Full Transcript for Yard Act talk You're Gonna Need a Little Music, upcoming tour, more

--> 02:29.230 across the country is more important. And so we're happy to fly the 02:29.730 --> 02:32.330 flag from where we are. Plus, it's just, it's nice to be removed from it 02:32.830 --> 02:35.970 all sometimes, you know. Or are you born and raised in Leeds? I know that 02:36.470 --> 02:39.330 it's a big college town. Uh, no, that's— it's where I went to university. 02:39.770 --> 02:42.710 Well, I went to the College of Music here, but, uh, I was, I was 02:43.210 --> 02:46.890 born in Wythenshawe Hospital and raised in 02:47.390 --> 02:50.610 a village called Limb, just outside Warrington, which is in the northwest. So it's not 02:51.110 --> 02:55.014 far away. It's kind of between Manchester and Liverpool. Is it a place people 02:55.514 --> 02:58.802 should come and visit? Leeds? Yeah. I, uh, 02:59.155 --> 03:02.382 I don't— I, I always— I sound like I'm gonna say no. 03:02.767 --> 03:06.250 I'm not. Leeds is definitely a place that kind of— I 03:06.298 --> 03:10.424 think, I think I'd say it's a great hub to explore West Yorkshire as 03:10.552 --> 03:13.827 a, as a county, as a region. I think West Yorkshire is, 03:14.115 --> 03:17.759 is one of the most beautiful places in the world. 03:17.888 --> 03:21.451 It's so scenic and idyllic. And the best thing about Leeds is, 03:21.708 --> 03:25.029 is that the city of Leeds itself is kind of like It's good 03:25.093 --> 03:28.989 people, it is a friendly place, it's easygoing, 03:29.181 --> 03:32.387 but there's, there's not that much to sort of grab you apart. And until you're 03:32.887 --> 03:35.273 kind of integrated into it, you know, it was easy for me to build a 03:35.773 --> 03:39.136 life here. But if people were coming to Leeds for the day, I would kind 03:39.636 --> 03:42.775 of struggle to tell them what the big hitters are that would 03:42.791 --> 03:45.324 make it worth the while. But as a base, 03:46.158 --> 03:49.139 once you, you get sort of 5 or 6 miles out of the city and 03:49.639 --> 03:52.763 you're surrounded by by green. And, um, you know, 03:52.827 --> 03:55.762 there's, there's beautiful rivers, beautiful rolling hills, 03:56.339 --> 03:59.915 uh, to explore for mile after mile after mile. 04:00.124 --> 04:03.379 And that's my favorite part of living here, is getting out, out of the city 04:03.491 --> 04:06.778 a little bit. I interviewed Andrew Eldridge a couple years ago 04:07.278 --> 04:10.835 and asked him about Leeds, and he said it's not a tourist destination. 04:11.429 --> 04:14.636 Yeah, he's probably— he's, he's probably, uh— I mean, I think 04:15.136 --> 04:18.244 he was— I think actually, I think, I think he's from Bradford, 04:18.822 --> 04:21.998 so, and moved to Leeds. So he, he made that 04:22.498 --> 04:25.287 big leap, 4 miles. I might be wrong. I'm sure the Sisters of Mercy— I'm 04:25.787 --> 04:28.591 sure he's from Bradford originally. No, I'm thinking of New Model Army. 04:28.768 --> 04:32.168 Sorry, maybe Andrew Eldridge is born and raised in Leeds. 04:32.345 --> 04:35.585 Uh, his, his house, funnily enough, was around the corner from the studio 04:36.131 --> 04:39.419 where we did You're Gonna Need a Little Music. And, and Justin, 04:39.435 --> 04:43.077 our producer, is a massive Sisters of Mercy fan, 04:43.413 --> 04:46.479 and, uh, We were, we were sort of egging him on to go knock on 04:46.979 --> 04:49.945 his door and, and sort of get a poster signed or something, but he was 04:50.445 --> 04:53.829 too scared. Even my heroes have heroes of their own, I suppose. 04:54.407 --> 04:58.018 Yeah, it's not a tourist destination, but, uh, well, you know, 04:58.275 --> 05:01.710 he's never left. I don't think I'll ever leave. People build a life 05:02.210 --> 05:05.866 here. Yeah, and everyone's welcome, you know. I'm definitely insane. 05:06.396 --> 05:09.991 If you want to come here, come and check it out. Okay, see for yourself. 05:10.312 --> 05:14.086 So your tour's about to start. The album's been out for 10 days and it's 05:14.586 --> 05:17.859 currently sitting at number 15 on the UK album charts. How are you feeling about 05:18.359 --> 05:21.199 everything now? Now it's out? Yeah, great. I mean, 05:21.392 --> 05:24.973 there's always that kind of weird gap between finishing a record 05:25.807 --> 05:29.131 and then the sort of wait and the sort of the rollout for 05:29.244 --> 05:32.471 it where it doesn't feel quite real, uh, but you're 05:32.971 --> 05:35.891 kind of doing a lot of the work that's going to lead towards it feeling 05:35.924 --> 05:39.823 real. And it's kind of all built around this sort of singular day, 05:39.936 --> 05:42.999 the day it drops. But the reality is that that's not how, 05:43.608 --> 05:47.008 uh, music is consumed, and it's not how the music 05:47.508 --> 05:50.985 spreads. Like, it's kind of— it's just out there forever now, and it, it's part 05:51.081 --> 05:54.658 of our canon. And it's something where, you know, we're extremely 05:54.674 --> 05:57.993 proud of this record, and, um, we were extremely proud 05:58.493 --> 06:00.431 of it as soon as we finished it, and that, and that hasn't waned. 06:00.784 --> 06:03.382 I'm just glad people get to hear it, and I think it's just out and 06:03.882 --> 06:06.480 it's well doing it. You know, doing its own thing now. And that's, that's kind 06:06.980 --> 06:09.980 of like, it's kind of a relief now it's out, I suppose. Uh, we can 06:10.076 --> 06:13.817 move on. You've played songs off of this album for 06:14.090 --> 06:17.525 almost a year, maybe longer. When, when was the album actually made? 06:17.782 --> 06:20.736 We started recording it in Leeds in September, 06:21.652 --> 06:25.505 and we did 5 weeks in Leeds, and then we took 06:26.005 --> 06:29.262 off on that Hives tour, and then we finished it in LA in January. 06:29.342 --> 06:32.438 We did a month in LA in January to finish 06:32.550 --> 06:36.143 it. And then, yeah, it was mixed and mastered by the end of February. 06:36.816 -->

06:40.729 The studio in Leeds, that's like a band studio, your own studio? 06:41.146 --> 06:45.284 Yeah, that's where— so that's where— so we spent 2025 06:45.396 --> 06:48.571 writing it in our studio. And then we did a couple of weeks pre-pro in 06:48.667 --> 06:52.580 there with Justin before we moved to 06:53.158 --> 06:56.846 a bigger studio in Leeds to sort of track the body of the 06:56.927 --> 07:00.732 album, which is called The Nave. And that's, that's the studio that's near 07:01.181 --> 07:04.714 Andrew Eldridge's and Sisters of Mercy's studio. It's— I think it— 07:04.794 --> 07:08.182 I believe— I don't want to out where he lives, but I believe he lives 07:08.682 --> 07:12.035 above it. Um, keep that vague enough. Okay, 07:12.452 --> 07:15.615 so you, you recorded some, then you went on tour with The Hives, and, 07:15.711 --> 07:19.757 and then you finished it up a little later. Did that tour 07:19.886 --> 07:23.579 with The Hives, like, after you had already started working on the record, did that 07:24.079 --> 07:27.657 change the direction of any of the songs? No, I think it changed the direction 07:27.689 --> 07:31.093 of our approach to the live show. And in, in, 07:31.382 --> 07:34.240 like, I mean, it might have rubbed, rubbed off on the sort of final month 07:34.417 --> 07:37.612 subconsciously, but by that, you know, LA was mainly sort of, 07:38.672 --> 07:42.124 uh, overdubs, uh, and sort of salt 07:42.624 --> 07:45.849 and pepper on everything. I think, I think, like, I gained a lot from watching 07:45.913 --> 07:49.976 Pele on that Hives tour and sort of realizing 07:51.903 --> 07:54.987 how good a show needs to be and why they are, you know, 07:55.308 --> 07:58.007 one of the best live bands in the world. Um, 07:58.521 --> 08:01.685 that, you know, I'm not contesting that they say they are 08:01.733 --> 08:05.251 the best. Uh, I'm just not gonna scramble to try and 08:05.751 --> 08:08.865 find anyone better right now. Well, I'll just go with it. Yeah, they're the best 08:09.365 --> 08:11.997 live band in the world, as they, as they say, and as I say. 08:12.335 --> 08:15.370 The, the main thing that we got from that tour wasn't, wasn't the sort of 08:15.451 --> 08:18.904 shows themselves in, in regards to the album. I think it was more that 08:20.508 --> 08:24.549 we'd never taken a break mid-recording before, 08:25.238 --> 08:29.070 and we've never spent this long on a record before. And, um, it really 08:29.102 --> 08:32.549 confused me at first. I kind of like— we'd booked 08:33.049 --> 08:36.253 the tour, and so, uh, necessity negated that we 08:36.753 --> 08:39.925 needed to take the gap in the middle of the record, uh, because it wasn't 08:40.425 --> 08:43.981 feasible to do the 10 weeks that Justin wanted to do on 08:44.014 --> 08:48.166 the record in one go. Um, so we— but by prior 08:48.666 --> 08:51.611 commitments forced us to take that break. And at first I was really antsy in 08:51.691 --> 08:54.736 the van.

