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James Smith from Yard Act Formed a Band! From drawing cartoons to playing Glasto and collaborating with Elton John in between
2 Playsin 5 minutes
Ep. 5: Eddie and Joe chat to James Smith, singer (or, much to Eddie's delight, he's more of a speaker-singer) with the totally ace Yard Act; and they speak to him just before the band was about to play Glastonbury.* That seemed like a good time to take stock – and James recalls how drawing cartoons led to him becoming a drummer, then a guitarist, and finally a charismatic front man. It was all via a some truly grim call centre jobs and a bunch of other bands that almost made it, and then, just as he stropped caring so much, their breakthrough happened at a head-spinning pace.
It's a story of patience, frustration, indifference, tragedy, coincidence, and sudden changes for the better. Oh, and collaborating with Elton John. Also, half way through the recording, Eddie remembers that one of James' bands once supported Art Brut in Wakefield.
Plus, in a super-duper special bonus Argos Catalogue section, Eddie recalls what the most expensive thing he ever broke was (it was one of the Klaxons' legs, kind of).
*Yes, about 11 months ago - things move slowly in the glittering IFAB Berlin HQ, alright? Anyway, we spent the last 11 months fretting that the band might split up before we released the podcast, so some empathy for us too, please.
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Yard Act: https://www.yardactors.com/
Yard Act collaborating with Elton John Yard Act - 100% Endurance (Elton John Version) - YouTube
More Yard Act: https://www.instagram.com/yardactband/
One of James' earlier bands: https://postwarglamourgirls.bandcamp.com/
"Bad break for Klaxon – The Klaxons have been forced to postpone their Australian tour after singer Jamie Reynolds broke his leg on stage."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/bad-break-for-klaxon-494076
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Transcript
Introduction to iFallaband Podcast
00:00:09
Speaker
I hear you will start. Hello. You're on. Another spot on and sharp introduction again to the iFallaband podcast. Good, yeah. It's making me, reminding me not to talk any gossip. as you that You will be thrilled to know, folks, that the moment before I hit record, Eddie was telling me something extremely sensitive that could not be recorded. And I forgot to hit record. So good for you, Eddie, less good for the
Introducing Yard Act and Their Musical Style
00:00:35
Speaker
listeners. He is Eddie Argos, by the way. I am Joe Sparrow. This is the iPhone around podcast.
00:00:39
Speaker
Eddie, who do we have on the podcast this time? Yeah, that. Yard Act, who are from Yorkshire. And, ah this is an interesting one, I think, or it's going to be interesting. We haven't recorded yet.
00:00:54
Speaker
But they there's a some similarities between Yard Act and Brood in the sense of delivery from James, the singer, who's going to joining us. he's either he's a He's a talkie fella too. He's a talker. I think also, I mean, I make jokes on stage about, showy talkie bands are fashionable again, and I do a big thing, I mean, of a bit, right, about idols stuff.
00:01:12
Speaker
But think of all those bands, the Yard Act is one that I feel spiritually closest
Evolution of Yard Act: From Talkie Bands to Second Album
00:01:17
Speaker
to. yeah Yeah, I mean, they're a great band for a start. And we were just watching a few of their videos and just reacquainting ourselves with their oeuvre.
00:01:24
Speaker
And... ah ah Trenchcoat Museum, recent single, fantastic, fantastic song. And what I was really impressed about them was how they sort of moved from their first album, which was very sort of like a great introduction to their style. And they moved on really well for the second album.
00:01:40
Speaker
especially that one single, which was the Inbetweeny. You are right. These talkie bands are fashionable again, aren't they? So we might have to ask them about that. Yeah, a little bit, I think. it's just Yeah, I mean, and also, i think I've been quite outspoken in the past about the sort of music I like. Whenever talky-shotty band does come along, people on the internet tweet them at me.
00:01:57
Speaker
and you might Hey, it's Hotel Lux, you might like it. is up your street. It is, you know, whatever, wet leg or... And and sometimes I get it right. Like, ah do I do like yard actors.
00:02:07
Speaker
I don't like the sleeper mods. you mean there's like... People are just laughing at guests at what I like. I mean, having had a flick through Eddie's Record Collection, i just for confirmation, everybody, it is not just all talky bats. I'm not like Morrissey. i only like bands that are very similar to myself. Yes.
00:02:21
Speaker
That's right. There's a whole bunch stuff in there. So feel free to share with him bands that are not men talking on stage.
James' Personal Journey and Formation of Yard Act
00:02:30
Speaker
Yeah, so we're going to chat to him about, well, the usual stuff, why he formed a band, but a bit of a longer journey, like one of those bands that took a a bit of a journey to get there, or one of those people, James did, so I'm interested to find out how he kept going. how Yeah, it's funny, again, because than the other bands we've interviewed, they have songs about how why they formed their band, right? So I feel like I know the answer to some of the questions already, but you should like elaborate on Yes, they've got a few songs where they mention signing record deals and and how they feel about how the songs are interpreted. Yeah, and how interesting. And how late, I mean, he's talking about being up in the attic and listening to the chromatics and then, you know, right right writing writing songs, you know. Yeah. or Whereas you were down in the cellar listening to Paul Weller. Yeah.
00:03:13
Speaker
Oh, is that, yeah. Yeah. Gricking Sherry with Brian Ferry, et cetera. That's right, et cetera. Okay, well, let' let's go and let's go and record the interview with him and then we'll check back in later, folks.
00:03:23
Speaker
Okay, cool.
00:03:32
Speaker
Now we're recording, so save all your salacious information. Right. Ah, brew of rubbish. Any thoughts? Any thoughts? He's not listening. but they We're doing our best.
00:03:43
Speaker
With the beef, it's always good to... We were just discussing before we came on air about how Eddie used to initiate beef to the fans. and now And some publications have been trying to initiate beef between you and Yard Act. hasn't really worked. I think it was purpose.
00:03:57
Speaker
As a journalist, let me clarify that. It was definitely on purpose. Yeah. Anyway, James, from Yorex, great to see you. How are you? thanks. Great to see you both. It's so nice to be on the podcast.
00:04:07
Speaker
I mean that sincerely. I was excited to do this one. James, very kindly, is recording this just before you're heading over to Glastonbury to perform. Yeah. Yeah, thanks for finding time. I saw you playing Glastonbury was like, is he, I think...
00:04:20
Speaker
Is he reading the podcast? I'd have been like, I'd have been thinking about that. It's just nice that you've come to that. No, no, it takes my mind off it as well. I need to be occupied constantly or my brain goes out whack. So the more in the, yeah, exhaust myself talking. We do a podcast every week, even though.
00:04:40
Speaker
I think we were sort of hoping you'd be calling in from the greenfields of Glastonbury cider in hand, but. so Yeah, can't get signal out there. So look, we're here to talk about why he formed a band. And I guess in the context if were about to go and play Glastonbury, all worked out rather well.
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah. But let's kick us off with a bit of context of who you are and why did you form a band? Well, I'm James Smith. I was born in Wyvernshawe Hospital on the 6th of July, 1990.
