The Leeds group arrived in a frenzy of post-punk energy, picking at the scabs of society \u2013 then started questioning their instant success. They talk about dodging \u2018the megaband treadmill\u2019 to make their surreal new album<\/p>\n
It\u2019s certainly a novel way to announce your comeback. On the opening song of Yard Act\u2019s new album, over a cacophony of doomy piano chords and crashing drums, singer James Smith announces: \u201cI\u2019ve got absolutely nothing \u2013 absolutely nothing new to say!\u201d And he\u2019s not finished there. Later in the same track, Empty Pledges, Smith whips himself up into unhinged preacher mode only to declare: \u201cDo you feel like an impostor for every new level you ascend to too? Do you have to bluff as much as I do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Is it refreshingly honest to begin a record by saying you haven\u2019t got a clue what you\u2019re doing \u2013 or an act of ludicrous self-sabotage? \u201cWell, I don\u2019t know if anyone<\/em> has anything new to say really,\u201d says Smith with a grin when I meet him and bassist Ryan Needham in a London bar to discuss You\u2019re Gonna Need a Little Music, the band\u2019s forthcoming third LP. \u201cWe\u2019re in this age where everything has to be a manifesto and a statement, but it\u2019s mainly just a one-way conversation. Nobody wants to explore the grey areas any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/1b35236a8c6f170b9c3f2bb44bacf70a816ff401\/333_0_3333_2667\/master\/3333.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=f844af7ea1db8bc7281cccc1ce5c8fff\" "\\"\u2018We\u2019re")
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