I was like, we shouldn't be on tour, we should be finishing this 08:55.236 --> 08:58.662 record. But as I got back into the groove, maybe it brought 08:58.678 --> 09:02.044 a little bit of freedom and a bit more sort of spirit of the moment 09:02.108 --> 09:05.938 energy towards the end of the record. Once I settled into that, it was 09:06.050 --> 09:09.239 the most— it was the best thing for the record, I think, 09:09.319 --> 09:13.149 was that breathing space and that— and to not listen to it unconscious 09:13.886 --> 09:17.496 reflection, I suppose, of, of what we'd done, letting that sink 09:17.996 --> 09:21.474 in without overanalyzing it, I think. And then starting in January fresh in 09:21.506 --> 09:24.811 LA, I think with the LA weather as well, it did really play 09:25.311 --> 09:28.292 a part. I kind of don't want it to be that corny, but even LA 09:28.340 --> 09:31.548 in January is, is a, is a, is a 09:32.048 --> 09:35.318 different world to Leeds in September. And so I think that did 09:35.818 --> 09:38.061 bring a little bit of light to proceedings at the very end. That was, 09:38.270 --> 09:41.641 that has fed into the sort of the emotion of the record. 09:41.978 --> 09:45.417 Pelé give you any mic swinging tips? I tried it, 09:45.497 --> 09:48.936 and my— I think we use cheaper XLRs than they do because 09:49.048 --> 09:52.503 my mic flew off. So I, I'm not going to try and 09:53.003 --> 09:56.247 beat him at his own game. I, I— yeah, he does do this thing. 09:56.664 --> 09:59.267 I know you can't see me, sorry, because I ain't got a camera, but he 09:59.332 --> 10:02.770 does this like 2-hand wave where he nods his head and he sort of beckons 10:03.270 --> 10:07.444 the crowd. And I have kind of stolen that because I've realized that there's 10:07.944 --> 10:11.872 something in that, that energy, uh, that, that whips 10:12.372 --> 10:15.529 a crowd up. And so I kind of do that as well now. But yeah, 10:15.609 --> 10:19.074 I think, I don't know, they, they are just, um, well, he is one of 10:19.574 --> 10:23.742 the best frontmen ever. Like, he's, he, he just understands because 10:24.242 --> 10:27.351 obviously, you know, he leans into that. He doesn't really come out of that character, 10:27.575 --> 10:30.928 but like, you talk to him off stage, he's not 10:31.428 --> 10:34.795 that guy. He understands completely how to wear that that light-up 10:35.295 --> 10:38.406 suit on stage and for that hour and a half be the 10:38.906 --> 10:42.532 man, you know what I mean? And like, yeah, yeah, like that's, uh, stepping into 10:42.564 --> 10:46.963 that fully, you know. There's— I do think there's too much modesty in, 10:47.139 --> 10:50.832 in modern rock and roll. Be humble offstage, but onstage, 10:50.848 --> 10:54.941 like, people have paid for a show, you know. Yeah, there's definitely something for showmanship. 10:55.567 --> 10:58.938 I will say your last tour, there was a lot 10:59.438 --> 11:02.374 of showmanship up there. You guys had backup dancers and choreography? 11:03.032 --> 11:06.322 Yeah, I think, uh, my favorite place to be is the studio. 11:06.659 --> 11:10.158 That's where I'm happiest, writing songs. I love the recording 11:10.174 --> 11:13.801 process, um, from start to finish. I love how 11:13.962 --> 11:18.295 delicate it is. I love the idea that you get 11:18.795 --> 11:22.131 this spark of an idea, you know you can better it, but you know 11:22.631 --> 11:25.887 you can also burn it to a crisp if you overcook it. I kind of 11:25.983 --> 11:29.450 love the delicacy of the recording process and making sure 11:29.950 --> 11:33.303 that you get it just right. That's where I like to channel most of my 11:33.803 --> 11:36.033 energy. But equally, I do think that— so I think when you're playing live, 11:36.049 --> 11:40.143 it's completely different. We don't deliver our records live 11:40.192 --> 11:43.306 the same as we record them, you know, especially with our second album. 11:43.483 --> 11:46.935 Like, it was so sort of like sample heavy, and we 11:47.435 --> 11:51.335 kind of realized quite quickly that replicating it the same live 11:52.154 --> 11:55.237 actually killed a bit of energy that suits the record. 11:56.007 --> 11:59.424 Uh, and the sort of headphone listen that it is, but you don't want 11:59.924 --> 12:03.852 to go to a, to a, to a show for a headphone listen. So bringing 12:03.884 --> 12:07.414 the energy of the dancers felt, uh, of Daisy and Lauren really felt like 12:07.914 --> 12:11.103 it brought this sort of— that was like the visual embodiment, I think, of the, 12:11.248 --> 12:14.617 the sort of the, the manicness that the samples and the, and, 12:14.713 --> 12:18.162 and all those sort of the cut-ups and everything that we threw on that record 12:18.662 --> 12:22.815 that we chose not to do live. I feel like their movement was that essentially. 12:22.975 --> 12:26.249 They embodied that, and it brought a lot to it. Yeah, I, I got to 12:26.749 --> 12:30.341 see it twice. I, I saw it in Oslo at the Oya Festival, 12:30.357 --> 12:33.728 and then I saw it at Irving Plaza in New York City. Oh, 12:33.744 --> 12:36.745 nice. Yeah, both those shows were great, actually. Um, 12:37.162 --> 12:40.196 yeah, I, I loved Irving Plaza as a venue. Oh yeah, 12:40.212 --> 12:43.646 and, uh, Ryan from The Cribs, Exclamation Pony, 12:43.678 --> 12:46.776 opened that night as well, didn't they? That was a good night. Yeah, I mean, 12:46.808 --> 12:50.307 New York's always a, always a fun time, but that Oya Festival as well was, 12:50.580 --> 12:54.033 was great. It was a fun year. Like, the shows, the shows around 12:54.533 --> 12:58.130 that were a lot of fun. Like, Daisy and Lauren really, uh, brought the energy 12:58.789 --> 13:02.709 to it, you know. Um, yeah, and it was loads of fun. They're not 13:03.209 --> 13:06.790 with us now, like, necessity basically. Maybe we'll get them back one day, 13:06.806 --> 13:10.164 but like, right now we're

