Yard Act have shared new single ‘Dream Job’ along with details of their second album ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ and a massive homecoming show. Check it all out below, along with our interview with frontman James Smith.
The follow-up to the Leeds band’s acclaimed Mercury-nominated 2022 debut ‘The Overload‘ will arrive 1 March, 2024, with the first taster coming in the form of the self-analytical but danceable ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ – in which Smith wrestles with feeling “very privileged but also struggling” to be in a successful band.
“‘Dream Job’ arrives midway through the narrative arc of the album, but it picks up where the band left off at the end of last year when I’d finally had time to contemplate everything that had happened to us,” Smith told NME. “People always ask, ‘Oh, you’ve achieved all this – how does it feel?’ But it’s hard to articulate that on the spot.
“I learned that I had to lie to myself and everyone around me to get through it, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – it was a coping strategy. There is truth in everything I said; that it is ace, it is top, it’s boss, it’s class and all the other superlative words that I use to describe this journey we’ve been on and this job that I’ve landed myself in.”
He continued: “Also, it’s not that simple. Getting to do what you’ve wanted to do since you were a teenager doesn’t actually solve your problems.”
The album has been co-produced by the band alongside Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr., and will be launched with a huge 2024 UK and European tour that now includes a massive homecoming show at Leeds’ Millennium Square Leeds on August 3.
Following a huge summer that saw them open the main stage at Reading Festival, drop one-off single ‘The Trench Coat Museum‘ and play a five-night residency at the Brudenell Social Club alongside a supporting card of comedians, the band still have packed schedule to see out 2023 before the cycle of the second record takes hold.
We caught up with frontman James Smith.
Hello James. The subject of ‘Where’s My Utopia?’, getting everything you’ve ever wanted but not feeling right, is a pretty universal theme really, right?
Smith: “Yeah. That’s how human beings function to motivate themselves to get through the day: that idea that there’s something better. For me, for my entire adult life, a big part of me has been very content with finding love and having a child – that’s another big element to the album – but there was another part of me that was so certain that this is what I wanted. I was, and I am sincerely so happy with everything that happened, but it was a journey and a struggle. The last two years have been quite a lot, and I couldn’t afford myself the time to process as it was happening. I’ve learned a lot more about it after the fact.
“Even in early conversations when I started telling the band what I was writing about, they were like, ‘Oh, you’re writing about how hard it is being in a successful band? This isn’t going to go down well, James…’”
But it’s about chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
“It’s about hope and perseverance. A lot of what we’ve always done has been rooted in where society is at and a comment on the times, but it’s more universal. Human beings have always been driven by our ambitions. In a world where there’s currently supermarkets where you can get food from and houses you can live in, once we’ve got the basics covered our minds aspire for other things our minds think are important because we’re not content in just being animals.”
Are there any other key lyrics or moments on the album that speak to that?
“There a line on ‘The Undertow’, which is my mantra for keeping myself in check: ‘We’re all bound by our own perspective, any lows below our own we’ll never truly know’. That’s me saying to myself that your struggles and emotions are yours, and you have every right to feel everything you’re feeling but it’s not reflective of anyone else or comparative to anyone else but yourself.
“I could often be quite dismissive of my own feelings because people are struggling more than me. Especially when this happened. ‘People would kill to be in this position. How dare you not be enjoying it?’ The duality of life is that your own personal perspective and everyone else’s are two separate things. It’s fine to feel both; that you’re very privileged but also struggling.”
A lot has been said about the pressures of touring – how no one else can really penetrate or understand your own little universe.
“No, they can’t. I’ve stopped drinking, which has been a massive help. I allude to it a couple of times on the record. For me, it was a matter of asking what I wanted more: to be half-cut half the time, or to be able to do the job you’ve always wanted to the best of your ability. To get the most out of it, I had to stop drinking. That’s been quite a profound and uplifting thing for me.
“When you’re out in America and Europe where we’re back in smaller venues, it’s crazy the amount of people that offer to buy you a drink who then laugh in your face when you say you don’t drink. It’s like, ‘I can’t do this every night or I would be dead!’ From quite far away, I stared that reality head on and decided to make a choice. You’re there to be the party and you’re there to entertain. As much as it is a creative expression, it’s also entertainment. You have to adopt this role, but you can’t be that thing every night. It’s mad how often it bears repeating.”
That feeds into the bittersweet nature of this album. Sonically, it’s a party record, right?
