, imagining how industrial can maintain its aggression while placing sensitivity at the forefront. “The lyricism behind this record is a very vulnerable thing,” Sara says. “There’s half of it that [says], ‘I’m pretending to be something I’m not’, with the chorus of No Consequence. But then there’s also the chorus of Make Sense where it [says], ‘What I’ve done to be loved, some find debilitating.’ I’ve found that I’ve put myself in some really weird experiences just to feel loved, like I deserve love, you know?”
Sara describes her songwriting process as “like vomiting, in a weird way”, leaning into the grueling purge of emotions to ultimately feel better, having put ink to paper. Still, she remains tactful: “ I’m not telling the listener exactly what the song is about. I’m not even going into details about the exact themes or events.”
The dynamic between Sara and Ryan, as both musical and life partners, is founded on a shared, perfectionist work ethic, amplifying each other’s talents outside of their comfort zones. “I don’t know that I would be the person that I am without the push that Ryan has given me,” Sara admits. When Youth Code was founded, Sara says that she was “half-joking” about forming a band, to which Ryan, who spent years fronting punk and hardcore bands, insisted she be the frontwoman.
Sara says: “He pushed me up to the front and was like, ‘You have this in you, and everybody else around you can see it. I’m just going to push you to do it.’ But with that comes some of the most complicated and intense arguments and bickering between us, because creativity is such a vulnerable place.
“The sound of Youth Code could not be what it is if we both agreed on everything all the time,” Sara continues. “It has given way for this absolutely beautiful creation, this beautiful child, because we don’t agree with each other. It’s cool, but it’s also the fucking toughest thing in the entire universe.”
This begs the question of how one half inspires the other in this new phase of Youth Code. Sara, taking her time to sit and contemplate a response, circles back to how the band got started in the first place. “Both of us really like to support each other, and that’s what keeps [Youth Code] going,” she says. “We’re both very creative people and we don’t want to let the other person down. We always want to feel like we did a good job. It fucking rules. This project is truly built on the love of two people just constantly exploring, and it’s so much fun.”
As Yours, With Malice ushers in a new era for Youth Code, the importance of spreading industrial noise to the masses remains a top priority for Sara. “You’ve seen a shift in the paradigm from when Youth Code first started. Industrial was kind of something that was left for the corners of goth clubs and things in that nature; it definitely didn’t have the force that it does right now.
“I want to continue being a missionary for this type of music. Whether anybody acknowledges that or not, I can go to sleep and know that I’ve done my part for something that’s super meaningful for me.”
Yours, With Malice is out now via Sumerian
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