like, it didn't feel like— again, the mood shifts and 13:10.664 --> 13:14.117 you kind of— the songs off that record, we're playing songs off Where's 13:14.617 --> 13:18.293 My Utopia again now, and the feels kind of shifted a little bit and It's 13:18.357 --> 13:21.755 weird that they kind of feel more better. I'm enjoying playing those songs more now 13:21.900 --> 13:25.250 than I did on that tour, almost because we haven't— I guess it's because we 13:25.750 --> 13:27.911 haven't played them for a bit, but we're bringing back a couple of deep cuts 13:28.411 --> 13:32.352 off that record and stuff for the, for the up-and-coming tour. It's been a joy 13:32.480 --> 13:35.013 to revisit them and, and sort of— I think that's kind of what I was 13:35.045 --> 13:38.941 saying about the— a song isn't necessarily 13:38.973 --> 13:41.971 its recording, and it's not how it's delivered live. I think it's, 13:42.243 --> 13:44.666 it's— you're kind of trying to carry the, the, 13:45.533 --> 13:48.809 the core of the song, the sort of spirit of the song can be sort 13:48.825 --> 13:53.081 of reshaped and reformed in any way, as long as the sort of the 13:53.581 --> 13:57.176 message, as impressionistic as it may be, as long as 13:57.676 --> 14:00.307 you get that sentiment across, you can sort of dress it up in any way 14:00.807 --> 14:04.466 you want on record and live. And, um, so these, 14:04.498 --> 14:07.550 these new versions of the second, because we've been doing it the first album, 14:07.566 --> 14:11.259 especially the way we play those songs live now. To me, 14:11.323 --> 14:14.936 they're far superior than the record, but I know that a lot of people kind 14:15.436 --> 14:19.383 of love that kind of scratchy sort of thin charm 14:19.447 --> 14:24.665 of the Overload. But like, we're a pretty heavy funk 14:24.713 --> 14:28.422 rock band now, essentially. Um, and, and, and that 14:28.922 --> 14:31.392 to me serves the purpose live. Like, if we tried to play those like the 14:31.892 --> 14:34.362 record on those big stages, they'd fall short, I think, 14:34.988 --> 14:38.651 even in terms of like the pacing of them and the way I deliver vocals. 14:38.716 --> 14:44.011 Like, I learned when we moved into the bigger rooms that 14:44.304 --> 14:47.524 you can't do the monotone talking. Kind of 14:47.540 --> 14:51.341 works on a small stage when you can kind of engage on a very human 14:51.357 --> 14:54.978 level with a small audience. But when you're in front, when you're on like when 14:54.994 --> 14:58.698 you're echoing around a room, you have to deliver it different. So we 14:59.198 --> 15:02.273 kind of always adapt and evolve to the room and where we're at. 15:02.546 --> 15:06.443 I guess I was going to ask if maybe this record you designed it 15:06.943 --> 15:10.811 more to be with the live show in consideration as far as like the arrangements? 15:11.377 --> 15:14.881 A little bit. I think, I think like what the— like as like with 15:14.930 --> 15:18.447 Daisy and Lauren, like it was originally like we— because of the 15:18.640 --> 15:22.319 way we layered Where's My Utopia, there were so many voices 15:22.432 --> 15:25.515 and harmonies on it that we physically couldn't do it as a, 15:25.886 --> 15:29.195 as a 4-piece. Um, mainly, 15:29.486 --> 15:32.879 you know, with just me and Ryan singing, that we needed these extra voices and 15:33.379 --> 15:35.734 we didn't want to go a track and we've we'd never gone to track, 15:36.376 --> 15:39.392 which we're in a privileged position to be able to do. I, you know, 15:39.408 --> 15:42.729 I don't begrudge anyone trying to make ends meet on the road who's 15:42.873 --> 15:47.028 designed something that they, they can't tour a backing vocalist 15:47.528 --> 15:49.627 or a brass section or whatever. Like, you've got, you've got to use a bit 15:50.127 --> 15:52.964 of track if that's, you know, to get by. But like, we're in a position 15:52.980 --> 15:56.526 where, you know, we lost, we lost money in certain 15:57.007 --> 16:00.264 territories touring as a 7-piece, but it felt more essential to keep 16:00.764 --> 16:04.608 it live and keep it raw. I think since we've got more confident 16:05.108 --> 16:07.895 with those songs, I think this time around it wasn't necessarily we're like, 16:08.520 --> 16:10.636 well, we need to save money, so we're going to do it this way. 16:10.700 --> 16:14.659 But right, I think, I think the band was so much more confident, 16:15.509 --> 16:19.148 there was no hesitation that we could capture it right at the source. 16:19.661 --> 16:23.235 And, um, and it is the first album that we've been able to fully play, 16:23.925 --> 16:26.858 you know, the second we've wrapped the record, which we did. You know, we did 16:26.874 --> 16:30.225 these— we'd been playing the album start to finish on the record store run, 16:30.241 --> 16:33.785 and we did a couple of, uh, sort of surprise shows in the UK, 16:34.170 --> 16:37.607 uh, when it was announced. And like, that is a good position to be in 16:37.639 --> 16:40.771 because we, we've always felt like we're chasing our own tails a little 16:41.271 --> 16:44.433 bit to, to get on top of being able to perform the records live 16:44.947 --> 16:48.561 because of necessity up until this point. So yeah, it's a nice position 16:49.061 --> 16:52.206 to be in for sure. What songs off the new record are going over well 16:52.335 --> 16:55.627 live? I mean, You're Gonna Need a Little Music, 16:56.013 --> 16:59.594 the title track, we played that all summer and like 16:59.626 --> 17:02.864 You know, we played at like Primavera and a couple of 17:02.912 --> 17:07.704 other festivals, and like, it's a pretty stupid 17:07.737 --> 17:11.391 move to go into a festival set and 17:11.423 --> 17:14.853 play 9 new songs off a record that's not 17:14.934 --> 17:19.181 out yet. But we, we make those stupid 17:19.681 --> 17:22.932 decisions because it feels, it feels like that, you know, you've

got to be ahead. 17:23.108 --> 17:26.298 You, you can't rest on your laurels. That feels important to us. 17:26.635 --> 17:29.796 Um, So we knew that we were kind of up against it, 17:30.165 --> 17:34.611 uh, playing songs that weren't out yet, but it was kind of freaky 17:34.804 --> 17:37.934 how, how much that song got a crowd 17:37.966 --> 17:41.192 going despite the fact it didn't exist to them yet 17:41.481 --> 17:44.305 apart from in that moment. So that, that was like, that was really nice. 17:44.787 --> 17:48.125 And then yeah, New Beginnings has really picked up. I think Empty 17:48.141 --> 17:51.656 Pledges really works as an opener. Thrill of the Chase goes 17:51.753 --> 17:55.777 down really well. Which is interesting to me. That's not one of my favorites, 17:55.857 --> 17:58.823 but, um, that seems like a hard one to do. Uh, 17:59.128 --> 18:03.119 yeah, I mean, it's, uh, it— the, the— it's been referred 18:03.167 --> 18:05.796 to, I think, as the rap. Um, 18:06.341 --> 18:09.900 the rap I do in verse 3, that always gets a big cheer, 18:10.124 --> 18:13.955 which I find is— that's moderately amusing to me because 18:14.455 --> 18:18.300 that's just me doing, doing my thing. Like, that sort of started as a— it 18:18.800 --> 18:21.345 was a bit of a sort of like challenge to sort of like see how 18:21.361 --> 18:25.600 far I could push those, those words, but it seems to have resonated with people. 18:26.100 --> 18:28.960 It's fun. I actually stopped smoking on the Hives tour, and it was a lot 18:29.460 --> 18:32.800 harder on the Hives tour to do it than it has been since. So if 18:33.300 --> 18:36.920 anything good comes from anyone listening to this podcast, if you want 18:37.420 --> 18:40.380 to do a really fast rap, it's easier if you don't smoke. 18:40.880 --> 18:44.580 You're kind of straight edge, right? You don't, you don't drink anymore, right? Did I— 18:45.080 --> 18:48.600 Not really, no. I've had a few drinks actually, but, uh, no, I'm not 18:49.100 --> 18:52.560 like a drinker like I was at all. I've, uh, I've since— I've stopped, 18:53.060 --> 18:57.129 uh, I stopped smoking and I've stopped smoking weed. Uh, I feel like everyone 18:57.629 --> 19:00.405 needs a little bit of advice. Not everyone, but I, I certainly need some. 19:00.581 --> 19:03.921 And I've sort of taken to having a glass of wine after— 19:04.419 --> 19:08.096 not never on a show day, but, uh, every now and then 19:08.129 --> 19:11.581 now I'll sort of have a few drinks. But yeah, I'm pretty, pretty clean 19:12.081 --> 19:16.575 these days. I mean, your songs have always been pretty lyrically dense. 19:17.121 --> 19:20.445 Thrill of the Chase and, and the opener are super lyrically dense. 19:20.558 --> 19:24.167 Do you ever forget a line on stage? Yeah, sometimes just the 19:24.200 --> 19:27.439 words get, get tangled, but I think, 19:28.395 --> 19:32.023 I think people are quite forgiving. I'm certainly forgiving of myself. 19:32.282 --> 19:35.939 I've

certainly made, made the band laugh when 19:35.988 --> 19:39.370 I've got them wrong in the past. There's this track off the first record 19:39.870 --> 19:42.069 called Payday, and it's, uh, 19:43.419 --> 19:46.696 the line was, what, what constitutes a ghetto fetish? And I, 19:47.018 --> 19:49.095 I don't know, I must have, I must have been hungry. I must have been 19:49.193 --> 19:52.608 thinking about catering, but I said, what, what constitutes spaghettish fetish? 19:54.337 --> 19:57.640 And that made Jay just sort of fuck his drums up. 19:58.266 --> 20:00.415 And it was, you know, we still talk about that to this day. It was 20:00.915 --> 20:04.215 about 4 years ago. Yeah, occasionally lines will get lost, but, you know, I, 20:04.376 --> 20:08.064 uh, I don't drink on stage, so I feel like, I feel like it keeps 20:08.564 --> 20:11.672 me sharp having that many lyrics. I feel like it's, uh, I'm staving off 20:11.993 --> 20:15.618 memory loss. I think it's a practice, a meditative practice for me. 20:16.483 --> 20:20.397 Yeah, that's good. As you mentioned, uh, you worked with, uh, Justin Melville 20:20.477 --> 20:23.849 Johnson, uh, as a producer of the new record, and he's worked with a lot 20:24.349 --> 20:28.119 of loud bands, heavy bands. Was Yard Act 20:28.619 --> 20:32.165 intentionally looking to head in more of a rock direction this time? No, not at 20:32.197 --> 20:36.035 all. No, I mean, Justin, Justin was a fan. I mean, 20:36.291 --> 20:39.775 we sort of wrote so many songs for this record. There was 20:40.275 --> 20:42.746 about 40 tunes, uh, maybe a few more, 20:43.837 --> 20:47.960 and there was some really heavy stuff that didn't make the record. 20:48.168 --> 20:52.430 There was like, there was a thrash song called On Top, which I 20:52.930 --> 20:55.282 think we'll see the light of day at some point, but it's got like double 20:55.298 --> 20:58.807 kick pedal on it and stuff. And oh, we sort of treated every 20:58.903 --> 21:02.653 day as a, like, just as an experiment, uh, to see what we could 21:02.685 --> 21:06.578 get out of ourselves. And with no sort of regard for anything 21:06.594 --> 21:10.183 other than the joy of exploring sound and playing together, 21:10.520 --> 21:13.404 that song was a lot of fun to make. We, the sort of aim was 21:13.904 --> 21:17.273 always to finish the body of a song one a day so 21:17.773 --> 21:20.806 it would be done, and then the next day refine it. So sort of 2 21:21.306 --> 21:24.517 days a song, kind of 4 days a week. And some of it was absolute, 21:25.047 --> 21:28.597 absolute garbage. And, and I don't— I don't— I think 21:29.097 --> 21:32.950 it's maybe even been the recycle bin on the lap— on the, on the laptop. 21:33.721 --> 21:37.158 But, um, that was the sort of challenge we set ourselves. And though, 21:37.271 --> 21:40.708 yeah, there were some really heavy songs, and, and Justin was kind of fighting for 21:41.208 --> 21:43.811 a few of the heavy ones that didn't make it. At

