Justin Young returning to isles for concert

Justin Young was 22 when he set aside a successful career as a local recording artist and moved to California. That was 15 years ago, give or take a few months. Not only is he continuing to do well as a musician, he’s branching out.

“I just started getting into documentary filmmaking, so I’ve been editing a documentary film project for someone,” said Young, 37, on the phone last week from Los Angeles, where he is also mastering his next album.

The title of the album is “Seven Twenty One.” It’s the time of his birth, back in 1978.

“It’ll be written out,” Young said. “When I just put ‘7:21,’ it looks like a Bible passage.”

He describes the album as “a culmination of a long period of time.”

“I’m super excited about it. Some of these songs were written 10 years ago, some of them a couple of years ago. I’ve been really fortunate to have some great people playing on it, and I’ve been lucky to have connected with the right people mixing it and mastering it. I couldn’t be happier with the way it’s turned out.”

Hawaii might get a preview of some of Young’s new music Thursday, when Young plays a double bill with Oahu reggae artist Mike Love at the Hawaii Theatre.

Love, who was touring outside of Hawaii and did not respond to interview requests by press time, received a Hoku Award (Best Reggae Album) for his debut album, “The Change I’m Seeking,” in 2013. His current album, “Love Will Find a Way,” was released late last year.

“I’ve seen him play a bunch of times and just been blown away,” Young said. “His live show is just incredible. As much as I’ve traveled and seen people play, I’ve never seen anybody do what he does on that level — especially with reggae.”

Local recording artist Jon Yamasato gets the credit from Young for suggesting that he pair with Love to do a Hi*Sessions concert. Although Young does not consider himself a reggae artist, he said the two performers are “both in the same type of ballpark.”

“I’m not going to be unveiling a whole new reggae set, but I don’t think its so far apart that the audience is going to feel alienated when I start playing,” he said. “I think in that sense it works.”

Aside from editing film and mastering the album, Young is busy with studio work and also on the road.

“I’m working on my own music, doing some music stuff with other people, still playing with Colbie (Caillat) off and on, and doing some college (concert) dates — a little bit of everything,” he said.

Young’s career began when he recorded his first album, “No Better Time Than Now,” while he was a senior in high school. He quickly earned a strong and loyal female following, worked steadily and paid his dues in the years that followed. He spent several years working with producer Bob St. John’s Neos Productions, where he learned the ins and outs of studio production. He also became an artist other producers called on to add commercial appeal to their projects. For instance, when local radio station KIKI released its “Brownbags 2000” compilation album, he was a guest on three songs.

Young could have ridden the local pop/Jawaiian-lite market here indefinitely and enjoyed life as a provincial star. What he did instead was let his partnership with Neos expire, work with other producers and record labels and go to California, where he had to start over.

Looking back, Young says that the timing of the move helped make it successful.

“If I had maybe done it right after high school like a lot of people do when they leave for college, it might have been a little more difficult; but I was really ready to do it, and I came back so frequently to continue my Hawaii music career — every couple of months I was back in Hawaii to do a show or to record something,” he said. “It really made the transition seem less traumatic than it could have been.

“It was never my end goal to just do island music and stay in Hawaii,” he continued. “To me that was the beginning of my journey, but I always wanted to continue to grow, and continue to do some different things and play different types of music. There were musicians back home who said I was crazy to leave, but that never entered my mind.”

The positive results of Young’s move to LA were seen in 2003, when he teamed up with producers Kata Maduli and Lea Uehara to release the album “One Foot on Sand.” It expressed his feelings as an expatriate islander and spoke for many who heard his music.

“I’ve had a few songs (about being away) — ‘Never Forget Where I’m From’ was one, and then I recorded ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ which a lot of people adopted as their anthem for leaving for school — and I felt that I could be sort of a voice for the Hawaiians and the locals that had left the islands and returned or were still away. I thought I could give voice to those people. ‘One Foot on Sand’ grew out of that perspective.”

As far as he knows, the album got little radio play on Oahu radio stations, but over the years he’s heard from people who chose its songs for their graduations.

Success, he adds, is a relative thing.

“I’ve been able to support myself and done some really cool things that I never thought I would do,” he said. “In that sense I’ve been successful enough to continue on this career path without having to get a job doing something else.”