Yard Act

Yard Act grew out of two earlier Leeds bands. James Smith had played in Post War Glamour Girls and Ryan Needham in Menace Beach; the two groups released a split EP together in 2016, after which Smith and Needham began discussing a band of their own. They moved into a house in Meanwood in September 2019 and recruited guitarist Sammy Robinson and drummer George Townend, both from Treeboy & Arc.

Robinson later left and was replaced by Sam Shipstone, with Jay Russell taking over on drums. Smith's spoken, half-sung vocals sit over a rhythm section drawing on post-punk, funk and dance music. His lyrics work as character sketches and social commentary, often narrated from the perspective of figures he is quietly mocking, delivered in a flat Yorkshire accent over taut basslines.

Four independently released singles were compiled onto the Dark Days EP in 2021, ahead of the band's debut album The Overload, released in January 2022. It reached number two on the UK Albums Chart, earned a Mercury Prize nomination, and saw the band named to the BBC's Sound of 2022 shortlist and among Paste's best new artists of 2021. A re-recorded version of '100% Endurance' later featured Elton John.

Their second album, Where's My Utopia?, released in March 2024 and produced by Gorillaz collaborator Remi Kabaka Jr., broadened the group's sound toward disco, strings and denser studio production while keeping the talk-sung approach at the centre. A third album, You're Gonna Need a Little Music, followed the single 'Redeemer' in 2026 and was written, recorded and performed entirely as a live band.