one point we did, 21:44.084 --> 21:47.866 we, you know, there was, there was like sort of 3 track 21:48.366 --> 21:51.387 listings for sort of 3 different albums. Uh, 21:53.041 --> 21:56.592 there was, there was like a fully heavy album and then there was a fully 21:56.641 --> 21:59.936 sort of like sprightly album in the 22:00.436 --> 22:02.957 vein of sort of like, I mean, songs like, like New Beginnings and Talky Talky 22:02.989 --> 22:06.733 People were on that and Redeemer and Anti-Pledges were on the heavy record. 22:07.231 --> 22:11.012 And then there was the record we settled on, which was trying to marry both 22:11.061 --> 22:14.573 sounds and everything in between into one sort of narrative arc, 22:14.878 --> 22:17.845 um, lyrically and sonically. Um, 22:18.567 --> 22:22.561 yeah, that was kind of how that worked. Um, but I think Justin was pushing 22:22.577 --> 22:25.464 for it to be a bit heavier. I think I get the impression like Justin 22:25.964 --> 22:29.345 was a fan of us, um, and he loved The Overload, but I 22:29.489 --> 22:32.649 get the impression he never explicitly said it, but I don't think he was a 22:32.697 --> 22:36.402 fan of Where's My Utopia. I think he may have been actively 22:36.902 --> 22:40.076 maybe trying to push us away from that a bit, but Um, I think we 22:40.380 --> 22:43.974 managed to marry both sides of our sound quite well on this record. 22:44.230 --> 22:47.808 I think that was— yeah, that was the only intention. Yeah, I feel 22:48.308 --> 22:52.075 like that's what completes us. I think— I, I don't think we're one note in 22:52.107 --> 22:55.556 that sense. And I think The Overload was basically 22:56.056 --> 22:58.957 that sort of dark cynicism up until 100% Endurance. 22:59.968 --> 23:03.561 There's, there's bursts of darkness on Where's My Utopia. I think Down by the Stream's 23:04.061 --> 23:07.266 quite a dark song, but But overall, the mood on that was a 23:07.330 --> 23:10.537 lot lighter. Kind of ironically, based on the sort 23:11.037 --> 23:14.129 of lyrical content of that record, I think, you know, it was kind of me 23:14.629 --> 23:18.411 having a breakdown at what was, from the outside 23:18.911 --> 23:21.458 looking in, the funnest years of my life where all my dreams had come true, 23:22.404 --> 23:26.846 which wasn't the reality. Um, so this time I think 23:26.910 --> 23:30.646 we were trying to sort of marry that, the reality of, of the darkness 23:30.759 --> 23:34.210 of life with, uh, the hope for a reality where 23:34.710 --> 23:37.888 things can be a bit lighter, because I think that— I think without that hope, 23:38.290 --> 23:41.775 um, I, I think we endure because we do have that hope 23:42.000 --> 23:45.919 as a band. So what did Justin bring to the table that your 23:46.419 --> 23:49.549 previous producers did not? I mean, we've been very lucky that 23:50.049 --> 23:54.127 we have— we loved working with Ali on Overload, but it was very much me 23:54.627 --> 23:57.869 and Ryan-centric because, because, 23:58.126 --> 24:02.045 uh, I mean, Jay wasn't even in the band at that point. I played drums 24:02.061 --> 24:05.451 on that record and Sam only came in towards the end and overdubbed his guitar 24:05.951 --> 24:09.322 parts at the end. So Ali only really got to focus on me and Ryan. 24:09.386 --> 24:12.471 And then with the— with Where's My Utopia, 24:12.680 --> 24:16.085 like me and Remy had a really strong connection, 24:16.680 --> 24:20.374 uh, sort of rooted in taste and Remy's obviously 24:20.874 --> 24:24.904 a drummer and a percussionist. And so, and, and him 24:25.404 --> 24:27.635 and Jay really clicked. So I think because I was kind of in charge of 24:28.135 --> 24:31.354 the sort of the sampling and a lot of the sort of 24:31.370 --> 24:34.559 keys on Where's My Utopia, and the— 24:34.575 --> 24:37.876 and Jay was helming the beats. I think Remy sort of gravitated a little bit 24:38.376 --> 24:41.738 more towards us, and so that was kind of a me and Jay record. 24:41.882 --> 24:45.456 And Justin's main thing was kind of like— his 24:45.648 --> 24:49.270 theory was the Monkees theory. He was like, I think 24:49.398 --> 24:52.378 you guys are like the Monkees. All 4 of you could have your own TV 24:52.878 --> 24:56.084 show, but you're greater than the the band is greater than the sum of 24:56.132 --> 24:59.522 its parts. So I want everyone's individuality 25:00.022 --> 25:02.623 to shine on this record, um, 25:03.619 --> 25:07.025 whilst it's still— I, I want everyone to be able to see what 25:07.057 --> 25:10.190 makes a Yardrat record a Yardrat record, 25:10.206 --> 25:13.419 because you can sense the people within it, which I think as a, 25:14.367 --> 25:18.047 as a sort of recording philosophy is, is, is, is amazing. 25:18.304 --> 25:21.196 And I think he managed that. This is the first time that it's been a 25:21.292 --> 25:24.648 full team effort. Whereas Where's My 25:25.148 --> 25:28.117 Utopia was a team effort, but I think Sam and Ryan stepped back a little 25:28.617 --> 25:31.087 bit on that one because I had quite a strong vision for it. And they, 25:31.730 --> 25:35.231 they knew— well, they, they sensed to step back there and let me sort of 25:35.263 --> 25:39.197 carry that record with, alongside Jay and Remy. Whereas this 25:39.697 --> 25:42.184 time it was like we didn't want that to happen. And it was almost like 25:42.232 --> 25:45.604 everyone else wanted to step forward, and I also wanted to 25:46.104 --> 25:48.479 step back and kind of fall into the music a little bit more and be 25:48.912 --> 25:52.246 less on top, um, because it was never 25:52.278 --> 25:56.206 my intention for it to be the me show really. It's just kind 25:56.706 --> 25:59.348 of that's how it happened early on because it was so centered around lyrics. 25:59.412 --> 26:02.987 It felt like there was a real interest in lyrics more so 26:03.487 --> 26:07.476 than there had been for a lot of the 2010s when I started

in bands. 26:07.893 --> 26:11.964 All the bands just had fucking reverb-drenched vocals 26:11.996 --> 26:15.476 and it just didn't speak to me like, um, I've always 26:15.588 --> 26:19.295 loved lyrics, like, you know, um, and so 26:19.375 --> 26:22.728 when kind of all the sort of the post-punk thing came up and all of 26:23.228 --> 26:26.066 a sudden everyone was talking about lyrics again, I like— we were like, fucking hell, 26:26.098 --> 26:29.500 this is— we can get back on this. And, and so I was kind 26:30.000 --> 26:33.013 of pushed to the front, and, um, I don't mind being at the front, 26:33.174 --> 26:37.298 but I don't want to sideline how incredible Sam, 26:37.891 --> 26:41.357 Jay, and Ryan are to this. And so this time it felt like 3 albums 26:41.857 --> 26:44.373 in, it was a good time for me to sort of melt back a little 26:44.565 --> 26:48.190 and make it less centered around me, which has been a really enjoyable 26:48.815 --> 26:52.119 process. And I think Justin navigated that incredibly. 26:52.327 --> 26:55.278 Keeping with the Monkees theme, did he make you all live in a house together? 26:55.791 --> 26:59.351 Yeah, we lived in Burbank. I don't know if you're 26:59.400 --> 27:02.896 familiar with the suburb of Burbank. It's technically not LA. A little bit. 27:03.264 --> 27:07.113 Yeah. Um, yeah, we stayed in like a big posh house in, in the 27:07.613 --> 27:10.336 suburb of Burbank and, uh, It was domestic bliss. 27:10.944 --> 27:14.678 We all had our own room and we all congregated. I mean, 27:14.710 --> 27:18.331 we were working pretty long hours. Like we'd, we'd go into sort of like 27:18.831 --> 27:22.561 Silver Lake or whatever at night and sort of, we saw quite a few good 27:23.061 --> 27:26.166 shows. So, um, Tropical Fuckstorm played a 27:26.666 --> 27:29.755 great show while we were there and we saw, um, who else did we see? 27:30.027 --> 27:33.456 Saw Fuzz play. I, I didn't see, 27:33.601 --> 27:35.908 I didn't get to go to that show because I'd flown home, but they all 27:35.940 --> 27:39.269 went to see Kate Le Bon. Um, so we 27:39.769 --> 27:42.286 spent some time in LA, but like, you know, there were nights where we'd just 27:42.786 --> 27:46.288 sort of cook a meal together and, uh, yeah, it was Monkees adjacent 27:46.788 --> 27:49.962 for sure. Who's the best cook in the band? Um, 27:51.669 --> 27:54.423 maybe me. I don't know. Yeah. Uh, 27:54.986 --> 27:58.544 I, yeah, I'm all right at cooking. I'm not great. And now I've said it, 27:58.608 --> 28:01.826 I'm gonna burn a load of stuff, I guess. But like, 28:02.614 --> 28:05.875 I'm all right. I'm all right. I like sort of I like doing 28:05.972 --> 28:09.803 curries and stews, like anything where you can let it— the longer it's— 28:10.157 --> 28:12.491 where you can't fuck it up, the longer you do it, the more you can 28:12.991 --> 28:16.443 add to it. That's kind of my vibe. Ryan's king of the salads. Ryan's an 28:16.943 --> 28:20.436 Instagram cook, and I