00:05:08
Speaker
And I grew up in a suburb of Warrington called Lim, a nice village. and Until the age of 18, when I moved to Leeds, where I did a music... This is all balling.
00:05:20
Speaker
My first interest in bands I was not into music at all. I mean, it was on, I liked it, but i wasn't an avid follower bands when I was a kid. But at the age of 10, my dream as a child was to be an animator because I loved The Simpsons and South Park and and Disney and I was, ah ah comic books and animation was what I wanted to do.
00:05:44
Speaker
And I just used to draw constantly just other characters or a lot of the time people, friends and family in the style of Simpsons characters, and that kind of thing.
00:05:55
Speaker
And one, I remember it, and maybe this is my Xerox reproduction of the memory, but this is how I'll now i recount the story because ah ah in my head, this is how it happened.
00:06:05
Speaker
I was at a friend's birthday party one day when I was 10. and I wasn't interested in going out and playing football with the other kids. I wanted to stay and draw. So I took, they all gave me what they wanted drawing.
00:06:20
Speaker
Like they wanted, I want Scooby-Doo spoken as Ray Liff whatever. And I took the request and ran them on the back of the paper and then I just sat And I remember the kid's mum being like, you have fun and left me in the living room.
00:06:33
Speaker
And the music channel, The Box, was on the telly, if you remember The Box. And it was just kind of filtering. I was just washing over wasn't interested. And then Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz came on.
00:06:43
Speaker
And the cartoon drew me in. How he'd... And I became obsessed with Gorillaz and, was the first album I bought with my own money. I got up from the music zone in the Trafford center.
00:06:55
Speaker
and that kind of like blew the doors wide open very early. Cause it was this, you know, it's a genre up in the honor of Defying Album. A bit, a sort of a crossover event in your life, really bringing you in via the medium of cartoons into something you didn't realize you liked.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah. but And then I was completely in them ah ah and the cartoon stopped quite fast. It was all music after that, but i started drawing my friends as a fictional band.
00:07:21
Speaker
and I wasn't the most confident kid and everyone told me what they were going to do. And one of them was like, right, the singer. And then obviously, and then the other like, cool, I'm playing guitar. And then everyone was like, cool i'm playing the other guitar, which we now, it means the bass guitar, but it was the other set.
00:07:34
Speaker
And they're like, but you're on drums. And so I was like, oh, okay, yeah, I'll be the drummer. So I started drawing myself as a drummer. The band wasn't a real band, but I was so obsessed with it. i started writing lyrics for this fictional band.
00:07:45
Speaker
Okay. Tracklist on the back of like old CD cases, and cutting out the paper and making fake tracklist for albums with drawings. And then the booklets would fold out and it would be the cartoon band. Drive of being in a band happened long before I played an instrument or made a noise with other the people.
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah. i was yeah In the modern parlance, you manifested it by doing everything except the music. but he didn't Yeah. yeah And that sort of slowly came. Were you ever a drummer? Did you, did you? be Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:14
Speaker
So then i went to the mum and proposing that I get this drum kit and we, you know, we lived in a, ah ah i we lived in a small terrace house and I lived in the smallest room in the terrace house. They were like, it's not going to happen.
00:08:28
Speaker
They off, they compromised, like we will, you know, we'll get you a guitar. And I was like, absolutely not. I'm the drummer in this band that doesn't exist. but And then I moved into high school and they wouldn't give me drum lessons because I didn't have a drum kit. And my mum and dad wouldn't give me a drum kick because they said we didn't hear But once they saw us serious about it, they kind of sort of said, look, like we'll speak to the... I posted a letter through everybody on the street's door proposing that I get this drum kit.
00:08:56
Speaker
That's delightful, by the way. yeah And everyone agreed, apart from one people, like one, one, you know, crumpy old man we didn't like anyway. So just bypassed his opinion.
00:09:07
Speaker
but Having as a child gone around to all your neighbors in this delightful way and said, please, you might never have a drink. Someone actually responded with no. No, we didn't get the no. We got a no response. And that was... Oh, yeah, you were thinking about Okay. But then what i had to do is we didn't know where it was going to go in the house. So I then, using my illustrating skills, I drew a whole blueprint from my dad of this single bunk-raised bunk bed I wanted so the drum kick would go underneath it in the room.
00:09:37
Speaker
And I think he just admired the... did They saw that I was serious about it and so my dad kind of committed to it and he's fucking abysmal at DIY. He's never built anything in his life, let alone a fucking bed.
00:09:50
Speaker
And he built it too close to the ceiling And so then like banged my head every day for like years getting out bed and he built the ladder too narrow so I couldn't really climb up it comfortably.
00:10:04
Speaker
at that point he was so sort of disillusioned with his own DIY skills that never bothered to varnish it. So I had splinters in my hands for like that, you know.
Early Band Experiences and Musical Growth
00:10:12
Speaker
But he built it and the kit did fit in underneath and I was allowed 10 minutes a day and 20 minutes on a Saturday and Sunday was the day of rest, obviously.
00:10:21
Speaker
But that happened and then when I was a teen, yeah, I started, did a couple of covers gigs with a couple of like lads in the year above, formed a band with a couple of goth girls.
00:10:34
Speaker
I know. Okay. I'm interested in that one. The start of Wipeout was all we could play. but But that was good. And then my mate Ben, who lived a couple of streets over, at the same time, he started learning bass guitar and we became really locked in. And that was my first songwriting part with my friend Ben.
00:10:51
Speaker
Was it the same rules? Like you could play together for 10 minutes a day in 20 minutes? yes yeah But as it kind of grew, you know, there were other, there were other, we discovered there were other garages in the village that had full setups that other teenagers had that we were allowed to go to. And we kind of used them to kind of, you know, they were more interested in kind getting hot. How old were you? I think about 14, 15 when I think played my first gig at 14 at Fellwall Parish Hall.
00:11:24
Speaker
We hired it out. We were using MSM Messenger to sort of get in touch with, we kind of hooked up with bands from other schools in the area and it was kind of like everyone was kind of repping. which was quite nice. It was quite communal, but there was also a slight rivalry, know, and it was also one of the early sort of like social mixes because kids were coming from different schools in this one place and everyone was doing a fucking cover of Basket Case by Green Day. The best cover of Basket Case.
00:11:52
Speaker
And then we started writing originals, me and Ben with our friend Joe. and What age did you sort of, did it click where went, okay, that is what I've got to do. It's not really about what i want to do. I need to do I ah never really knew what else I was going to do and I didn't really pay attention to anything else going on. I was in dreamland basically, but I was so just... It was not that I was convinced anything was going to happen.
00:12:17
Speaker
I just didn't want to do anything else and I literally dedicated all my free time to playing music and writing. songs and listening to music and and going to gigs.
00:12:28
Speaker
That's all but I was doing. So what was that first experience on stage like? Great. Like I was, I felt, I felt good. I have the ability to be quite show-offy and extrovert, clear, but I wasn't like that in the playground.
