Photo Credit: Todd Owyoung/NBC (@ToddOwyoung)
AND VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE “WHEN THE LAUGHTER STOPS”
(FEAT. KATY J. PEARSON) OFF WHERE’S MY UTOPIA?, OUT MARCH 1ST
ON REPUBLIC RECORDS
YARD ACT ANNOUNCE FALL 2024 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
Yard Act returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night to perform “We Make Hits” off their upcoming album, Where’s My Utopia?, out March 1st via Republic Records—watch HERE. This is the band’s second performance on The Tonight Show following their US late night debut in support of the Mercury Prize-nominated The Overload. For this performance, Yard Act played as a nine-piece band with the core members supported by four backing vocalists, including three members of the New York band Gustaf and Daisy Smith, The Visitor and co-star of all the recent Yard Act videos.
In addition, Yard Act unveiled the final advance preview of their album, “When the Laughter Stops” (featuring Katy J. Pearson), with a video once again directed by longtime collaborator James Slater, which continues to build on the visual story surrounding Where’s My Utopia?. The band also announces a fall North American tour. Yard Act’s live show, hailed by Luckbox as “a band you must see in person…it’s impossible not to love it when you see Yard Act perform live,” will see the band travel through the Midwest and East Coast, with stops in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and more. This follows the upcoming West Coast run this spring. Tickets for newly announced shows are on sale Friday, February 16 @ 10am local time.
The highly infectious “When The Laughter Stops” sees Yard Act collaborating with UK-based singer-songwriter Katy J. Pearson, who supported the band on tour throughout Australia in 2023, and was one of the first songs written for the album. Frontman James Smith says, “The sentiment of the lyrics gets to the heart of Where’s My Utopia? almost immediately, and finds the cynicism first spawned from the same circumstance I found myself in during ‘Dream Job’ now giving way to a more genuine sliver of misery. Fortunately – spoiler alert – I’ve managed to find a way out of this pit, for the time being.”
He continues: “Whilst the lyrics came quick, musically it went through the wringer. As is often the case when Ryan presents a bass line, harmonically it’s pretty ambiguous, and we all hear things differently. I was hearing the song in a pretty bluesy, minor key, whilst Sam [guitarist] heard a very saccharine and sweet major key tune. The song pedaled back and forth, we talked about ‘Lovefool’ by The Cardigans quite a lot if I remember correctly. During a recording session in Kettering with Russ Russell at Parlour Studios in December 2022, I was fucking about on a Roland Juno with the arpeggiator whirring away over the end. Ryan flipped the rate, so it went half time and all of a sudden the eeriness of the track made sense; it sounded like some John Carpenter doomsday clock countdown or something. Sam reworked the guitars to sound like ‘High Voltage’ by Electric Six and we stripped away the funkier percussion and made the rhythm more aggressive, like ‘Seven Nation Army’. Katy came to meet us at Metropolis in London to dub the chorus vocals and it gave the whole track a huge lift I’ll never have the voice for. She’s fantastic. I asked David Thewlis to recite Macbeth over the end for obvious reasons. The results speak for themselves!”
Slater comments, “This video continues the journey of The Visitor and follows on from ‘Petroleum,’ in which we saw her get dragged off by a couple of hitmen. ‘When The Laughter Stops’ reveals her fate… a prison full of old circus performers. Security is admittedly a little loose so all may not be lost. The videos we’ve made have all been part of a wider Yard Act cinematic universe and we’re in the process of turning the whole thing into a movie. Watch this space.”
WATCH YARD ACT’S “WHEN THE LAUGHTER STOPS” VIDEO
Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. “The main reason that ‘post-punk’ was the vehicle for album one was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we’ve had the confidence to embrace it,” James explains. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known.
It’s a celebratory palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontman’s own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative – but with jokes. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine,” he suggests. “But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”
PRE-ORDER WHERE’S MY UTOPIA?
WATCH YARD ACT’S “WE MAKE HITS” VIDEO
WATCH “PETROLEUM” VIDEO
WATCH “DREAM JOB” VIDEO
YARD ACT TOUR DATES:
Thu. Feb. 29 – Kingston, UK @ Pryzm [SOLD OUT]
Fri. Mar. 1 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
Sun. Mar. 3 – London, UK @ Rough Trade East
Tue. Mar. 5 – Nottingham, UK @ Nottingham, UK
Wed. Mar. 13 – Norwich, UK @ The Nick Rayns LCR (UEA)
Thu. Mar. 14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
Fri. Mar. 15 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy
Sat. Mar. 16 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo
Sun. Mar. 17 – Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria University
Tue. Mar. 19 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall
Wed. Mar. 20 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
Fri. Mar. 22 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Sat. Mar. 23 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Sun. Mar. 24 – Cardiff, UK @ The Great Hall
Mon. Mar. 25 – Brighton, UK @ The Dome
Wed. Mar. 27 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
Thu. Apr. 4 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux
Fri. Apr. 5 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
Sat. Apr. 6 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
Mon. Apr. 8 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV
Tue. Apr. 9 – Madrid, ES @ Mon
Thu. Apr. 11 – Barcelona, ES @ La 2
Fri. Apr. 12 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur
Sat. Apr. 13 – Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club
Sun. Apr. 14 – Milan, IT @ Santeria Toscana 31
Tue. Apr. 16 – Zurich, CH @ Mascotte
Wed. Apr. 17 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
Thu. Apr. 18 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Fri. Apr. 19 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
Sat. Apr. 20 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan
Wed. Apr. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Thu. Apr. 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Main Hall
Fri. Apr. 26 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Sat. Apr. 27 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine
Sun. Apr. 28 – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique
Thu. May 30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Fri. May 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
Sat. Jun. 1 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Mon. Jun. 3 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium
Tue. Jun. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Thu. Jun. 6 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri. Jun. 7 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Sat. Jun. 8 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sat. Aug. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Millenium Square
Sat. Aug. 10 – Oslo, NO @ Oya Festival
Mon. Aug. 12 – Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival
Fri. Aug. 23 – Southsea, UK @ Victorious Festival
Sat. Aug. 31 – Lisbon, PT @ Meo Kalorama
Wed. Oct. 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Thu. Oct. 3 – Cudahy, WI @ X-Ray Arcade
Fri. Oct. 4 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
Sat. Oct. 5 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
Mon. Oct. 7 – Toronto, ON @ Axis Club
Tue. Oct. 8 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
Thu. Oct. 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Fri. Oct. 11 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Sat. Oct. 12 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Tue. Oct. 15 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Wed. Oct. 16 – Asheville, NC @ Eulogy
Thu. Oct. 17 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Sat. Oct. 19 – Mexico City, MX @ Foro Puebla
YARD ACT ONLINE:
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