don't mean that disparagingly. He's, uh, he knows that, mate. 28:20.566 --> 28:24.010 He knows how to present a plate. He, he works in, uh, I don't know 28:24.042 --> 28:27.625 if you've got it in America, but he, he works in, in Nando's. Do you 28:28.125 --> 28:31.466 know— are you familiar with Nando's? I know the name, but I've 28:31.727 --> 28:34.859 I have never been to one. Yeah, it's, it's like, uh, 28:34.875 --> 28:39.276 yeah, it's like peri-peri chicken. And Ryan works 28:39.776 --> 28:43.951 in a Nando's for 12 years, so he understands restaurant quality service. 28:44.176 --> 28:47.099 So that's kind of Ryan's forte. Jay's a good cook. He's kind of a, 28:48.031 --> 28:49.926 he's a noodle guy. Jay will, uh, 28:50.601 --> 28:54.520 Jay's always going to the sort of Southeast Asian supermarkets 28:54.553 --> 28:58.054 and picking up rare and delicate herbs and spices 28:58.070 --> 29:02.250 to make a nice broth. And, uh, and Sam's kind of— Sam's like 29:02.750 --> 29:05.933 a roast 5 kilos of vegetables for fuel and eat them 29:06.528 --> 29:09.920 all kind of guy. Sam's— okay, Sam's never 29:09.985 --> 29:13.638 cooked for us. And I, I think he's probably a good cook, 29:13.961 --> 29:17.712 but he's, he's never offered his services. And if he listens to this, 29:18.650 --> 29:21.610 that's, uh, that's me, sir. I'm hungry. 29:23.906 --> 29:27.505 What's the most LA thing that you did in LA while you were staying 29:27.554 --> 29:31.765 in LA making the record? Um, me and Ryan got 29:31.829 --> 29:35.541 into like sort of boxing in a really— we'd 29:36.041 --> 29:39.751 get up at 5 and go boxing at a very sort of like middle-class 29:40.281 --> 29:43.254 sort of boxing gym. It was very gentle. It wasn't, 29:43.398 --> 29:47.255 it wasn't rough in any way. We'd do that and then we'd get a matcha 29:47.657 --> 29:50.404 and walk back to the house. I think that felt quite LA. 29:51.031 --> 29:55.433 Yeah, hiking up the trails in the valley was always, always fun. I mean Yelling 29:55.465 --> 29:58.982 at coyotes feels quite LA. We sort of yelled at quite a 29:59.482 --> 30:03.092 lot of coyotes. They're getting really confident out there. Um, oh yeah, 30:03.253 --> 30:06.368 they come right up to you. Yeah, yeah. And you have to shout, go away 30:06.868 --> 30:10.735 coyote. So we shouted, go away coyote, quite a lot. That felt quite LA. 30:11.442 --> 30:14.846 Yeah, actually I'd say the defining LA feature was matcha, 30:15.199 --> 30:17.061 uh, drinking iced matchas. Because, uh, 30:18.250 --> 30:21.955 when Justin was in Leeds, he He was, I think he really enjoyed 30:22.455 --> 30:25.819 Leeds. Like he's a bit of an Anglophile and obviously with the 30:26.319 --> 30:30.451 Sisters of Mercy connection and the sort of like birthplace of goth vibe, 30:30.515 --> 30:33.930 he was very excited to be in the gloom, but he missed the fact that 30:34.283 --> 30:37.921 we don't do good matches in Leeds. Like he never found a good one. 30:38.290 --> 30:41.817 Um, and I've since, I've since found them out. So next 30:42.317 --> 30:44.253 time Justin is in Leeds, I'm going to take him for a good one because 30:44.301 --> 30:47.652 we owe him one. But I was, the abundance of good matches 30:47.988 --> 30:51.210 in LA was a revelation for us. And I actually now think it's a 30:51.710 --> 30:53.742 delicious drink. Drink. And now I know where the good ones are in Leeds, 30:53.774 --> 30:57.284 I will often opt for a matcha. I was gonna say, 30:57.300 --> 31:00.953 that almost sounds like a business opportunity. Yeah, 31:00.969 --> 31:04.254 yeah, the Yard at Matcha Shop. Yeah, I think we always thought that we'd 31:04.270 --> 31:07.203 open a bar, but I think with the fact that we're all pretty much off 31:07.235 --> 31:10.440 the booze now, I think maybe it is— it's time to open the 31:10.940 --> 31:14.830 matcha shop. I don't know what we'd call it. You're gonna need a little matcha, 31:14.846 --> 31:18.051 I guess, is probably the— there you go. Yeah, I think 31:18.115 --> 31:21.962 you You may have, uh, the upcoming tour may be canceled 31:22.462 --> 31:25.584 now, Bill. I think, right, press— more pressing commitments. 31:25.824 --> 31:28.790 You could at least have at the merch table, you know, your own Yard Act 31:29.290 --> 31:32.540 brand of matcha powder or something. That's the one. I think 31:32.556 --> 31:35.681 that's the compromise, isn't it? I reckon we can brand— we can, 31:35.842 --> 31:38.967 we can get some pre-existing matcha and rebudget in time for 31:39.467 --> 31:42.894 the tour next week. I'm sure that— yeah. When's this going out? This will 31:43.394 --> 31:46.628 go up on Monday, so— oh great. Yeah, a week from today. Yeah, and the 31:46.644 --> 31:50.242 first show's on Wednesday, I think. Yeah, if you're listening, 31:50.659 --> 31:53.599 there will be matcha available at the merch store. 31:53.889 --> 31:57.392 Speaking of Leeds, Empty Pledges, I think it's a really great 31:57.408 --> 32:01.178 way to introduce the album, and it's menacing, 32:01.307 --> 32:05.126 and it's kind of about Leeds. And, and you mentioned actually Leeds 32:05.238 --> 32:08.468 indie rock royalty, The Wedding Present, in the song. Yeah, 32:09.099 --> 32:12.992 yeah, David Gudge is, uh, we've— he's reached out indirectly 32:13.492 --> 32:17.199 to say he's honored by the mention, which is, which is really sweet, is, 32:17.376 --> 32:20.971 uh, a friend of his, uh, came up to us in Brighton 32:21.003 --> 32:24.245 to say that, uh, that he could— I think he lives in Brighton now, 32:24.598 --> 32:27.856 uh, yeah, say, uh, say he couldn't make the gig, uh, 32:28.209 --> 32:31.483 because they were on tour or something, but he'd sent, sent his regards and, 32:31.595 --> 32:34.500 and said thanks for the mention. So that's, that's cool, you know, that was a 32:34.549 --> 32:38.031 nice thing. Yeah, I think they're underappreciated, The Wedding 32:38.095 --> 32:41.594 Present. They have a

