Just after they opened the main stage at Reading Festival 2023, Leeds indie heroes Yard Act spoke to us about the etymology of their surnames, the spooky living mannequin choreography of their new single 'Trench Coat Museum', the follow-up to 'The Overload' and plans for the rest of the year.
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00:00 [crowd cheering]
00:02 - Hi, I'm Andrew Trendle, you're watching NME.
00:08 We're here at Reading Festival 2023 with Yard Act.
00:12 - You say Andrew Trendle?
00:13 - Yeah.
00:14 - What's the etymology of your surname?
00:17 - Do you wanna know?
00:18 - Yeah, I do.
00:19 - So truthfully, in old post-Norse,
00:21 post-Norse, first time anyone said that,
00:23 you know, like the 1100s era.
00:25 - Yep.
00:26 - Apparently it means round area of land.
00:27 - Right, mine's Nedum and it means,
00:30 I always thought it meant like need food,
00:32 like need help.
00:33 - Need some help.
00:34 - But it's like, it means need home.
00:36 - Yeah.
00:37 - Yeah, and it's like an Irish, we were like the--
00:40 - Ironically, it's how we became friends.
00:42 - Yeah, 'cause I needed a home, yeah.
00:44 - Yeah.
00:45 - Oh.
00:46 - Yeah, we're the first official homeless party.
00:51 - Oh wow.
00:52 - Yeah.
00:53 - You just went a bit Stephen Fry there,
00:54 that's a bit highbrow for you there.
00:55 Anyone else know the origins of their surname?
00:58 - What's yours, Shipstone?
01:00 - Oh, I come from a really bad line of boat builders.
01:04 (laughing)
01:07 - I've heard of you.
01:08 (laughing)
01:09 - What's Russell?
01:10 Just people knocking about in the bushes.
01:14 (laughing)
01:15 - I know that it's French, I think, is Russell.
01:18 - It's like Roussel.
01:19 - Oh right, people eating, loads of people eating crisps.
01:22 (laughing)
01:25 - Smith.
01:25 - Yeah, but originally on my dad's side,
01:28 we were called the Pinsky.
01:29 Paul had changed the name
01:30 'cause the barber shop kept getting bricked.
01:33 - Oh wow.
01:34 - Yeah.
01:35 - Like it.
01:36 - Polish immigrants.
01:37 (laughing)
01:38 - Keep it light.
01:39 - Yeah, of course.
01:39 - Welcome to, as you put it, a car park in Reading.
01:43 - Yeah, it's good to be here.
01:46 Apparently it's a farm, isn't it?
01:48 - It is a farm, Little John's Farm,
01:50 but we just don't know what they produce it.
01:54 - Good times.
01:55 - Concrete.
01:56 - Concrete times, yeah.
01:57 - Indie bangers.
01:58 But obviously you guys would have been Leeds faithful
02:02 in your youth, in your pre-band days.
02:03 I mean, so I'm assuming you still feel
02:04 the spiritual importance of being here.
02:07 - Yeah, massively, yeah.
02:08 Yeah, it's wild.
02:09 Actually, like, although I was from the north,
02:14 Reading was my first festival, 2002.
02:16 - Disgusting.
02:17 - Watched Pulp and the Strokes,
02:19 and it was Julian Casablancas had a crutch
02:22 'cause he, I don't know what he'd done, actually.
02:25 But, yeah, it was wild.
02:27 - 2002 was your first festival.
02:30 - Yeah.
02:31 - Mine was 2001.
02:32 That amazes me.
02:34 - I was a late bloomer.
02:35 - I went the year they burnt Leeds Festival to the ground.
02:39 2001, look it up.
02:41 It was our Woodstock '99.
02:42 - Stay safe out there.
02:45 But opening the main stage is no mean feat,
02:48 but you guys smashed it, especially that little,
02:51 the moshers on the left or the right, as you were.
02:53 - Yeah, yeah, they're always grateful to the moshers.
02:56 They bring the set to life.
02:59 It gives us energy to feed off.
03:02 I think it just lets you know people are having a good time.
03:04 I think everyone was having a good time.
03:06 I'm really grateful to that crowd, really cool.
03:09 - Yeah, we had a great time,
03:09 especially to Trenchcoat Museum,
03:11 the new one which went down really well.
03:13 And you really shit some people up
03:15 when those mannequins came to life.
03:17 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:21 Yeah, we've figured out how to make inanimate objects
03:24 come to life and dance for a brief period.
03:27 - I really love that we've got professional dancers.
03:30 You know what, they imagine they'll be on a stage dancing.
03:33 We've just got them stood bone still for 20 minutes.
03:37 Can you imagine thinking you were gonna be doing that
03:39 as a professional dancer?
03:40 - It's kind of a flex on our part, isn't it?
03:44 'Cause they get paid the same,
03:45 but then we don't utilize their skills.
03:48 So it's kind of us saying that it doesn't, you know.
03:51 The power is in when you strike,
03:53 not how much you strike, innit?
03:55 I don't know if that's technically true.
03:57 Actually, one punch could kill a man.