00:12:41
Speaker
Like I hid in the music room basically. oh And I wasn't, I wasn't like an outcast freak kid but I didn't really have many mates I was kind of just all right with everyone but I kind of just wasn't really interested and I didn't really know how to fit in I kind of just kept myself to myself really and had a small group of I had a group of friends that we started making like fucking because the other my other big love was like Vic and Bob uh and we started making like stupid sketch videos on a digital camera and again I was just invested in that I didn't know how any of that connected, but we became obsessed with making these sort of 15-minute sketch videos on Windows Movie Maker. We'd edit them on that.
00:13:18
Speaker
They were quite deliberately shit, but quite for our like joke videos. just always felt most content with doing some of it. Making things. Making stuff. It just took my mind off everything else think.
00:13:37
Speaker
That's a good attitude to you and to Eddie and other artists we speak to, which is just the urge to create. And it doesn't necessarily mean music. It's just... And I think that's sort of seen in your videos, James. You've got a very... Your videos are often very distinctive and they've got a thrust to them and they've got a very clear vision. feels like you have sort drawn it first and planned out a little bit.
00:13:57
Speaker
To me, anyway. Not like you're... It's just like, is... That's your world. There's a vision. There's a vision to it, yeah. Like, you put a bit thought into it. I mean, I think like, I think with the videos, especially like, we kind of realized as we were going on and we were working with James Slayer, the same director, so that we were starting to build this world a little bit. And then we kind of really committed to that with album two and kind of put a narrative through that.
00:14:20
Speaker
But I think, I think a big thing with them videos, I think probably a lot of the sort of, Yeah, like, it's funny now, I've never made that connection that Hussein was making these kind of Vic and Bob style videos.
00:14:30
Speaker
We didn't make a music video for any of the first EP singles that kind of got us noticed because we didn't have a budget. And then when we signed to Ireland and they all sudden of a sudden were like, right, we've got this money to make videos and you need to make them, we were like,
00:14:44
Speaker
Oh fuck, like how do we represent ourselves? We kind of realized that we didn't want to be this dour sour faced post-punk band. And so we went the other way in the videos and like maybe a little bit too hard, like, but I'm, I'm glad that we pushed, pushed it in the way we did and kind of people saw a different side to us. Cause I just didn't want to do that fucking po-faced fucking standing, being grumpy shit.
00:15:07
Speaker
And, um, and then that kind of gave us the confidence to do that, I guess. Yeah. but If we go back to that period when you were sort of starting out, obviously there's a lot of breakthrough moments in the sort of the forward motion of any artist's career. So you're gigging when you're 14 maids, you're writing songs, but what was, you're comfortable on stage from the start, but what was the first moment where you thought, oh, this is a little, this is a breakthrough?
00:15:31
Speaker
Also, sorry to jump in. But like, because you began as a drummer, right? Yeah. So I was comfortable on stage at the back. Because you're behind a lot of things. Yeah. but I'm quite a shy person in real life too. And I used to carry an instrument on stage, like a keyboard guitar. Because I played the hoof on stage.
00:15:47
Speaker
I didn't just to have a device, like the thing to be behind. Yeah. like When did you first become the front man of a band? And not until I was sort of 22. And I was quite reluctant to do that.
00:15:59
Speaker
mean, I think the thing with the drums was I really thought, like I said, was kind of in the shadows a little bit at school, even though I wasn't like, know, I'm not... I do look a bit like Hank Marvin.
00:16:12
Speaker
Just glasses like, oi, oi Jarvis. I got that a few weeks ago just because I have glasses and hair, but like it's... Someone actually called you Jarvis. Yeah, Ryan got it about a month ago in a chippy in Scarborough as well. He was there and everyone shouted, Wade Jarvis, as he walked through door. It's like, we're fucking still doing that. That's a bit depressing. you think that someone's probably been calling people in the street for 25 years? Yeah, yeah. There's no new man with glasses. Maybe. That's my... I aspire to for some puns who won Dave Jaoi James. Another man with glasses.
00:16:46
Speaker
and What was the sort of next step beyond that? so you The breakthrough... So, yeah, so i was in this band in Warrington that kind of did okay. We were writing originals and it was around sort of the time of when sort of like the all ages stuff started happening in London or MySpace. don't know if you remember that. And all of a sudden like young bands were very exciting and we were like 16, 17.
00:17:13
Speaker
And there was loads of major labels like sniffing around and coming to see us playing fucking gigs in like Warrington and stuff. It was very weird and got treated like the mask slipped very fast with some of these very koki people. So I was exposed to that quite early, which quite funny.
00:17:26
Speaker
and that And then our singer really sadly died. and We were a three piece. It was still with Ben on bass and our mate Joe was guitar and singer. But I was writing the words and Ben was kind of writing the music and Joe was kind of contributing, but it was still me and Ben were kind of the engine room.
Balancing Music and Day Jobs
00:17:43
Speaker
But Joe died just before I went to uni and quite dramatically experiencing that at the age of 18. and I vowed never to be in a band again.
00:17:54
Speaker
and And I was going to make electronic music because I was going to Leeds College of Music to music production course. And that lasted about a year and a bit. And then I met a few people there that I liked and I kind of had this vision for this new band. was kind of really into Nick Cave. and so Why did you at that point sort of decide to go and make electronic music?
00:18:12
Speaker
is it like I think so. I was doing a production degree and I got a MacBook with my student. And so I kind of learned what what logic was and realized how easy you could use a MIDI keyboard to make.
00:18:23
Speaker
Because I'd done it dumb music tech at school, so I'd done like a bit of programming and stuff and I liked it. But then I think just because I felt like ah ah felt like it would be like I could never be in a band again because of what had happened.
00:18:35
Speaker
It didn't last that long, but it felt very real at the time. And so instead I just started like making these tunes using MIDI and midiian stuff. It was always just playing really. they are never really never really knew what it would lead to. But then I formed a band that we played, that we supported our brute, Eddie.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah. Did Postful Glamour Girls? Yeah, yeah. I'm saying I knew that. I was like, when was that? That was in Wakefield in like 2017 maybe? Yeah, I thought that.
00:19:02
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We chatted very briefly after the show. It was upstairs in that place. was it Yeah, the hop. Yeah, yeah. It was in the hop. Yeah, it was a really good show, your show. It was great. Really enjoyed it. I remember, was trying to remember.
00:19:15
Speaker
I must have been in Waipun. Yeah, we were buzzed when we got that support. I was like, yeah I asked for it and we got it. So it was great. Yeah, so I did that band from the age of 22. No, the age of 20 to the age of sort 26, 27.
00:19:28
Speaker
Which a bit of long apprenticeship. which is ah bit of a long apprenticeship Isn't it? i mean, and we spoke recently, we interviewed de Dunstan Bruce from Chumbawumba.
00:19:41
Speaker
Yeah, he's a great guy. And of course they plugged away just living in squats and going in again and doing it again and touring and touring before they became the international smash hit Chumbawumba, you know. yeah Even, even what you just described, six, seven years being in a band is a long time.