loyal fan base, but I don't— for sure, you know, 32:42.172 --> 32:45.961 I hope that maybe, uh, Yardat listeners, uh, maybe— I 32:46.461 --> 32:49.896 don't want to be disparaging— maybe some younger listeners that haven't, that haven't discovered 32:50.396 --> 32:52.659 them yet may get into them off the back of that. You know, it's all 32:52.691 --> 32:56.128 about carrying the flame for what's come before, isn't it? It's like, right, 32:56.481 --> 33:00.143 yeah. You didn't actually A-B rhyme Empty 33:00.175 --> 33:03.709 Pledges with David Gedges, but it was a, there was a rhyme 33:04.209 --> 33:06.632 there. Yeah, I, I, uh, 33:07.563 --> 33:10.805 I, I can't remember if David Gedges or Well, yeah, I, 33:11.318 --> 33:15.050 yeah, I'd mentioned the, the reggies. I'd got up to the custom 33:15.082 --> 33:18.863 reggies line and I was like, where— no, no, sorry, I mentioned the wedding present, 33:19.248 --> 33:22.836 uh, with— and I, and I wanted to figure out— then, then I made 33:22.868 --> 33:25.528 that link and I was like, how do I link this together with the car? 33:26.056 --> 33:29.565 I think I maybe do claim the title of being the first person 33:29.661 --> 33:33.586 to rhyme pledges with David Gedges in the song. I think that's 33:34.086 --> 33:36.822 maybe a first, that, you know, always trying to break new ground. 33:37.030 --> 33:40.619 What other Leeds indie bands from the last 40 33:40.635 --> 33:44.048 years should Yard Act listeners know about? Well, I mean, 33:44.096 --> 33:46.708 like, I think the main, 33:47.862 --> 33:51.563 the biggest one and potentially the best 33:52.063 --> 33:56.082 is Gang of Four. I do think Gang of Four are a really, really important 33:56.098 --> 33:58.999 band musically and politically. Like, 33:59.624 --> 34:02.797 I can't believe Damaged Goods was their first single. 34:03.085 --> 34:06.659 Like, to come out with that tune, that's like firecracker energy, 34:06.835 --> 34:10.540 you know? I wasn't there at the time, but like, you hear that 34:11.040 --> 34:14.214 song now and it's, it's so electric. 34:14.551 --> 34:18.016 Like, that is— that energy is hard to capture. 34:18.626 --> 34:21.674 And to do that, you know, I think that's, that, that's a rare 34:22.174 --> 34:25.781 moment in music when a band's first song that they put out is 34:26.281 --> 34:29.311 a song like Damaged Goods. And, um, you know, 34:30.097 --> 34:33.305 I play— I played guitar with Gang of Four at their last show at the 34:33.626 --> 34:37.648 Kentish Town Forum in London. They, they invited me to, to play 34:38.148 --> 34:41.414 with them, and I, um, I played guitar on What We All Want. 34:42.151 --> 34:45.259 Oh wow. Yeah. And it— and, and like, uh, 34:45.324 --> 34:48.528 Hugo lives in Boston, and he's— he came to see us 34:49.028 --> 34:51.156 and asked if I'd do it when we played at the Sinclair last time. 34:51.893 --> 34:55.883 Off the back of that, I met John, and then, uh, Gail was playing 34:55.980 --> 34:59.104 bass, and, uh, and Ted, Ted Leo was on guitar 34:59.604 --> 35:02.347 as well for that. Um, and the whole band was so lovely and like, 35:02.877 --> 35:06.411 you know, John and Hugo especially, like to sort of meet 35:06.428 --> 35:09.721 them and, and sort of chat with them felt like a real— they wanted me 35:10.221 --> 35:12.821 to do it at the Brunel in Leeds, but I was— we were on tour, 35:12.837 --> 35:16.484 but I flew back and landed in London and managed to make that show happen. 35:17.126 --> 35:20.869 So that was a really special night. I think Delta Five. I know Mike Dee's 35:20.885 --> 35:24.789 covering Mind Your Own Business in his new set, which I think is really cool. 35:25.447 --> 35:29.525 Mekons, obviously. I think like when I was coming 35:29.557 --> 35:32.686 through, there was a lot of sort of like, I mean, there was bands like 35:32.750 --> 35:35.365 Forward Russia in the sort of mid-2000s. 35:36.295 --> 35:39.584 Skylarkin. Skylarkin, of course. Yeah. I mean, Nesta from 35:39.600 --> 35:42.280 Skylarkin used to drum in Ryan's old band Menace Beach. 35:42.873 --> 35:46.563 Grammatix, obviously get a shout out on We Make Hits and like 35:47.205 --> 35:52.146 Pulled Apart by Horses were really, really like, like insane 35:52.243 --> 35:56.029 live show. Yeah. So good. And like they're still going and they're 35:56.529 --> 35:59.687 still great. I look, you know, that when I came to Leeds, it was 35:59.720 --> 36:03.170 2009. I've been going to gigs in Manchester 36:03.651 --> 36:06.797 and seeing a lot of good stuff, you know. It was quite an exciting time 36:07.297 --> 36:10.680 at the time, but there was something about how many back rooms of 36:10.713 --> 36:13.874 pubs were putting on shows in Leeds and how many local bands there were. 36:14.789 --> 36:18.993 And sort of getting like— my first show at the Brood and Owl was October 36:19.493 --> 36:22.925 2009, and I went— it was called Brainwash 36:22.989 --> 36:26.342 Festival. And Pulled Apart by Horses headlined, and that was the first 36:26.842 --> 36:29.886 time I'd seen them live. I'd read about them and listened to a couple of 36:30.386 --> 36:34.055 the songs, but I'd not seen them live until that point. And it 36:34.555 --> 36:38.385 was one of those like life-changing shows, uh, for me. I was like 19 36:38.885 --> 36:42.683 years old, and then you'd see them hanging around in, in town 36:42.780 --> 36:46.725 after, and you could talk to them. And like, that, that's like an incredibly important 36:47.225 --> 36:51.183 thing, you know. Not long after that, there was like Like, I think Eagles 36:51.279 --> 36:54.615 were a really underappreciated Leeds band. 36:54.904 --> 36:58.191 Not underappreciated in, in terms of like they had quite a 36:58.691 --> 37:01.447 buzz about them, but I think they were a bit of a bit ahead of 37:01.479 --> 37:05.120 their time. Like, I think if they'd come out, I think this, 37:05.504 --> 37:09.305 especially their

singles, were better than a lot of the 37:09.883 --> 37:13.170 bands that cut their teeth around the time we did that made a name for 37:13.670 --> 37:17.471 themselves. I think Eagles were, was some of the best pop songs to come out 37:17.904 --> 37:21.774 in, in a sort of post-punk vein in a long time. You know, 37:21.790 --> 37:25.050 there's like that song Possessed was their big one, but like there was a, 37:25.306 --> 37:29.208 there was a track called, uh, called Coffin off 37:29.385 --> 37:33.287 their first EP that was really, really cool. And their first single, 37:33.335 --> 37:37.317 Council Flat Blues, they were, they were great. I saw them so many times, 37:38.216 --> 37:40.592 and the second album had some really good tunes on it as well. 37:41.106 --> 37:44.721 Um, but it kind of just, they sort of just stopped after that. I don't 37:45.221 --> 37:49.171 know what, I don't know what happened. Yeah. Um, Hookworms as well were like 37:49.671 --> 37:52.850 a big band that was sort of like really sort of pushing the psych rock 37:53.350 --> 37:56.432 thing in a really exciting manner. And Ryan's band Menace Beach as well, you know, 37:56.464 --> 38:00.047 like Menace Beach wrote some incredible scuzzy 38:00.079 --> 38:03.501 sort of like synthy indie pop tunes 38:03.613 --> 38:07.212 that like, like that were great. Like that, that, that single Tastes 38:07.228 --> 38:10.858 Like Medicine. I just still, I still like hear that now and it like 38:11.358 --> 38:14.632 sends shivers up my spine. It was a really exciting time to be around. 38:14.937 --> 38:18.021 And then sort of there was still stuff happening, but we all sort of grew 38:18.069 --> 38:21.169 up a little bit and started to go, I don't go to half as many 38:21.201 --> 38:24.734 gigs now as I used to just because of other commitments and then barely ever 38:25.234 --> 38:28.701 being in the city. But like, I think there's a new wave of bands now 38:29.311 --> 38:32.845 that are doing great things. I saw a band at a festival yesterday. Uh, 38:33.246 --> 38:36.779 I'd just gone for the day with my kid. Uh, called Bathing Suits. They're the 38:37.279 --> 38:41.162 same age as I was when I started playing gigs in Leeds, 38:41.596 --> 38:44.021 19, 20, and they had that like scruffy, 38:44.663 --> 38:48.163 snappy, don't give a fuck energy that like you can only 38:48.227 --> 38:51.246 have when you're like 19, 20 years old. And it was, it was really cool 38:51.746 --> 38:55.051 to see them doing it. Like, I think there's still great bands knocking around. 38:55.260 --> 39:00.190 It's a good city. It breeds, I think because there's a lot of students 39:00.606 --> 39:04.291 And because it's still a relatively cheap place to live, 39:04.307 --> 39:08.617 especially for a major city, I think people come here and 39:09.117 --> 39:12.383 they stay here. There's so many small venues, even, even in the sort of like 39:12.883 --> 39:16.100 the fact that a lot of, a lot of venues are struggling to keep 39:16.600 --> 39:20.250 the doors open at a smaller level. Um, there's still a 39:20.750 --> 39:24.624 healthy amount of sort of 100 to sort of 400-cap venues 39:24.720 --> 39:27.941 in Leeds. Like, we haven't— oh, that's great of them. Yeah. And so bands can 39:28.441 --> 39:31.518 kind of get the support slots and play reasonably 39:31.550 --> 39:34.791 regularly. And I think that's how you get better. So I think that's why. 39:35.240 --> 39:38.962 But also Leeds bands aren't— they're just not as bothered about 39:39.011 --> 39:42.508 breaking out as like a band from Manchester or whatever. Like, I don't think, 39:42.540 --> 39:46.166 I don't think we have, despite having great bands like Gang of Four or 39:46.872 --> 39:51.188 like even Gang of Four being the biggest, like they, they're not like— there's 39:51.204 --> 39:54.862 not big bands from Leeds like there is Manchester 39:55.135 --> 39:58.618 or Liverpool or even, even Sheffield, you know, which is a lot 39:58.730 --> 40:02.502 smaller but has produced far bigger bands. But it doesn't mean there's 40:03.002 --> 40:04.974 not good stuff going on. I just don't know what— I don't know, but bands 40:05.006 --> 40:07.863 don't seem that fussed about sort of looking outwards as much in Leeds. 40:08.537 --> 40:12.325 So as you mentioned, and I mentioned both, uh, your North 40:12.825 --> 40:16.417 American tour starts next week, August 5th. What can we expect this time around? 40:17.043 --> 40:20.944 The, the band sounds dead good at the moment. Like we're feeling 40:20.977 --> 40:24.735 really energized. We're feeling tight and 40:25.235 --> 40:29.135 loose at the same time. Like we're sort of pushing ourselves. We're switching 40:29.152 --> 40:32.444 the sets up. We're pulling old songs out the bag we've not played for a 40:32.944 --> 40:36.411 while and they feel fun to play. It's a little bit like, yeah, it's loose. 40:36.475 --> 40:39.655 Like it's like, you know, we're just hanging on with some of the ones 40:39.671 --> 40:41.647 that we've sort of dragged back out that we've not played for a while, 40:41.695 --> 40:44.699 but we're still throwing them in the set and there's like, it feels like there's 40:44.827 --> 40:47.268 an energy to them. They don't feel like drilled. Because we've done the same set, 40:47.316 --> 40:50.368 which, which was a thing I think with the Utopia tour because of the 40:50.868 --> 40:54.945 choreography. I think we sort of had to stick to the same set pretty 40:55.445 --> 40:58.558 much towards the end. It was a bit like fatigue for me particularly. I find 40:59.058 --> 41:02.348 it quite fatiguing to do the same thing every night. I sort of feel like 41:02.848 --> 41:06.171 I'm in, you know, it's very Groundhog Day for me, and I sort 41:06.671 --> 41:09.624 of start to lose it if we don't change things up. So I think moving 41:09.640 --> 41:13.687 back to a 5-piece has really given us this like freedom to sort of call 41:13.751 -->

