Writing a Guitar Part that Ends at an Irrational Point Is Quite a Challenge!

Yard Act are the most talked about new band in the UK. Guitarist Sam Shjipstone and singer James Smith reveal the origins of their unconventional post-punk sound

- By Jonathan Horsley. Photographs by Phoebe Fox and Getty Images

Chances are, by the time you read this, you will have heard a lot about Yard Act. The Leeds-based post-punk quartet's debut The Overload is one of those rare albums that feels universally anticipated across the pop-cultural firmament, showcasing a sound with the energy and clarity of purpose to meet our present moment, to help us make sense of it.

Vocalist James Smith delivers his observational verse with an antic verve, telling everyday stories of everyday people, their foibles, and prejudices. Smith's vocals are delivered in an undiluted Yorkshire brogue. This could be spoken word but it's not; underneath you have a propulsive rhythm from drummer Jay Russell and a bassline from Ryan Needham that sits high in the mix, directing traffic, leaving room for Sam Shjipstone to add light and shade on guitar.

If it wasn't for Smith's accent, there are moments when you might swear Yard Act was a New York concern, a decades-late echo of the East Village no wave scene, with that beat holding the leash on skronky, treble-forward electric guitar tones, funk guitar rhythms, and spider-ish melodies that crawl off Shjipstone's fingerboard to augment the mood.

The Yard Act sound is very British, but when I think about what my influences would have been on this record, they're nearly all American, Sam says. “I was thinking of guitarists who I really dig, and so many of them are from New York. I come from a hardcore or post-hardcore background. I have just come out of a psych-rock band (Hookworms), and when I was asked to join this band, I thought I would do something completely different. I was thinking (influenceswise] Marc Ribot for a couple of the songs, and on Land Of The Blind, I definitely ripped him off - I hope it's not obvious!”