“Yeah. I still love partying. If push comes to shove, disco is my favourite music because I like dancing. We’re a band that are bound by humour, and there’s a lot of humour in this record. It wouldn’t be us to remove the things that we like in life to address the problems we do have.
“A lot of the bands I’ve loved throughout history have managed to do both. The Cure are the kings of that, in terms of making misery palatable. But it’s not misery though; it’s complex. This is a party album and we had so much fun making it. Musically, it just felt really freeing. We didn’t feel bound by anything. We were pushing each other. We listen to all kinds of music and that comes across on the record. We had the time and the space to say, ‘Well why can’t do an Afrobeat-infused song?’ We listen to loads of Fela Kuti and stuff like that, so why don’t we showcase that side of us and turn it into a song about Blackpool? That’s about as far away from Africa as you can get.
“There’s a joke in that. Shippo [Sam Shipstone, guitar] brought that Afrobeat groove to this guitar line, and I was thinking about what to write about it. The fact that Blackpool came to mind, I found that in itself quite comical. You’ve got to cheer yourself up somehow.”
There’s a trace of hip-hop to ‘An Illusion’, ‘The Undertow’ feels like Groovejet meets Studio 54, there’s an industrial wig-out at the end of ‘Petroleum’. This isn’t a post-punk record, is it?
“I really hope that everyone agrees it’s not, because like we’ve transcended that and I hope that other people see it. I would be bummed out if a review just says, ‘It sounds like The Fall again’. They’ll say it sounds like ‘Hit The North’…”
Did you throw much away because it felt too post-punk?
“No, it wasn’t conscious at all. The first album wasn’t consciously written as a post-punk album either, it was just that we were working with minimal instrumentation. We were influenced by Gang Of Four and The Fall and stuff obviously, but there were a lot of other influences on the first album that were in the background but we weren’t quite there yet as a unit. ‘The Overload’ was written quite remotely and quite quickly without much thought. Whereas this has been sprawling by comparison, it’s been written by the four of us, and we realised that we had the chance to do whatever we wanted for a fairly captive audience. Why hold back?
“We’ve made the album we wanted to make, and we’ve made a pop album. We’ve gone harder on the hooks and we’ve crafted better songs.”
It’s a Trojan horse of left hooks. There’s a moment on ‘Down By The Stream’ where you’re apologising for picking on a lad in your youth. Where does that come from?
“That was written with a stream of consciousness and I pulled apart my past. If I was going to write an album that framed me as struggling, then I wanted to flesh out my character. It’s a heightened version of me, but it is me. I wanted to remind myself and other people that I’m flawed as well and have done things that I shouldn’t have done. That alludes to the fear that I have and everyone else has and it manifests itself in darker ways that aren’t on. It was a long time ago and I learned from it.”
Katy J Pearson lends some beautiful vocals to ‘When The Laughter Stops’. What does she bring to the vibe of the album?
“We’ve collaborated with Katy live a few times and we did a remix of her song ‘Miracle’ a while back. Whenever we found ourselves on the same festival bill, she’s joined us for covers and stuff on stage. We came out around a similar time and we just get on and always said we’d do something. We had this song with this hook that I just couldn’t quite hit right, and we all agreed that Katy would be the best person for it.
“I’ve been a fan of Katy since the start. It was a pleasure and privilege to finally get to work with her, and she’s lifted that track above and beyond.”
Has all this self analysis changed the way you view ambition and what you want to do with Yard Act?
“Yeah. We’re all in, obviously, but we’re creatively aware of what we have. It’s not something we want to lose by turning it into a job that crushes us. The world is still open to us at the moment and we’re all very keen to see how far we can take it on our terms. We’re here if people want us. We’re already working on album three. If anything starts to dry up, then we won’t force it. The last thing any of us want is to tour into diminishing returns because ‘it’s a job now’, though it would break my heart to give it up. Although that’s a way off… at least a year, I think.
“We’ve been producing different artists, which is interesting and exciting because there are four of us and we work collectively on that. We’ve been working on a film that I’ve been writing with James Slater who does all of our videos, which is all based around Yard Act. If we can get the funding for that, then that would be great. I want to be free to do what I want to do, to quote whatever Primal Scream sample that was. For the next 18 months we’ll just be touring like motherfuckers because there’s still work to be done.”
And you’re ready for it?