41:16.691 songs as we go and sort of change it up a bit. So that— I'm 41:17.191 --> 41:19.101 excited for it to be like that. It's going to be loose. And like, 41:19.840 --> 41:23.343 you know, I think Bambara are a great band. I've not seen them live, 41:23.921 --> 41:27.761 uh, but, but The Armed, I watched them live in Detroit back in 41:28.261 --> 41:31.681 March, and I know how good they are live. And like, booking them to 41:31.793 --> 41:34.396 open for us, I think, is going to push us a lot harder because I 41:34.896 --> 41:39.039 think we're gonna, you know, we can't not deliver having them open for 41:39.539 --> 41:43.014 us. So like That's— I think it's going to be pretty, pretty full-on, 41:43.510 --> 41:46.747 you know. We're not, we're not going to ease off. And, you know, we're excited 41:47.247 --> 41:50.335 to be back in the States. So what are you most excited about, 41:50.415 --> 41:54.180 about coming back to the US and Canada? I'm really excited to play 41:54.680 --> 41:57.592 Detroit for the first time. I've got a lot of love for that city. 41:58.361 --> 42:01.854 Spent a few days there and, um, it really resonated with me. 42:01.966 --> 42:05.715 I kind of felt a lot for like the sort of the resistance 42:06.215 --> 42:08.807 and the people that have hung on there. Like, it is a, it's a really 42:08.823 --> 42:12.609 fascinating place. Um, It is, you know, it's rough and ready. 42:12.754 --> 42:16.241 And, um, I could, you know, I'm rooting for Detroit basically. 42:16.321 --> 42:20.258 So like, I'm excited to get that show in there. We're gonna go 42:20.322 --> 42:23.584 to Paisley Park when we're in Minneapolis again, 42:23.857 --> 42:27.295 see Prince's house again. That's always fun. I mean, I love the West 42:27.795 --> 42:31.168 Coast, the West Coast drive. Um, well, we're doing bottom to top this 42:31.668 --> 42:34.655 time, but like taking in the scenery along, 42:35.088 --> 42:37.563 along the West Coast is always something. Um, 42:39.040 --> 42:42.541 yeah, I mean, we've, you know, we, we've made friends out there. Like, I mean, 42:42.557 --> 42:46.251 like I say, New York— you're in New York, right? Yep. New York's 42:46.751 --> 42:50.138 a place that's dear to our hearts. Like, I'm looking forward to catching up with, 42:50.186 --> 42:53.061 like, with Gustav. I'm trying to think where else that's, 42:53.237 --> 42:56.674 like, always great. I mean, Chicago is always a big city for us. 42:57.028 --> 43:00.320 We— and, uh, do we do well in Chicago? I don't know. 43:00.481 --> 43:02.986 There's something about— there's something about that sort of East Coast, 43:03.034 --> 43:06.466 like And that sort of Midwest to East Coast sort of vibe feels 43:06.578 --> 43:10.313 like, it feels like a bit north of England adjacent. 43:10.505 --> 43:13.936 Like there's a sort of like synchronicity where 43:14.436 --> 43:17.270 I feel like the people in those cities kind of get it a little bit 43:17.302 --> 43:20.076 more. But

you know, LA, you know, we, we feel like we're, uh, 43:20.669 --> 43:24.148 we're very LA-ified now as well. So yeah, getting a matcher 43:24.196 --> 43:27.723 in LA, I guess. I was gonna say, like you guys having the 43:27.739 --> 43:31.652 armed open, some bands might be a little nervous to have such an 43:32.152 --> 43:35.664 energetic and wild band open for them, but I think that's 43:36.164 --> 43:39.371 cool that you guys are doing that. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I guess it's probably— 43:39.387 --> 43:42.339 it's like harks back to like what I was saying earlier about when we sort 43:42.839 --> 43:45.934 of played all the new songs that hadn't come out yet on these big stages 43:46.434 --> 43:49.736 at festivals. It's like you don't want an easy win. Like, I want to 43:49.801 --> 43:53.523 go into a show knowing that we've got to earn it. Yeah, I think that 43:53.716 --> 43:56.957 it keeps it alive, and you don't always get it, you know. I'm sure like 43:57.983 --> 44:01.638 They may— they, they've got— they may upstage us a couple of times, 44:01.814 --> 44:05.389 like, if we don't bring it. But I like giving us that challenge. That's like— 44:05.889 --> 44:08.130 that's why— that's why I do it. I'd rather that than, 44:09.124 --> 44:12.907 than a slick repeated show every 44:13.407 --> 44:17.315 night. I just think that's boring for me. I like— I can't live with myself 44:17.815 --> 44:21.034 if I do that. Like, I, you know, I want to watch them and then 44:21.130 --> 44:24.432 go and watch the crowd, how the crowd reacts to that, and go How the 44:24.932 --> 44:28.182 fuck do I follow that? And then rise to it, you know. They're great. 44:28.262 --> 44:31.691 Like, Derek, their bass player, engineered, uh, our record, 44:31.723 --> 44:34.447 which is how we sort of got to know them. And I think they're just, 44:34.671 --> 44:38.565 yeah, a phenomenal band. Loads of fun to be around as well. The nicest 44:38.613 --> 44:42.298 people. Um, so I'm really excited to tour with them. One other thing I 44:42.798 --> 44:45.118 want to talk to you a little bit about is your, is your artwork. 44:45.182 --> 44:49.092 You, you painted the portraits of the band members on the inside 44:49.592 --> 44:53.450 of the album, and you're also, you have a couple paintings that are in an 44:53.482 --> 44:56.444 exhibition in London right now, right? Yeah, yeah, 44:56.460 --> 45:00.179 that's correct. Yeah, um, yeah, I got into it after we finished 45:00.679 --> 45:04.860 touring Where's My Utopia. I'd never painted before. We weren't starting— I 45:05.360 --> 45:07.558 mean, we're always sort of writing a little bit, but we weren't committing to writing 45:07.574 --> 45:10.924 the third record yet. And I kind of have this like obsessive, 45:11.540 --> 45:15.388 uh, it probably stems from some childhood 45:15.437 --> 45:18.757 trauma where I can't I can't not, uh, 45:19.193 --> 45:22.389 be doing something at all times. Uh, and so I, 45:24.090 --> 45:27.233 uh, I just bought some paints on a whim and started oil painting, 45:27.571 --> 45:30.984 having never done it before. And I, I painted a couple that were quite safe 45:31.484 --> 45:33.914 and sort of like, you know, I was sketching them out before I was doing 45:33.946 --> 45:37.021 them. And then I sort of one day got really into it. 45:37.391 --> 45:40.514 And, um, like, I know you can't see, but I'm in the 45:40.610 --> 45:44.989 attic where I, where I paint. Uh, it's where 45:45.489 --> 45:49.128 my recording setup is and where my paint studio is. I just started— I basically 45:49.628 --> 45:52.686 had this old chest of drawers that I'd inherited from my 45:53.071 --> 45:56.756 auntie, um, when she died, and I couldn't 45:56.933 --> 45:59.577 bear to sort of just give it to a charity shop, but I didn't have 46:00.077 --> 46:02.990 any use for it. So I tore it to pieces and used all the wood 46:03.022 --> 46:06.387 to paint on. And, uh, and that's, you know, the basis of most 46:06.887 --> 46:09.480 of my sort of early paintings was sort of learning to paint on this old 46:09.512 --> 46:12.959 chest of drawers. I had no intentions to share it publicly, 46:13.119 --> 46:16.501 but I showed it to a, to a couple of friends and they connected 46:17.001 --> 46:20.332 me with a painter called, um, Humphrey Ocean, who I— because 46:20.832 --> 46:22.913 I mentioned I was a big fan of his work. And he's, he's, uh, 46:23.442 --> 46:26.632 he's, he, he used to be the bass player for Ian Jory in the very 46:26.664 --> 46:29.998 early days, and then he went fully into the painting. 46:30.191 --> 46:33.365 Yeah. And he came to see us with The Hives at Alexandra Palace and was 46:33.461 --> 46:36.941 like, I think, I think this is really good. You should show this to people. 46:37.085 --> 46:40.457 And then off the back of that, it's kind of all— I just went public 46:40.957 --> 46:42.897 with it because I wasn't even on Instagram at the time. I didn't want to 46:42.945 --> 46:46.285 be on Instagram, but I just took this leap and I submitted 46:46.397 --> 46:49.977 them for this gallery show, and it's all sort of happened. And yeah, they're out 46:50.026 --> 46:53.943 in the world now, and it's just something that I do. Um, it's very 46:54.443 --> 46:58.663 therapeutic for me. Yeah, you mentioned you have an 46:59.163 --> 47:01.987 Instagram account dedicated to your paintings. Do you want to say what that is? 47:02.677 --> 47:04.861 Yeah, sure. It's, 47:05.969 --> 47:09.999 uh, @MrMuckyBrushes. That's me. That's where 47:10.499 --> 47:14.495 I showcase my paintings. Yeah, I was looking at them earlier 47:14.995 --> 47:18.316 today and you've got one that's set in Nashville. Did you spend a lot— much 47:18.348 --> 47:21.656 time there? Yeah, yeah, I was, I was in Nashville, uh, 47:22.282 --> 47:25.943 back in March, um, visiting a friend and, um, 47:28.750 --> 47:32.100 I think Nashville's a really, really great place. 47:32.690 --> 47:36.090 Um, I think