04:01 - I stand very still when I'm playing bass.
04:03 - Yeah, and then when you put your foot on the monitor,
04:04 everyone notices it.
04:05 - Looks amazing.
04:08 - And James, how would you describe the experience
04:10 of pulling a Beyonce on the main stage of "Ready"?
04:13 - What's she done?
04:15 - Huh?
04:17 - What's Beyonce done?
04:18 - I thought I was complimenting
04:19 your amazing choreography there.
04:21 - Oh, right, yeah, no, yeah, she dances, doesn't she?
04:23 Yeah, yeah, I, yeah, I, um.
04:25 What's she done?
04:27 Yeah, I thought she was--
04:28 - What the fuck is happening?
04:29 - I thought I was about to be told
04:30 that I'd ripped somebody off again.
04:31 - Sounds like the fall.
04:34 - Sounds like, oh, they just like Beyonce now.
04:37 Not an original idea in their heads.
04:39 Have you started having dancers now and doing dance moves?
04:42 Because I think you'll find Beyonce's already done that.
04:47 - Yeah, I, uh, I got really into it.
04:51 I've never danced before.
04:52 Choreographed dance.
04:55 And I think I found a new hobby.
04:58 That and playing the saxophone are the two things
05:00 I'm gonna practice and get better at.
05:02 - Amazing.
05:03 - Was it nice being carried by them?
05:06 - Yeah, it was really nice.
05:09 Yeah.
05:10 - It looks amazing.
05:12 Christ-like.
05:13 - Yeah.
05:15 - So next album, you're gonna go full Gaga, Pyro, dancers?
05:19 - Yeah.
05:23 I mean, the dancers.
05:25 I think Pyro,
05:26 Pyro's, I'm not into Pyro.
05:31 I think it's--
05:31 - It's five grand a pop, innit?
05:33 - Yeah, we found out how much it costs, basically.
05:35 (laughing)
05:37 - Speaking of the next record, last time we spoke,
05:39 I think you said you were gonna lay down
05:41 either a, coming from either a choir or an orchestra.
05:44 And that album number two was within touching distance
05:47 of being done.
05:48 - Mm, yeah, yeah.
05:50 Choir, it's yeah, gospel choir, string sections,
05:54 flute, everything on it, yeah.
05:56 - Amazing.
05:57 - It's finished.
05:58 - And you said it was about getting everything
06:00 you ever wanted and then realizing
06:02 that the same misery and problems exist.
06:04 - The point remains, yeah.
06:08 - Amazing.
06:10 When do you reckon we can hear the next taster of it?
06:13 - I believe sometime between the beginning of September
06:18 and the end of next summer.
06:22 - With a new single, so new single September, yeah?
06:26 Between.
06:29 - Possibly, yeah, sometime between September and next June.
06:32 - Amazing.
06:33 - Nah, I reckon like, maybe like October.
06:36 - So that's nonstop, like on the road
06:38 to the end of the year, music out all the time.
06:40 Have you had a holiday lately?
06:42 - We have a holiday in Jay's house.
06:44 Jay's built a studio in his house, so yeah.
06:46 That's our holiday, yeah.
06:49 - Amazing.
06:50 - Yeah.
06:51 - What?
06:52 - In Jay's house?
06:54 - Holiday with Armie to Jay's house?
06:56 - Yeah, we've kind of been just doing stuff behind your back.
06:58 - Yeah, I know you do that, I know, I just, I blank it out.
07:01 No, we went to Japan for a week as a holiday.
07:06 After we played a gig there, we used the gigs
07:10 as an excuse to pay for our flights.
07:13 Not out of our own, well it is out of our own pockets,
07:15 isn't it, we're businessmen now, we're a joint,
07:18 we're a partnership in Yard Act Limited.
07:20 But, no, after that we just had a week in Tokyo
07:25 and it was gorgeous and really relaxing.
07:29 Like, neon everywhere, one of the busiest cities
07:32 in the world, really loud, loads of traffic,
07:34 really, it was lovely.
07:36 - Amazing.
07:37 And from Japan to Reading, how are you gonna spend
07:39 the rest of your day, who you seeing next?
07:41 - Who's there, we've just seen Last Dinner Party,
07:44 they were really good.
07:45 I think, who's there, I mean, I'm up for it as well.
07:49 - Wilt Egg, Loyal Karner, Sam Fender, Foles,
07:54 yeah, great, great time.
07:56 - Do you get to catch that, I never know how that
07:58 in-betweeny day works, do you get to see the killers
08:00 or are you in-between?
08:02 - We can, yeah, we can see the killers on Sunday
08:05 at least, right?
08:06 We're doing a silent disco.
08:08 - Oh, wow, on Sunday, so we're gonna, yeah,
08:10 we've got one afternoon off and then we'll go
08:14 and DJ and watch the killers.
08:16 You love the killers, right?
08:18 - I think Sam's Town is one of the greatest records
08:21 ever made, yeah.
08:23 - Hardcore agree, Yard Act, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
08:26 - Nice, I'll be.
08:27 - Thanks for your time.
08:27 - Cheers, guys.
08:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]