00:19:58
Speaker
yeah so How did you feel when that band started and you were, you'd formed a band, you were getting gigs, you're touring. How did that feel? and Exciting in the sense of, I mean, that no one ever really came to the shows outside Leeds and Wakefield.
00:20:13
Speaker
We were quite successful in Wakefield. We managed to get eight miles down the road. It was quite, you know, it's disheartening when you're chipping away for years and no one's coming, but musically, we were really sort of spurred on by each other. We did four albums in four years after the, and you know, and like we were writing and recording regularly. And because we all had jobs, we couldn't tour relentlessly anyway. and The offers weren't coming in to do mad tours.
00:20:36
Speaker
So we just wrote a lot. and We wrote twice, two long nights a week, we would be like writing. And, you know, I learned a lot about the studio and a lot about songwriting in that time.
00:20:47
Speaker
I just got good on instruments I'd never like, I played drums but I'd never played any tuned instrument. And I picked up guitar when I started that band and just used to put a load of distortion on and just rag it around. And by the end, I can kind of play guitar all right now. And it's all just part the journey, isn't it? Learning how do it.
00:21:05
Speaker
There were times when I was so frustrated in that band because I just wanted something to take me away from this life that I felt quite trapped in. what were you doing for work outside the band at the time? Well, when when the band started, I signed on when I finished uni and I got away with that six months, but it was just at the turn of like Universal Credit.
00:21:25
Speaker
They were cracking down on it. Yeah. And ah they made me go for a joint interview at a Debenhams call center and I did that for six months. And then that was like soul destroying and I was really struggling with that.
00:21:37
Speaker
What kind of call did you get at the Debenhams call center? I had the worst one I had and I felt awful about I was hoping you'd go for the worst one immediately. The worst one I personally had was when a woman told me that I was thick because I was from the north and I didn't understand the difference between Oxford... Well, actually, maybe am thick because i don't understand difference.
00:21:56
Speaker
It was to do with rounded corners or triangular corners on her pillowcases. She was so angry about that. She was so angry about it. And I was just like, if this is the biggest problem you have in your life, like, was like, either this isn't really about pillowcases or you've lived a charmed life. I can't help Don't you feel like I've ever seen a pillowcase with a rounded corner?
00:22:15
Speaker
be She was, she was, well, that's the one she wanted. Maybe it doesn't exist. yeah I'm not Debenhams. Usually what it was was that, I don't know if you've ever, have you ever had any trouble with the delivery service Hermes?
00:22:29
Speaker
yeah Usually it was that fucking someone from Hermes, you know, fucking gig economy, like zero hours contract bloke is fucking rushing around. He's thrown someone's fucking shit in a green bin and the recycling's gone out and they've lost it.
00:22:42
Speaker
That's usually what the job was, me having to resend stuff after we figured out that someone from Hermes has slung all their shit in the bin and it's been taken by the bin men. But the worst one was like a week before Christmas, had a woman in tears because she bought like all these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys for a kid and Hermes had put them in the green bin and the green bin had gone. and Recycled Donatello and Michelangelo in the other tune. We've got dreams, bro.
00:23:10
Speaker
Pop stardom and having to absorb this tragic scenario. Yeah, well, I used to write a lot of lyrics in my downtime there. like I got a lot out of that. but My nickname was also Grandad because I wore shoes, not trainers.
00:23:23
Speaker
read The Guardian. had the same nickname when I was younger. got called Granddad. Did you? Wow. It was fine. I didn't mind it. Until the day my Granddad died. And I was in my house. And I was like, all right, Granddad. I was like, yeah not today. Again, it was because you were wearing shoes. This is Royal War Puppet Shoes. And I read The Guardian.
00:23:38
Speaker
Well, mean, yeah, i had a pair of trainers. I just didn't try and sneak them into work at the call center to, like, get one over on the bosses. Like, I just was like, it says wear shoes and a shirt. I'll just do that. Right. to pick a poster's school. You know what mean? It wasn't like a thing.
00:23:54
Speaker
I did that. And then after that, I got offered, there was this like new sort of music community group starting. This woman called Kate had this idea that local musicians
Formation and Success of Yard Act
00:24:06
Speaker
would teach kids, but local musicians that were gigging in bands that were doing stuff to kind of show that there was a level between arenas and pubs.
00:24:17
Speaker
And you know, like you probably know people, uh, Eddie that worked there. remember the band Grammatics. Yeah. So like Owen, Owen used to work there and, uh, Linz Wilson, who was in, can't remember, and was in Grammatics and I did like Mother of Volpine and Tommy from Pulled Apart by Horses worked there and Nesta from Skylarkin and Katie from Skylarkin. It was like Leeds based.
00:24:41
Speaker
All like Rollins. Yeah. and And I kind of built up. I ended up falling into teaching ah ah community at first and then ended up going private after years. and And within that, I also ended up becoming a support worker for a kid who came to one of the open days there.
00:24:57
Speaker
And I was then a support worker for him and became really close to his family. His name's Arthur. I'm still friends with him now. we sweating He's 22 this year. and From the age of nine to 18, I looked after him.
00:25:08
Speaker
And that was kind of my job with a bit of teaching on the side. By this point, I was happier in life. I wasn't as driven to get out of it. But those early years of the... post-world Glamour Girls, I just was desperate for some of that because I felt I had, you know, I was... How do you deal with that? yeah who At that time, because that frustration is something perhaps a lot of people feel in life.
00:25:26
Speaker
They're hankering after something but not getting there. Well, I mean, I never thought it was going to get better. You know what I mean? And I thought every gig down to London would change my life. Like, which, you know, if we all just pile in the back of the fucking Fiesta with the amps on our laps and play the old Blue Last on the Tuesday night because someone from Pomino's coming down, that it might happen. and Like, it was like that because, yeah, it was lost and it was kind of flailing a bit.
00:25:48
Speaker
But then my kind of life got better. I loved my support working job. I kind of settled and I wasn't as stressed and post-war kind of came sort of quite a natural end. Everyone one wanted to do different things, but I just really wanted to carry on making music. So I started another band called Cruel Will, which was like a sort of like country Americana kind of thing. Did absolutely nothing, but we we were just very happy playing these mellow jammy songs that never went anywhere. feel like giving you up at any point or were you always driven to keep moving forwards?
00:26:18
Speaker
No, but by the time Yard X started, I'd accepted it was not going to be a job. I'd completely accepted that I was never going to stop making music, but that it would probably just be something I did on the sides after I finished work for a bit and even assumed that I'd probably end up stopping gigging because of the sort of faff of that.
00:26:37
Speaker
it would just be I'd end up jamming and writing up with different groups of friends. And then Ryan came on the scene. He moved into my house because he needed somewhere to live. I've known Ryan for years, but Ryan's always kind of been as driven as me, if not more so.
00:26:53
Speaker
And he, the original plan we had at was that we were going to basically rip off Guided by Voices and we were only going to do cassettes that we'd give to our friends and none of it would exist on the internet.
00:27:04
Speaker
And that didn't happen. And Ryan's old band were a band called Menace Beach. i don't know if you remember them. Yeah. And they were signed to Memphis Industries. And he sent some of the Yardak demos to Ollie from Memphis, who's our manager now and has been from day one.