“I’ve found a love for touring that I lost. On the song ‘Petroleum’ I talk about a gig where I threw it all away. That was completely on me, but I was at a point where I was so depleted. I can forgive myself for that now, but I still feel the shame because performing live is sacred and there’s a responsibility in being on the stage. You have to give yourself fully to performance. A combination of things has meant I’m back in love with playing live. I’ve figured out how we can sustain this energy. That’s largely down to how we’re playing together now. We’re going to playing a lot and we’re going to be enjoying it.”
There are some big venues on the UK tour – are arenas calling next?
“If arenas become a thing, then I would be well up for seeing if we could it in a way that works for us. I wouldn’t feel defeated if it didn’t translate to that point. Life’s too short to have pre-determined, set-in-stone ideas about what is and isn’t going to work. I’ve got no shame in falling flat on my face at this stage. If someone said, ‘On album three, you can play Leeds Arena’, then I absolutely would. If it half sold out and we sounded crap, I’d just go back to playing smaller rooms and be happy again. I’d definitely try it. Why wouldn’t we? I’ve seen amazing arena shows. How do I be Kendrick Lamar at Madison Square Garden, and make that work by us being Yard Act. You never know if you don’t try it. So, ‘Yes we will be playing Leeds Arena in 2025’ is what I’m saying!”
Yard Act release ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ on March 1, 2024. Pre-order it here and check out the tracklist below.
1. ‘An Illusion’
2. ‘We Make Hits’
3. ‘Down By The Stream’
4. ‘The Undertow’
5. ‘Dream Job’
6. ‘Fizzy Fish’
7. ‘Petroleum’
8. ‘When The Laughter Stops’ (ft. Katy J Pearson)
9. ‘Grifter’s Grief’
10. ‘Blackpool Illuminations’
11. ‘A Vineyard for the North’
The band’s upcoming tour dates are below. Visit here for tickets and more information.
NOVEMBER 2023
2 – Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavik, IS
4 – Warsaw, Brooklyn US
5 – Underground Arts, Philadelphia US
6 – Ottobar, Baltimore US
7 – Motorco Music Hall, Durham US
9 – The Basement East, Nashville US
10 – The Earl, Atlanta US
11 – Toulouse Theatre, New Orleans US
14 – Mohawk, Austin US
15 – Deep Ellum Art Company, Dallas US
17 – Corona Capital Festival, Mexico City, MX
DECEMBER 2023
2 – Maho Rasop Festival, Bangkok, TH
3 – Clockenflap Festival, Hong Kong, HK
5 – Shangri-la, Osaka, JP
7 – Club Quattro, Tokyo, JP
MARCH 2024
13 – The Nick Rayns LCR, Norwich, UK
14 – Rock City, Nottingham , UK
15 – O2 Academy, Glasgow, UK
16 – O2 Apollo, Manchester, UK
17 – Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
19 – Mandela Hall, Belfast, UK
20 – Vicar Street, Dublin, IE
22 – Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool, UK
23 – O2 Academy, Bristol, UK
25 – The Dome, Brighton, UK
27 – Eventim Apollo, London, UK
APRIL 2024
4 – Stereolux, Nantes, FR
5 – Cabaret Sauvage, Paris, FR
6 – Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux, FR
8 – LAV, Lisbon, PT
9 – Mon, Madrid, ES
11 – La 2, Barcelona, ES
12 – Le Transbordeur, Lyon, FR
13 – Locomotiv Club, Bologna, IT
14 – Santeria Toscana 31, Milan, IT
16 – Mascotte, Zurich, CH
17 – Muffathalle, Munich, DE
18 – Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, DE
20 – Slaktkyrkan, Stockholm, SE
24 – Uebel & Gefährlich, Hamburg, DE
25 – Paradiso Main Hall, Amsterdam, NL
26 – Doornroosje, Nijmegen,NL
27 – Kantine, Cologne, DE
28 – Les Nuits Botanique, Brussels, BE
MAY 2024
30 – Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
31 – The Regent Theater, Los Angeles, CA
JUNE 2024
1 – Pappy and Harriet’s, Pioneertown, CA
3 – The Catalyst Atrium, Santa Cruz, CA
4 – The Independent, San Francisco, CA
6 – Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
7 – Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver, BC
8 – Crocodile, Seattle, WA
AUGUST 2024
3 – Millennium Square, Leeds, UK
The post Yard Act share ‘Dream Job’ and tell us about new album ‘Where’s My Utopia?’: “It’s about hope and perseverance” appeared first on NME.