the music scene is wicked, and, you know, not just the country 47:36.590 --> 47:40.270 scene. You know, we toured with, um, the other support band on that Hives tour 47:40.770 --> 47:43.930 was Snooper, so we got to know those guys a little bit there. And, 47:44.430 --> 47:47.770 uh, and, and yeah, I spent some time in Nashville, and, 47:48.270 --> 47:50.010 and that, that was the same trip that I also went to Detroit to see 47:50.510 --> 47:53.550 The Arndt. I was just sort of on, on a little holiday. Um, 47:54.050 --> 47:57.010 Nashville's a really cool city. Like, the space kind of, you know, like when you, 47:57.510 --> 48:00.574 when you think about how sort of built up Like, we all sort of live 48:01.074 --> 48:03.639 on top of each other in, in the UK, uh, 48:05.171 --> 48:09.268 you know, we're all in sort of back-to-back terraced houses, uh, there's just 48:09.768 --> 48:12.801 not as much space. The roads are a lot narrower, uh, the sort of breadth 48:13.866 --> 48:16.784 of Nashville I find really beautiful, you know, the sort of sprawl of it. 48:17.009 --> 48:20.770 And, um, yeah, the house that, you know, that picture I painted, the houses, 48:20.883 --> 48:24.660 like, they're very picturesque. It's a very beautiful 48:25.160 --> 48:28.600 place. In some ways it feels like a small town. Yeah, it's got 48:29.100 --> 48:31.782 that small town vibe and then you sort of go downtown, but you don't really 48:31.830 --> 48:35.076 feel like you're in downtown of 48:35.576 --> 48:39.459 a big city. You know, there's very few skyscrapers. I mean, they're slowly, they're slowly 48:39.491 --> 48:43.020 sort of creeping up, but there's still very few skyscrapers in Nashville, 48:43.036 --> 48:46.416 I think, in comparison to most cities that big. Yeah, it's cool. 48:46.899 --> 48:49.843 Yeah. Though it has more bachelorette parties than most cities. 48:50.664 --> 48:53.448 Yeah. Um, that was the main thing I noticed because I, you know, we played 48:53.948 --> 48:56.645 in Nashville a couple of years ago, but we were in East Nashville. We played 48:57.145 --> 49:00.293 at a place called The Basement East. And, um, oh yeah, 49:00.325 --> 49:03.442 East Nashville is very sort of vibey and cool. 49:04.053 --> 49:07.330 We did take a trip down the, uh, what's, what's the main 49:07.830 --> 49:11.637 strip called? The honky-tonk road where all the bachelorette parties 49:11.669 --> 49:15.750 go to, where Kid Rock's— yeah, Broadway. Yeah, we, we went down Broadway 49:16.250 --> 49:18.593 for the sort of tourist kick. Last time we were there, but we got a 49:19.093 --> 49:21.574 cabin and we just sort of ran up and down it for 45 minutes before 49:22.074 --> 49:23.685 we had to get back for the show just because we wanted to see it. 49:24.400 --> 49:27.910 But when I was back in Nashville this time, I was like taken aback by 49:28.410 --> 49:31.792 the amount of pink cowboy hats and like woo-woo drinks. 49:31.889 --> 49:34.789 It was pretty crazy, but,

um, still a cool place. Yeah, 49:35.274 --> 49:38.737 people gotta party somewhere. On the subject of current pop 49:38.753 --> 49:41.764 culture, have you gone to see The Odyssey? No, 49:42.153 --> 49:45.501 it's on my to-do list. How long is it? Right about 3 49:45.517 --> 49:49.287 hours. Oh, that's just— that's, that's my, that's my 49:49.787 --> 49:53.074 Friday off. That's me sorted for Friday night. I think I've got really into going 49:53.574 --> 49:55.785 to the cinema on my own, and I love it. Have you seen it? 49:56.507 --> 49:59.459 I have. What did you think? I liked it. 50:00.197 --> 50:03.726 It is as loud as a rock concert, I would say. Oh really? 50:04.368 --> 50:08.186 Who's done the score for it? Uh, that guy Ludwig Göransson. 50:08.764 --> 50:11.877 Oh yeah. Amazing. Who like did that? Yeah, I am gonna go and see it. 50:12.230 --> 50:16.803 What's the most recent film you've seen? I saw The Drama, 50:17.108 --> 50:19.996 the one with Robert Pattinson in it. Have you seen that? 50:21.055 --> 50:24.232 I haven't seen it yet. That's worth seeing. That, that actually, 50:24.264 --> 50:27.024 that's sort of one of the most original films I've seen in a couple of 50:27.056 --> 50:30.425 years, and he's brilliant in it. It kind of reminded me of 50:30.441 --> 50:33.538 like a sort of a similar sort of, 50:34.356 --> 50:37.501 you don't like, it's sort of like an escalation film. 50:37.742 --> 50:41.034 But it didn't have the sort of like goofy sort of caperishness 50:41.534 --> 50:45.321 of Marty Supreme. It was kind of like, felt a little bit more sort of 50:45.674 --> 50:48.628 highbrow in how it sort of delivered its message, 50:49.527 --> 50:52.000 but really sort of dark, funny sense of humor to it as well. 50:52.755 --> 50:56.448 I also saw, um, the remake 50:56.948 --> 50:59.948 of The Stranger by Camus that just came out, the French one. 51:00.542 --> 51:03.624 And I really enjoyed that. I went to the cinema to see that. Uh, 51:04.297 --> 51:07.759 last month, uh, and I was, I was quite— have 51:08.259 --> 51:11.588 you seen that? I'm not, I've not heard of it. It's pretty close to the 51:11.604 --> 51:14.056 book, like they've not changed much, 51:14.809 --> 51:17.774 but you know, and it's very French. There's a lot of, uh, 51:18.319 --> 51:20.610 it's all in black and white. There's a, there's a lot of, uh, 51:21.379 --> 51:24.680 smoking cigarettes and there's a lot of passionate sex scenes in it. 51:24.824 --> 51:28.190 I mean, it's, it's, it's a French, uh, art film through 51:28.690 --> 51:32.348 and through, but They, they did it. The film ends, the credits 51:32.848 --> 51:35.850 roll, and they played Killing an Arab by The Cure, which was like— I thought 51:35.882 --> 51:39.529 was like so on the nose, it really worked. Um, 51:39.819 --> 51:42.727 but that was good. I saw Toy Story 5 as well, actually. I took my 51:43.227 --> 51:45.667 kids to see Toy Story 5, and I really enjoyed that. I thought it was 51:45.699 --> 51:49.684 maybe the weakest of the 5, but those, those films— 51:49.716 --> 51:53.170 like, I was like 4 when Toy Story 4 came— uh, 51:53.251 --> 51:55.821 Toy Story 1 came out, and, um, 51:56.380 --> 51:59.750 I've grown up with that, them films. And so to be taking my kid to 52:00.250 --> 52:02.860 see them now, the fact they're still going, like, they can have my money. 52:03.530 --> 52:06.350 Pixar can take my money until the day I die. No matter how bad they 52:06.850 --> 52:09.190 are, I'll always go and watch them. And it's— and it's still good. I thought 52:09.690 --> 52:12.430 it crammed a little bit much into the plot, but I loved it. Yeah. 52:12.930 --> 52:15.270 All right, James, I think that's gonna do it. Is there anything else that we 52:15.770 --> 52:20.070 should know? No, I don't— I don't think so. Just, uh, you know, 52:20.570 --> 52:23.235 uh, just come and see us on the tour if you want to see a 52:23.283 --> 52:26.707 great rock and roll show from The Armed and then see us 52:26.739 --> 52:30.083 try and follow it. All right, James, thanks so much. Cheers, 52:30.180 --> 52:31.128 Bill. Thanks for having me. 52:35.570 --> 52:39.110 Thanks again to James Smith for being on this week's show. Yardak's great new 52:39.304 --> 52:42.667 album, You're Gonna Need a Little Music, is out now, and the band's tour 52:42.796 --> 52:46.417 starts August 5th in San Diego. Links to all the dates 52:46.533 --> 52:49.599 are in our show description. While you're still with us, 52:49.615 --> 52:53.434 be sure to check out our other podcast, BV Weekly, where my coworkers 52:53.466 --> 52:56.082 Dave and Andrew discuss the week's hot-button music news, 52:56.596 --> 53:00.399 the latest releases, and more. Also, be sure to follow Brooklyn Vegan on 53:00.447 --> 53:04.122 social media, check out our online shop with exclusive vinyl 53:04.622 --> 53:07.829 merch and more. And if you like this episode, be sure to tell your 53:08.329 --> 53:11.729 musically minded friends about it, as well as do all those other things, you know, 53:12.002 --> 53:15.613 like, subscribe, write us a review, give us 5 stars, all that kind 53:15.629 --> 53:19.145 of stuff. It really does help us reach more ears. Big thanks 53:19.645 --> 53:22.671 to our mix engineer, Nick Gray, and Michael Silverstein for the theme music. 53:22.945 --> 53:24.668 I'm Bill Paris. Thanks for listening.