00:27:19
Speaker
And he straight away was like, I want to work on this. And all of a sudden the cassette idea went out the window. Do you think that there was a connection between you at that point saying, okay, i I accept my fate. I'm not going to be, and this isn't going job for me.
00:27:36
Speaker
So i'm just going to go make music. Yeah. Letting go of that actually allowed, don't know, did it allow you to be the most authentic you? And then that made the music the most authentic music. And then that made the connection.
00:27:49
Speaker
I think it's got a bit, we'll never know for certain. It's all magic, innit? There's no set rules. You can't plot how it's going to work. But it was funny that the second I stopped giving a fuck about what the music was going to do, never the music, I always gave a fuck about that.
00:28:02
Speaker
But like, everything kind of just happened and it happened so fast. It was weird. Yeah, Ryan fired off about four or five emails to the people he worked with during Menace Beach. And off the back of that, everything kind of just went really fast.
00:28:16
Speaker
And we just didn't know what was going on, really. It was crazy. That sweat shop shrael that was a bit like when we spoke to Dunstan from Chumbawamba. And he said that basically they were ready to give up or they had to spill, hadn't they? the band was about to give up completely.
00:28:31
Speaker
And they had a meeting and they were all falling out and stuff. They had a lot of meetings in Chumbawamba, yeah? Yeah. Well, anarcho-democracy, isn't it? That's how works, yeah. That was that, right? And some people did leave and then you carried on.
00:28:44
Speaker
i it You'd be fucking gutted if you left before you got your PRS for fucking time. I thought that right, too. Yeah. But the... ah You were in, know, post-World Glamour Girls and you stopped.
00:28:54
Speaker
I can't imagine ever, even if our group didn't do anything, i would never, if I started again, it would be cool. I can't imagine the idea of a band, I think. I would have carried on, but we were very dedicated to it being the four of us.
00:29:07
Speaker
yeah We were very committed to no one can change. That's nice. Yeah. Yeah, and that's nice. Yeah, it's funny, I had this conversation yesterday with the other. It is that thing where it's like, that idea that the band is the band is really pure.
00:29:21
Speaker
But all of a sudden, when it's, if one person wants to stop and it's free of other people's lives and you're kind of having quite a nice time, you and understand how members change over the years, you know? Who's left in the Red Hot Chili Peppers that was actually there at the start?
00:29:33
Speaker
good afternoon is It's just text now, innit? It's just the text get the job. If you text for a massive band long enough, you get to join the band. I think that's the rule. I do think the stopping trying was massive.
00:29:46
Speaker
But that's a hard skill to learn when you're desperate. Right, yeah. In your early 20s, when you just want your life to happen. Patience is something I've learned, but for the only time, it's the greatest teacher.
00:29:59
Speaker
You can't do it beforehand, can you? You can't but get wise first. and that's That's a big learning, isn't it? Wow. That's, that's, yeah. but I think that you'd also like that even realize you'd like, you know, learn all these skills.
00:30:11
Speaker
I mean, like you've, you've reached this point where you've like, you've almost like finished an apprenticeship. Yeah, that's... I've not wasted a second of my life doing music. I've loved every minute of it. Everything I've learned has built towards where I am. So I don't regret a second, even if there's questionable choices.
00:30:32
Speaker
You know, even if if I look back on Yana and stuff, I have no regrets. because And it's fun. If you're having fun doing it, that's all you... That's the point, right? Really? Yeah. What other people think doesn't really matter.
00:30:43
Speaker
Have you read that Rick Rubin book? No, no, I've not read it yet. it He says that his dream is to produce an album without ever having met the people making it or hearing the music. Which is very hilarious, but I get what saying. He's straight, you know, he's straight, you have no control over this.
00:31:00
Speaker
You do the best you can and then you have no control over where it's going to go. A lot of people think it's dead, dead easy. They think that you do this, this and this, and then you have like a, you have a career or you have a hit or you have like, and it doesn't work like that. Like there's so much out of your control and like one chance thing can blow it up and one chance thing can kill it dead in the water. Like it's,
00:31:20
Speaker
you've just got enjoy doing it. I would like Rick Rubin's job because every time I've seen him in a studio, he's sort of, and I'm absolutely not disparaging the man's work. He's produced a lot of great records and does great stuff, but he always seems to sort of sitting with his feet up, his fingers steeple and saying sort of quasi profound things. And then that is what apparently makes the record amazing.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, by his accounts, just ask yourself at the end of the day, maybe don a bid. Hire a Rick Rubin alike come in at the end of the day and say, have you done your best?
00:31:52
Speaker
And if you say yes, then it's head to say press bounce, send it out to Spotify. I don't know. So we're getting quite good value for money here, I've noticed, because this is the third band we're talking about you forming now. So we're really hitting the remit of this podcast. well And now you're in
Challenges of Fame and Authenticity
00:32:10
Speaker
Yard Act.
00:32:11
Speaker
It work starts working very quickly. And what was the point where you recognized it was different this time? This is going to sound quite insignificant, but it felt significant to me. I kind of noticed it brewing.
00:32:24
Speaker
Even Ryan, who'd had more... Menace Boots had done all right. They got press and they toured nationally and around Europe and did all right. like They were on Six Music and stuff. like I'd never had any of that before.
00:32:36
Speaker
When Six Music playlisted Fixer Upper, I knew that was... Well, when I got my first play on Six Music, I was really excited. But when and it got playlisted, I was like, fuck, this feels different. But the one point was like, there was a lot of emails coming in.
00:32:48
Speaker
And I remember getting the email from Primavera Sound. Right. And that felt massive because that felt so unattainable. The idea of getting to play that festival. The fact that we were on the bookers, probably the assistants, the bookers assistants' assistants' radar at Primavera Sound. They just were doing that thing where people had to send an email say hi.
00:33:09
Speaker
And you don't really know what you're meant to do next. And they weren't booking us for Primavera. But that, I remember just being like, something's happened here. And then it just snowballs. Like it really did. We put that song, Peanuts out after Fixer Upper to see if we could, to make sure that we weren't chasing the formula.
00:33:26
Speaker
And then that did better. And that really threw us because it was just ah ah spoken word for two minutes with Sam's granddad whistling underneath. And then Dark Days was the last thing before the album.
00:33:37
Speaker
And it was when that came out that the island got in touch and we were so wary of the major label thing. But Oli, our manager, like navigated it all. He was like, he kind of just said, look, like you're at this point in your lives. You're not kids.
00:33:51
Speaker
You've done the indie thing for long enough. How's that panned out? why don't you roll dice on this? And it's, well, it seems have paid off. It's been mad. Like, it's been a weird, weird few years. And when the album came out, I did have a bit of a bad time.
00:34:04
Speaker
Like, it was intense. I didn't really enjoy it. And I stopped drinking off the back of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just because what you were celebrating too much or just going in with two feet or what?
