yard act
Yard Act Teams With Elton John for New Version of ‘100% Endurance’
British rock quartet Yard Act has teamed with Elton John for a new version of the song “100% Endurance” from its acclaimed debut album, The Overload, which hit No. 2 in the U.K. earlier this year. Recalling the genesis of the unlikely collaboration, Yard Act frontman James Smith says, “Elton John saw our stuff, and he started telling the press he thought we were good, and then we chatted on the phone and after a few calls, I said, ‘Elton, do you want to come to the studio and play piano on a tune?’ because, fuck it, it doesn’t matter if he says no. Anyway, he said ‘yes,’ so it doesn’t matter that he didn’t say no. I don’t know what else to say. He’s brilliant. Switched on, hilarious and an amazing musician.” Enthuses John, “From the first moment I heard Yard Act, I fell in love with James’...
Yard Act Aren’t Who You Think They Are
Yard Act‘s James Smith has come a long way from the set of Peaky Blinders. The frontman – a former support worker, music teacher and sometimes-actor – appeared briefly in the famed BBC gangster drama’s third season, where he’s shoved unceremoniously by Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby in a crowded factory. Now, Smith is no longer just a face in the background. Yard Act’s debut album, The Overload (released in January on Island Records) has made sure of that. It’s an endlessly clever, devilishly sharp post-punk screed on British politics and class warfare. Fatefully, the Leeds-based four-piece now counts Murphy among its most famed supporters. “Yard Act and The Overload…came to me at a point in my life where I felt like I was stuck in place,” the 31-year-old Smith tells SPIN over Zoom from the...
