Founding member Joji Malani, on lead guitar and backing vocals, left them in 2019 to return to Australia.

In 2017 Gang of Youths released their second studio album, Go Farther in Lightness, which was preceded by their first Australian top 50 single, "Let Me Down Easy".

The Gang of Youth's first gig was at Sydney's Hibernian House on 21 June 2012, supporting local band Tigertown.

They started playing regular support slots in small Sydney venues and local community radio station.

The band released their first single, "Evangelists", on 16 August 2013 and were featured on national youth radio Triple J's Unearthed segment.

[8] Madeleine Laing of The Music caught their show at The Tivoli, Brisbane in August, but was disappointed, as "No one speaks to, or makes any effort to connect with, the crowd through the entire set.

"[8] Whereas AAA Backstage's reviewer, at the same gig, found they were "making an outstandingly melancholy noise as I enter" with "their lead singer possessing one of the most wonderfully rich voices I have heard in recent months.

[11] Drums on the album were shared between O'Donnell, Novacastrian Dom "Donnie" Borzestowski and session drummer, Joel van Gastel (of Jenny Broke the Window).

Le'aupepe is the album's sole songwriter and his lyrics on The Positions describe his relationship with his former wife, her melanoma diagnosis and treatment for the cancer, their separation and his substance abuse, depression and suicide attempts.

[16] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015, Gang of Youths received five nominations: Breakthrough Artist – Release, Best Rock Album, Best Cover Artist (by Nathan Johnson) for The Positions, Engineer of the Year (Adrian Breakspear, Peter Holz) for "Radioface", and Best Australian Live Act for the Gang of Youths National Tour.

[17] In December, they were recognised as the Live Act of the Year of 2015 and Best Domestic Tour by Renne Woollams for The AU Review.

[19] The five original songs on the EP were written as potential material for The Positions album, whilst the sixth track is a cover version of "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell.

[22] On 12 March 2018, the group made their US television debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers, performing their single, "What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out?".

[28] The band performed for six nights at the Enmore Theatre, Sydney and eight at the Forum, Melbourne; breaking both venue records for most sold-out shows on a single tour.

[35] Malani returned to Sydney to focus on his family; he later performed as Pei and released a solo single, "Honest", in May 2022.

[36] He was replaced in Gang of Youths by multi-instrumentalist, Tom Hobden on violin, rhythm guitar and keyboards (ex-Noah and the Whale and ex-touring member of Mumford & Sons).

[38] On 1 December the band performed “The Angel of 8th Ave" on American TV programme, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

[40] Josh Leeson of Newcastle Herald rated the album at four-out-of-five stars and observed, "It's essentially a concept album... [but] more than a grief-stricken son losing his father"; the group provided "a cinematic accompaniment that's all strings, and urgent drums and guitar" – they aimed for greatness and "land agonisingly close".

It contains three early demos of songs on Angel in Realtime – "In the Wake of Your Leave", "Forbearance" and "Spirit Boy", as well as a cover of "Shot in the Arm" by Wilco.