Yard Act have dropped a new single called We Make Hits.
Catchy and fun, the pop-leaning track serves as the latest taster of the Leeds post-punks' new album, 'Where's My Utopia?', due out on March 1 via Island Records.
Guided by frontman James Smith's poetic, spoken-word lyrical style, it arrives with an accompanying video directed by longtime collaborator James Slater. Smith commented:
"We Make Hits started like most Yard Act songs do these days, in Ryan's spare bedroom. He'd recorded a couple of basslines and I went round to throw some words on top just to see what might happen. I was reflecting on how things had changed so much for us over the last few years when I realised that sat round a laptop trying to make each other laugh, necking black coffee and craneing our heads out of the window to smoke cigs every hour or so, all that had really changed within the writing process was that, thanks to my baby, we were at Ryan's house rather than mine and that Ryan had a place of his own now, which was nice.
"Despite the outside blowing up, behind closed doors, we were the same, and I'm grateful for that. You can see the cynicism and the silliness on the surface of We Make Hits without much effort, but at its core, for me, it's really an ode to friendship and the unfiltered joy you feel when you're making music with the people you hold dear in your life. Meanwhile back in the Yardiverse, we're getting the origin story of the hitmen Dynamite Dave and Dudley Sunglasses. A valid parable about the trappings of late capitalism, and the compromises we have to make to survive sometimes."
Discussing the song's accompanying the video, Slater added: "For We Make Hits I took a song which charts the origin story of the band and used it to tell the backstory of two hapless hitmen who upon receiving an eviction notice in their student bedsit embark on a job search which ultimately leads them to gainful employment as assassins for the Holy Global Enterprise. As ever with the Yard Act vids I’ve made, this vid is part of an ever expanding cinematic universe - a continuation of The Visitor’s journey we began with The Trench Coat Museum."
The band previously teased the follow-up to 2022's 'The Overload' with the singles Dream Job and Petroleum. They'll support it with a launch party at Pryzm in Kingston on February 29 before heading off for their previously scheduled UK and Ireland tour in the spring, which now includes a new date in Cardiff on March 24. Tickets for that new gig go on general sale at 10am tomorrow (January 17), while tickets for their other dates are on sale now.
They'll also travel across Europe in April, before a run of US dates in late May and early June. They'll head back to the UK in the summer for their biggest hometown show to date at Leeds' Millennium Square on August 3. Tickets for those gigs are on sale.
Yard Act Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Thu February 29 2024 - KINGSTON UPON THAMES PRYZM Kingston
Wed March 13 2024 - NORWICH UEA
Thu March 14 2024 - NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Fri March 15 2024 - GLASGOW O2 Academy Glasgow
Sat March 16 2024 - MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
Sun March 17 2024 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Northumbria University
Tue March 19 2024 - BELFAST Mandela Hall
Wed March 20 2024 - DUBLIN Vicar Street
Fri March 22 2024 - LIVERPOOL Invisible Wind Factory
Sat March 23 2024 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol Sun March 24 2024 - CARDIFF Great Hall - Cardiff Uni [NEW]
Mon March 25 2024 - BRIGHTON Brighton Dome Concert Hall
Wed March 27 2024 - LONDON Eventim Apollo
Thu April 04 2024 - NANTES Stereolux (France)
Fri April 05 2024 - PARIS CABARET SAUVAGE (France)
Sat April 06 2024 - BORDEAUX ROCK SCHOOL BARBEY (France)
Mon April 08 2024 - LISBON LAV (Portugal)
Tue April 09 2024 - MADRID Mon (Spain)
Thu April 11 2024 - BARCELONA La 2 (Spain)
Fri April 12 2024 - LYON LE TRANSBORDEUR (France)
Sat April 13 2024 - BOLOGNA Locomotiv Club (Italy)
Sun April 14 2024 - MILAN Santeria Toscana 31 (Italy)
Tue April 16 2024 - ZURICH Mascotte (Switzerland)
Wed April 17 2024 - MUNICH Muffathalle (Germany)
Thu April 18 2024 - BERLIN Festsaal Kreuzberg (Germany)
Sat April 20 2024 - STOCKHOLM Slaktkyrkan (Sweden)
Wed April 24 2024 - HAMBURG Uebel and Gefährlich (Germany)
Thu April 25 2024 - AMSTERDAM Paradiso (Netherlands)
Fri April 26 2024 - NIJMEGEN Doornrosie (Netherlands)
Sat April 27 2024 - COLOGNE Kantine (Germany)
Sun April 28 2024 - BRUSSELS Les Nuits Botanique (Belgium)
Thu May 30 2024 - SOLANA BEACH California - Belly Up Tavern (USA)
Fri May 31 2024 - LOS ANGELES California - Regent Theater Los Angeles (USA)
Mon June 03 2024 - SANTA CRUZ California - Atrium at The Catalyst (USA)
Tue June 04 2024 - SAN FRANCISCO California - THE INDEPENDENT (USA)
Thu June 06 2024 - PORTLAND Oregon - Mississippi Studios (USA)
Sat June 08 2024 - SEATTLE Washington - Crocodile Seattle (USA)
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