Yard Act - "Rich"

Photo by Phoebe Fox

The more I hear Yard Act the more I enjoy them. The Leeds, UK band re-imagine Parklife-era Blur as a post punk band instead of Brit pop. So far their vocals have been much more along the lines of spoken word or ranting than actual singing. Their latest single, "Rich," has this blistering building intensity that goes in stark contrast to the cheerfulness at the beginning of the song. Very slowly the song gets angrier and drips with more and more attitude the further you get into the song. "Rich" starts off as an almost accessible song and then devolves into a much noisier and discordant one towards the end. A+.

Frontman James Smith says of the new song:

“‘Rich’ is the natural successor to ‘Payday’. That’s the end of the story right? Success! Status! Security! Except, there’s always more money to be made, and you’re deemed a failure if your life starts to head back in the direction it came from. It’s about being so lost you’re sure you know exactly where you are and how you got there. I also wrote it because I thought it would be quite funny if Yard Act made a shit ton of money after I’d written an anti-capitalist concept album. It’ll be funny if I’m singing this song on stage when I’ve made my mint.

"At worst it makes no sense, at best it comes off as pretentious, but that’s the point I'm trying to make when I write anything really. Things only really make sense if you exclude the bits that don’t back up the point you’re trying to make. I’m a hypocrite just like everyone else. I don’t have the answers and I’m just trying to do the best I can. It’ll never be good enough though. Enjoy the ride, life is short and you never know what’s round the corner.”

You can watch the video for "Rich" below. The Overload is due out on January 21 via Island Records/Zen F.C., and can be pre-ordered/pre-saved here. For more on Yard Act, check out the band's Facebook and Twitter. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.

21  Jan | Rough Trade East, London, UK 12pm
21  Jan | Rough Trade East, London, UK 6p– SOLD OUT
22 Jan | Sister Ray / 100 Club Outstore 1pm
22 Jan | Pryzm, Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK 9pm
23 Jan | Pie and Vinyl Instore, Southsea, UK 1pm
23 Jan | Resident Music Instore, Brighton, UK 6pm – SOLD OUT
24 Jan | Truck Music Store, Oxford, UK  1pm
23 Jan | Rough Trade, Bristol, UK, 6:30PM – SOLD OUT 
27 Jan | Rough Trade, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT

 2 Feb | L’Aéronef, Lille, FR
3 Feb | Trix, Borgorhaut, BE
4 Feb | Paradiso Kleine Zaal, Amsterdam, NL – SOLD OUT
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 – SOLD OUT
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 – SOLD OUT
3 Mar | Mono, Glasgow, UK – SOLD OUT
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

 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
 30 Apr | Liverpool Sound City, UK 

11 May | Trinity, Bristol, UK
18 May | Rescue Rooms, Nottingham – SOLD OUT
19 May | Zanzibar, Liverpool – SOLD OUT
20 May | Irish Centre, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT
21 May | Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK – SOLD OUT
22 May | The Foundry, Sheffield – SOLD OUT
26 May | O2 Academy, Leicester, UK
27 May | Arts Centre, Norwich – SOLD OUT
28 May | Wide Awake Festival, London

22 Jul | Truck Festival, Oxford, UK
24 Jul | Tramlines, Sheffield, UK
29 Jul | Deer Shed, Thirsk UK
30 Jul | Ynot Festival, Derbyshire, UK 

5-7 Aug | Off Festival, Katowice, PL

9-13 Aug | Oya Festival, Oslo, NO

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