00:34:15
Speaker
I was drinking to cope. We said yes to everything. I think because we came off the back of a lockdown as well. I think we just thought, fuck it, is this ever good? It's going to even happen. we're We're not going to turn anything down. And obviously, even at that point, you get booked for all those things a year in advance.
00:34:30
Speaker
It didn't really matter that the band had grown so much in stature. You're not making any money. So you're living in quite, you know, it's like, it was tough budget, a completely budget, really stretched, really thin and then drinking to get through it.
00:34:43
Speaker
And yeah, that first year was a head spin and I didn't enjoy it as much as I I ah should have done. I have no regrets because everything happens as it does. i do feel largely okay now, but I don't know. Did you feel like that, Eddie? Were you like, did you just would have a good time or did you find a stress and strain of touring quite a lot?
00:35:00
Speaker
I don't know. I found, looking back now a little bit, I wish I'd drunk less, actually, looking back. There's a thing, I've been all over the place. I've been to AgriPools and stuff. I can't remember it because I was, you know, I was high over and stuff.
00:35:12
Speaker
Yeah. It was weird, because our first demo that we recorded, it may be just for us, really, to give the gigs and stuff. That became our first single on Rough Trave, like, a few months later. it all sort of happened really, really fast with us two.
00:35:26
Speaker
I didn't really know what was... Our first album is all of our songs. That's everything we'd written. yeah So, I don't know. I felt a huge kind of, when it stopped, was like a whirlwind and then we stopped to make the second record and then I kind of was a bit mad.
00:35:42
Speaker
I couldn't really talk to anybody for a bit and I was, There's lot of pressure about the second record. mean, it's a cliche. All the memories kind of, and everything hit me at once. I was so busy moving forward. I didn't really feel it we stopped the thing. So yeah, it was, yeah, say but we said yes to everything, you know, at the same time. We were in the lockdown, but was just like, this never going you said about, remember we played the first primavera, right? Like then I was like, I couldn't believe it. Like we're being out, we're playing outside the country. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:09
Speaker
yeah I phoned my mum up and was like, my life is amazing. I mean, I really need money. We all left our jobs far too soon. yeah That's it. The money has materialized for a long time. It doesn't matter ever. But like...
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah, I had a bit of that. But yeah, I can imagine for you, especially with the lockdown. Because it all happened during lockdown, right? Like the so beginning. Yeah. Yeah. It was very strange. Like, I'll tell you what, like saying, it was funny that it happened at the point I'd stopped trying to make things happen and caring. But me and Ryan were definitely aware that because gigs weren't happening, we were like, we're writing songs for the radio.
00:36:47
Speaker
That definitely was a motivator, right? And it should be. You should be trying to write pop songs. Yeah. well Why not?
Artistic Vision and Creative Collaboration
00:36:54
Speaker
But yeah, we were definitely more like, that we weren't trying to write a six-minute jammy song with a long intro. All four of those songs, the vocals are in on beat one. It's like bang, straight in, or like, you know, two-bar intro.
00:37:07
Speaker
We were aiming for radio with each of those first four songs. So that, I suppose, was... trying. Yeah, all we had was the radio and it was weird because it was exciting. and And obviously there was comments on social media and we kind of saw that growing, but it didn't feel real. I was still working my other job and Ryan was still working at the screen printers and we were just kind of cracking on as normal.
00:37:27
Speaker
Well, this thing kind of grew and then when gigs happened, all of a sudden we had the crowd and it was like, we bypassed that. We bypassed the toilet circuit. which we'd never got out of in the first place. So it was quite amazing.
00:37:38
Speaker
I was enjoying your band and I was like, I wonder what they like live. And I Googled, I watched some YouTube videos. be like back then, you know, when you first started playing. And you can but almost look astonished. It's like people in the world, I could almost feel your surprise at how loved you were from the audience. It was a nice thing. its like Yeah, I never had that for the first 15 years of doing music.
00:37:58
Speaker
You know, I'd done enough gigs to the sound engineer that it was like, I was grateful for everything. Still am, you know. What did that feel like when, i mean, the word fame is a kind of, you know, movable concept, but to, to, to enter into a period of fame where you're known outside of and like outside Wakefield, the circle of recognition.
00:38:20
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. It's weird. Like I'm quite self-conscious about I do notice people looking at me now sometimes. But then you get, then you, if you're in your own head, you start going, am I being arrogant? Have I assumed they're looking me because they know I am and they're just looking at me because I've got shit on my face. So like, is that have this cock? Oh, it is.
00:38:43
Speaker
You know, people come up to you, they're nice. So that's really nice. Obviously, I live a very normal life. I don't have the trappings of fame where I'm not Brad Pitt. I can go down...
00:38:56
Speaker
I'm just living all my life and I might very, very occasionally get stopped in the supermarket. The online thing's weird because everyone is talking about you and that is weird, you know. They're talking about you as if they know you.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yeah, some people do. And then some people do think they know you And then I think I definitely got a little bit paranoia that everyone hated me at one point, which was quite weird. Like you read a few duff comments and you think they're the world. like Because you before the second album, I really thought everyone hated us and they were going to hate what we did and that we were going to go out to shows of people just like scowling out.
00:39:31
Speaker
I know that's like intrusive thoughts and that's anxiety like building, but you know... Did any of that sort of carry through into your work, your lyrics, right? Yeah, I think the second album's got a little bit of that self-awareness about it being a second album and about people scrutinizing you because you're changing what you do. And obviously, if you ever...
00:39:49
Speaker
you know, I kind of love, I kind of get a real kick out corner as a punk band now just to piss off people who don't think we are. Like, that's, because that's what it is, isn't it, to me? It's just, if we're a fucking punk band. course we're a punk band.
00:40:01
Speaker
Like, but then like the political stuff as well, like, it's like, I don't really think we set out to be a political band, but then it happened, it kind of snowballed and then it's like, but then you stop doing that and people take it as like a personal offense. Like you don't care about anything anymore. It's like, I just ain't going to like sell regurgitated shit back to you to make a living because it's creatively like dull and enough bands do that. You know what I mean?
00:40:22
Speaker
And it's been going also, people think it was like a modern phenomenon, but it's not, it's freaking Oh, I mean, like the way you did it, there's listeners fucking, we formed a band the other day and it's like the fucking, you were fucking name checking the Israel Palestine, like fucking the guys, you did it in the perfect way.
00:40:38
Speaker
It's not a new thing, but people think it is. And they think that when you do it and then you don't do it, that all of a sudden you've just ah ah gone, I make money now, so I don't have opinions. And it's like, ah you just want to if you've not got anything interesting say on it, why would you say the same thing again?
00:40:53
Speaker
Yeah. It's nice to see the progression of your band. is We were talking earlier. I love your second record. You can hear the progress of the band, I think. Yeah. Cheers. I get this funny asking about how you formed a band when you sing about it.
00:41:04
Speaker
ah ah couple of I know the story. The Grattics and the Athen. Yeah. We've got two people here talking who've created songs about forming bands. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, it's just good subject matter, isn't it? my My one is just about that. Like how excited I was.
00:41:19
Speaker
I'm in a band now. People finally agreed.
