By Jon Milton With lockdown 3 now in place, now more than ever we need things to look forward to this year. Luckily three of the many impressive artists that make up the prolific Leeds music scene have new music planned for 2021... Treeboy and Arc Treeboy and Arc have released a string of excellent singles including ‘Concept’, released via Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label in 2019. Last year saw them put a lot of things on hold, although they finished it off with a blinding online performance at the Brudenell in December, sounding sharp. Sammy from the band said of 2020: We had a big release we'd been working on which obviously has been delayed but I think it's given us a little bit of time to sit back and really look at what we're doing and why we're doing it. We've been focusing a lot on writing some more new music and have recently been in the studio recording some of those songs. That time for reflection has been quite nice though, it's made us realise that we're writing these songs for ourselves over anybody else and has helped us make some music which we're personally really proud of. When can we expect to hear new music from you in 2021, in digital and physical formats? Hmmm, that's a tricky one because we'd planned to release something a long time ago but plans change when you're in the middle of a pandemic haha. We're recording an EP currently which we're hoping to release in the coming few months. Then maybe some more stuff later in the year, but who knows! Pandemic permitting, what gigs have you got lined up? We were supposed to be playing 2 Socially Distanced sold out shows at The Brudenell in December but they've been postponed to January. That's not looking too likely now either but hopefully they'll happen in the next couple of months. Other than that, we're booked in for a couple of small bits here and there but we've kind of hit pause on booking in any new shows until we have more of an idea of when we'll be releasing new music and when these shows are actually going to be able to happen. Touch wood though, we'll be getting out and about around Spring/Summer, even if all the shows are socially distanced! Any festival appearances planned? A couple of mini-festivals, if they manage to go ahead... What are your hopes for the band in 2021? We just want to release some good music and play some fun shows. Anything will be a highlight after 2020 to be honest! I think if there's one thing that we've all realised this year it's that we'll not be taking anything for granted from now on, so even if we were to play a show to 5 people in the basement of a random pub in the middle of nowhere, we'd still be pretty pleased with that! Fuzz Lightyear Fuzz Lightyear caught our attention last year with their debut release ‘Animal’ which also featured on their equally boisterous Fuzz II EP which followed in October. What were your highlight(s) of 2020? 2020 obviously wasn't the best year for artists but we still managed to do a fair bit and have lots of things to look back on. Definitely our biggest highlight was putting out our debut EP, FUZZ II, and see the warm reception to it, but we also managed to put on a few shows when possible that all went great and were ones to remember. Earlier in January we headlined the first show that Bad Arts, a Leeds punk promotion company, put on and we also played the Dark Daze all day'er at Mabgate Bleach with Belk, Pop Vulture, and Curb in October. When can we expect to hear new music from you in 2021, in digital and physical formats? We can't promise any release dates yet, but we can say we're already planning to get back in the studio as soon as possible. Hopefully, we'll have a string of singles in 2021 and if all goes well, maybe a few of them can exist outside of just the digital! Pandemic permitting, what gigs have you got lined up? We were very fortunate to be able to announce that we will be supporting CLT DRP, Brighton's finest electro-punks, at The Key Club at the end of January if it's safe and legal to do so. We also might be making appearances in a few cities new to us, like Manchester and Newcastle, but it's hard to say for certain at the moment. Even if the worst does happen and gigs take longer to come back than expected, we will still be putting out a live session we recorded at Mabgate Bleach right before our EP launch for people to enjoy. Hopefully, that will hold some of the same magic that a live gig does. Any festival appearances planned? Sadly no, we don't have any festivals booked in at the moment. Here's hoping we at least get to go to some though! What are your hopes for the band in 2021? I think we have a lot of plans and hopes for 2021. We've used the time in lockdown to sort out a lot of things we've been meaning to do for a while so, hopefully, we might be able to put out some physical merch, have a few more releases for people to check out, and play some good gigs. More than anything though, we just want to be able to see some other bands live and see the industry bounce back even if it's in a different form to what it was like pre-pandemic. Fingers crossed everybody makes it out of this safe and sound. Photo by Sam Joyce Photography Yard Act
Yard Act certainly got themselves noticed last year, with many of the mainstream music publications (and the Guardian) positively gushing over them. None of this was a surprise of course, as you couldn’t help but be impressed by their debut single ‘The Trappers Pelts’ when it landed in April, or the two tracks that followed ‘Fixer Upper’ and ‘Peanuts’. The wry lyrics of each song, no doubt helping them stand out from the crowd. Lead singer James’s observations on the highlights of 2020 are similarly tongue in cheek: I spent most of the year tending to the lone cauliflower I grew in the garden. We ate it on Christmas day, tasted better than the ones you get at supermarket. When can we expect to hear new music from you in 2021, in digital and physical formats? A new song and a new seven-inch incoming. Pandemic permitting, what gigs have you got lined up? End Of The Road festival looks positive, so let's aim for that. (They also have a couple of sold out live shows planned for the Brudenell in February and The Lexington in June, although unsurprisingly caveated with ‘Optimum Optimism’, see https://yardact.bandcamp.com/community for more info). What are your hopes for the band in 2021? Make loads of money.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
October 2024
Categories |