Yard Act - "Payday"

Photo by James Brown

Hailing from Leeds, Yard Act are threatening to become the next huge thing out of England. The band's new single, "Payday," imagines a bizarre world where Blur skipped out on the whole Britpop thing around the time of Parklife to become an experimental post punk band that also was really into funk. Needless to say, "Payday" has a wonderfully unique sound with buzzing and swirling guitars and all sorts of odd little twists and turns. We've been late to jump on this bandwagon, so you're going to want to jump on and join us ASAP.

Singer James Smith says of the new song:

“‘Payday’ was one of the few tracks on the record we had to rebuild completely in the studio because the first demo was recorded on my computer and the hard drive corrupted. We spent about TWO hours trying to figure out that stupid keyboard part I'd put on it and couldn't remember how to play. It was boring but worth it. It's about gentrification, class fetish and how the human brain is so powerful that with enough time and processing power combined it will be able to justify, defend and/or continue to commit the actions of any human being it controls.”

You can watch the video for "Payday" below. The Overload is due out January 21 on Island Records. You can pre-order/pre-save the album here. For more on Yard Act, check out the band's Facebook and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.

6 Jan | Pryzm, Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK
11 Jan | Rough Trade, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
12 Jan | Rough Trade, Bristol, UK
13  Jan | Rough Trade East, London, UK – SOLD OUT
19-22 Jan | Eurosonic, Groningen, NL
 
2 Feb | L’Aéronef, Lille, FR
3 Feb | Trix, Borgorhaut, BE
4 Feb | Paradiso Kleine Zaal, Amsterdam, NL
5 Feb | Molotow, Hamburg, DE
6 Feb | Stengade, Copenhagen, DK
7 Feb | Plan B, Malmö, SE
9 Feb | Badehaus, Berlin, DE
10 Feb | Blue Shell, Cologne, DE
11 Feb | Rotondes, Luxembourg, LU
12 Feb | La Boule Noire, Paris, FR
 
17 Feb | Village Underground, London, UK – SOLD OUT
18 Feb | Patterns, Brighton, UK – SOLD OUT
19 Feb | The Joiners, Southampton, UK – SOLD OUT
21 Feb | Exchange, Bristol, UK – SOLD OUT
22 Feb | Clwb Ifor Bach, UK Cardiff
23 Feb | Bodega Social, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
24 Feb | The White Hotel, Salford, UK – SOLD OUT
25 Feb | The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, UK – SOLD OUT
26 Feb | Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT
1 Mar | The Cluny, Newcastle, UK – SOLD OUT
2 Mar | The Caves, Edinburgh, UK
3 Mar | Mono, Glasgow, UK
4 Mar | Whelans, Dublin, IE

14 Mar – 20 Mar | SXSW, Austin, US
 
22 Mar | Union Pool, Brooklyn, US 
23 Mar | Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, US
24 Mar | TV Eye, Queens, US
25 Mar | The Sinclair, Boston, US
27 Mar | The Garrison, Toronto, CA
29 Mar | Sleeping Village, Chicago, US

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5 Apr | Earth, London, UK
15 Apr | The Casbah, San Diego, US
18 Apr | The Crocodile, Seattle, US
19 Apr | Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, US 
21 Apr | Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, US
11 May | Trinity, Bristol, UK
18 May | Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK
19 May | Zanzibar, Liverpool, UK
20 May | Irish Centre, Leeds, UK
21 May | Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK
22 May | The Foundry, Sheffield, UK
26 May | O2 Academy, Leicester, UK
27 May | Arts Centre, Norwich, UK
 
5-7 Aug | Off Festival, Katowice, PL
9-13 Aug | Oya Festival, Oslo, NL

24 Nov | O2 Academy, Leeds 
25 Nov | O2 Ritz, Manchester