Performing at Glastonbury and Embracing the Future
00:41:23
Speaker
It's great, yeah. Makes sense though. mean, being in a band, there's not many chances left of being a gang, right? Unless you're like a sports person or a criminal.
00:41:31
Speaker
Yeah. Being in a band is the last chance to be in a gang. It's the gang element. It is. It's hard to describe. It's not like anything else. But there are, I mean, it feels like there's more bands, but there are also still less bands because obviously bands aren't democratic.
00:41:48
Speaker
Truly democratic. There's a leader and most leaders now go, well, I can just do it all. I can just multitrack it all myself and be a your solo artist. It fast tracks stuff and you probably get what you want exactly, but it ain't as fun.
00:42:03
Speaker
It's still way more fun being in a band. i have much nerve. We are pretty democratic. It's pretty equally split. I maybe drive it a little bit more. and And if I'm really on a wavelength about something, everyone else will kind of go, okay, we trust you on this one. But for the most part, it's the four of us talking equally about everything and making the choices creatively and as an outward facing proposition to the world.
00:42:28
Speaker
We move forward together and it's everyone kind of speaking. It's just, yeah, yeah, it is. it It's a gang. And you're invested in the gang from the outside looking in. I know that when I look at a band, it's the boy band thing. It's like, who's who? too Who's the tough one? Who's the goofy one? Who's the... who's the cute like I like that. You see a good band, each personality shines on its own, but together it's this cohesive unit.
00:42:56
Speaker
And, you know, like, I love that. So so but we're talking to you the day before. You're going to go to Glastonbury and play a show to the... not yet quite stinky hoards. It's only sort of the third or second day they've been there.
00:43:10
Speaker
But this is quite a nice point to look back. You sort now you're going to be standing on the stage at Glasgow tomorrow. And you're talking about venturing out 15 years ago. and How does that feel about that sort of breadth of that journey now?
00:43:23
Speaker
Honestly, I'm not looking, I'm not thinking like that yet. I'm not, I'm not, I'm a part of me knows obviously that I've achieved more than I ever actually thought I would even beyond my pipe dreams. I never imagined this.
00:43:38
Speaker
So, but I definitely do feel like once you start collecting your accolades and showing your memory box off to your imaginary grandchildren, stagnate.
00:43:49
Speaker
I'm not interested in it yet. i'm I'm going to try and take a moment to soak tomorrow up, unless it's shit. I also go into it thinking there might not be anyone there.
00:44:00
Speaker
There might not. You're going to be all right. I hope so. But like, you know, I've got, you saw it's like, oh, fuck, we clash with the breeders. Well, everyone, 300,000 people are going to go see the breeders. So we're fucked.
00:44:12
Speaker
Like, I'm glad my head still works in that way. But if it's really four and the crowd's gone off tomorrow, then I will try and take a moment to soak it in at the end. It would be nice. But then we just play another festival next weekend. It's nice that it's Glastonbury, but you do just fucking crack on and move on pretty fast. Here's one of my final questions then, and it's that...
00:44:32
Speaker
Nigel from Spinal Tab said that if he hadn't been in a band, he'd have been a haberdasher. So what would you have done if you hadn't been in a band? I think I would have, I wish I'd got a trade and could like sort my own like electrics out somewhere or...
00:44:51
Speaker
but it was a historian. oh I regret ah ah regret how little I know about history and how it's led us to the point we're at. And that's because I didn't pay any attention at school and then didn't say I didn't even do a GCSE in it.
00:45:03
Speaker
And I kind of now have a potted history of the world through sort of fiction and, you know, biographies of bands. And so like, I wish I knew more about Russia and Russian revolution and I wish I knew more about Mao and I'm kind of, you know, I wish I wish i was like more intelligent and I wish I was more hands-on.
00:45:27
Speaker
It's nice that I can fucking dance around and do clever lines of words, but it's never too late to change your path. A historical electrician.
00:45:39
Speaker
yeah yeah i wish i was thomas edison There's times when I go like, could I have done all this and also like know how to build my own house? Like that'd be quite nice.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah, right. But I'm... I think Woodward's a skill we all aspire to, don't we? Yeah. A proper, yeah, being able to, yeah, to use a jig and, know, a circular saw. Like, yeah, I'd go for that.
00:46:06
Speaker
But I also don't have any
Reflections on Musical Journey and Podcast Wrap-Up
00:46:08
Speaker
regrets. I don't, like... and I'm genuinely... don't feel like I've wasted my life. And I can still change course. I've still got time if I want.
00:46:17
Speaker
I've really enjoyed this. Thanks for the chat.
00:46:30
Speaker
The knob needs to face you. Yeah, got it. Yeah, we're just... Oh, if you join us here, folks, Eddie's just adjusting his microphone. Slowly figuring out how to podcast a week at a time. Sorry, but by the third one now. We're getting to grips with it.
00:46:44
Speaker
that was James from Yard Act, and thought that was really, really good. He's got a lot of... He had a lot of very thoughtful things to say about that process of to forming a band.
00:46:55
Speaker
yeah know Yeah, I think so too. I had those more questions to ask him. i was thinking about it and you were like, last question. was like, oh, what you motherfucker. I forgot about 10 more. I noticed that we were hitting about the hour mark. was like, God, this guy's playing Glastonbury tomorrow. We've got to let him god to like guy I was about to ask him about how it was the very first time he sung on stage and all that.
00:47:14
Speaker
Well, I'm going to see him in October, it sounds like. We can record another one. We can do it like an index. that neils That's right, you just pop it on. I mean, I realise after... Appendix, not an index. ah ah Why not do both? Why not do both?
00:47:25
Speaker
We didn't ask him about the... I'm kicking myself here. The collaboration the band did with Elton John. Yeah, there's Baron John. He never formed a band. We'll see now. yeah I thought what we'll do, it but next week we'll do out on John and we'll ask him what it was like to do in the Yard Act. There you go, that's how they should do it. El, if you're listening, we would love to hear about how you formed band with the Yard Act. Yard Act.
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah, really fascinating, especially like that long journey and the idea about letting go and becoming successful as a sort of result of not thinking doing. But I think, I like that a lot, but also like, I think he was like, he's built, he was on the path of realizing it, right? He's yeah been a drummer. He sounds like he the backbone of every band he was in pretty much. Doing a like sort of in the background, pushing it forward somehow. Yes. You know, he learned the guitar, you went to music, like you can feel it at the building blocks being slowly. played Without realizing it. Yeah, yeah.
00:48:16
Speaker
I think that's true for a lot of things in life, isn't it? You do a lot of, you do stuff and you don't know why you're doing it. and And then all of a sudden it all clicks. Yeah. Except for you who clicked immediately. But I guess you were, you were mentioning that in the podcast, you recorded the song, the demo went out, it's the first single, but actually you've been building towards that for a long time. I've may i've been, as I my obsession with being in a band was a borderline mental health issue. I wouldn't be a band since I was 10. So you put a solid shift in. somewhere Yeah, in my my imagination.
00:48:46
Speaker
And then then it has, yeah. Yes. So also, but we're recording this before we know how the Glastonbury show went. oh It's got to be fun. It'll be great. They were great when I saw them in France Club.
00:48:57
Speaker
I think I did another good job of not being like, They're amazing. Yeah, you did actually. You reigned it in. It a very good show when I saw them at festival. They are notably good, aren't they? So, yeah, definitely.
00:49:08
Speaker
like i missed them, I saw them because I was sick. So I'm a bit disappointed about it. Yeah. They've got a sort of sense of self about them, but not suddenly bands. I could feel they're like, they theres ah there's a planet. It felt quite Yeah, they're self-aware, but without it being infuriatingly hip.
00:49:26
Speaker
You know, it's sort of, they're aware, they understand their place in the universe, but they've also designed that universe. That's why i've I was fascinated by that. fact The fact that these- Stars of Cartooners. Yeah, Stars of Cartooners, which of course is right up your street.
00:49:37
Speaker
Yeah. You've tamed your excitement there well, I thought. And I can, yeah, I think, was it Bist also? They sort of, like, Mandarin was saying how she yeah yes and imagined her band first and was writing the thing. So it's mad, there's all these connections between people forming bands, right? like people sort of, yeah.
00:49:55
Speaker
I mean, it sounds cheesy to say manifesting them. but It is and of manifesting. we should start an Instagram account about manifesting bands. Yeah, Manifest of And.
00:50:05
Speaker
yeah I thought I'd sung about it. Right. Well, look, yeah a big thanks to James, and we'll put some links to Yardax if you're not familiar with them below the podcast, and maybe even a link to the Glastonbury show, and you can see how it went.
00:50:17
Speaker
It's time, Eddie, as ever, for the what is now the, I was going to say high point, or at least the cosmic ending to the show, which is...
00:50:29
Speaker
The Argos Catalogue. Hands up those who want the new Argos Catalogue. And of course, for those of you who can't remember or have never listened to the podcast before, which, you shame on you, this is the bit where we, you, the listener, can send in questions for Eddie.
00:50:44
Speaker
And over time, we build up a catalogue of all his life, foibles, the man, the mystery, everything. So here's a letter that came in from Edna Scrotum from Bakewell.
00:50:57
Speaker
no so Not related to like Sarah Scrotum. Could be her daughter. you just don't know. The Scrotum family is very far flung around the Bakewell region. She says, Dear Eddie, I've just come back from the pub where I won the meat plate in the darts competition. wow.
00:51:13
Speaker
And I plan on spending the evening eating hazlitt and that sweaty pink ham that you only get from cheaper supermarkets.
00:51:23
Speaker
But what's the most expensive thing you've ever broken? that's the most expensive thing I've ever broken. Oh, wow, that's so that's a hard one. Oh, I know. I've got an answer.
00:51:35
Speaker
I know. The most expensive thing I've broken is Jamie from the Klaxon's leg. i Wait a minute. We played a festival with the Klaxons. I've known Jamie for a while, like growing up in... Don't be a second to realize.
00:51:53
Speaker
Growing up in Bournemouth, Southampton's very close. Jamie from Klaxons is from around there. He's, I know him a little bit, you know, like there was like a like a little indie scene.
00:52:04
Speaker
Yeah, know him. And then he told me, so we we played this festival. in spain i think and i i jump off the stage quite a lot for like modern art and things like that like i i mean i'm i'm quite good at jumping off the stage of going into the audience this one of your skills and i'm like yeah i've learned how to do that text practice as jayman from mcclatton's land because he saw me do it and i think maybe it's not no rivalry anything but like just this you know we grew up in the same sort of indie scene stuff he's all eddie's doing it i'm going to do it too this is what he told me he
00:52:35
Speaker
to sort of one-up me, try to jump off stage too, but they played the bigger stage and I was a bit higher. Oh yeah. And he, think it was his ankle leg he broke trying to sort kind of, so it was kind of my fault. Like he, he soon redo and was like, going to do that now too.
00:52:49
Speaker
I'm going to jump from a further height than Eddie because, yeah you know, and then he, I don't know how much, that I don't know how much a klaxon's leg costs. I think it's quite expensive.
00:52:59
Speaker
I think they pulled a show out. think they pulled some shows after it though it. You could put a dollar value on this break yeah that you bought. Actually, you'll have to go and Google it and see what they what they did. But yeah, so, I mean, I didn't go up in it.
00:53:10
Speaker
When I first said it, it sounded a bit like I went up to him with a stick or something. But it was it he was trying to outdo me. So it's kind of of my fault. And yeah, he you jump from a a much higher thing and that's what broke his leg.
00:53:23
Speaker
And if only if he consulted with you, the stage jump... Yeah, I could have trained him. You know, like, know, bend knees when you land. This kind of thing. This is from the Daily Mirror in 2007. So this Claxon's.
00:53:37
Speaker
Right? Under the headline, Bad Break for Klaxon, the Klaxons have been forced to postpone their Australian tour. Whoa, there you After singing, Jamie Reynolds broke his leg on stage.
00:53:49
Speaker
Jamie jumped into the crowd during the final song at a gig in France. It was France. But dramatically misjudged the distance, he said. His tibia was broken and a three-inch plate now holds it in place. There you go.
00:54:01
Speaker
didn't tell him to do it. oh No, no, no. If Eddie Argo shunned off a stage, would you do it? I kind of think, wow, you're that kid. I'm that guy. I can't believe it. Wow.
00:54:12
Speaker
And here's a little bit of a sign of the times. Again, this is on the website Digital Spy. The group have now postponed the Australian Dates result and said on their MySpace page that they were gutted to have to cancel. There's a blast from the past communicating by MySpace.
00:54:25
Speaker
Okay, so, well, there's the answer to that. script And perhaps more expensive than even anyone was expecting. I think I can claim responsibility. think so. I'd like to. You should do. Although, if any lawyers are listening, ah Eddie was only joking and absolves himself completely of anything. not sorry to keep in this' ka' a good life i so i sorry i'm sorry to the people of Australia that didn't get to. Sorry to the entire country. No, continent of Australia felt yeah for dashing their hopes of seeing the Klaxons.
00:54:54
Speaker
Pete Klaxons. For a catalogue of answers, Argos takes care of it. Well, there we go, folks. Another exciting entry to the Argos catalogue, as ever, uncovering hidden depths of absurdity and remarkableness.
00:55:08
Speaker
So if you do have a question for Eddie for the Argos catalogue, please do email us on eddieandjoe at iformedaband.com. And let's face it, you could probably ask them a quite innocuous-sounding question and we'll get an interesting answer.
00:55:25
Speaker
but do my best. Thanks, Eddie. Well, you you don't even have to try, apparently. It's all been done. There we go. Okay, folks, that's it this time. Thanks for joining us as ever on I've Formed a Band. If you are a band, you can also email us and assuming the email address works, maybe we'll consider having you having on the podcast system in the nicest possible way.
00:55:44
Speaker
Yeah. That's it. Take care. Cheers. Cheers.