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Jan 15, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Phoebe Fox

British post-punk band Yard Act are releasing a new album, Where’s My Utopia?, on March 1 via Republic. Now they have shared another song from it, “We Make Hits,” via a music video. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Yard Act’s frontman James Smith had this to say about the song: “‘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 realized that sat round a laptop trying to make each other laugh, necking black coffee and craning 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.”

On Facebook, the band collectively also had this to say about the song: “Cynical, silly, but ultimately full of heart if you ask us. It’s the Yard Act origin story and it’s a love letter to making music with the people you love and how good it feels. No doubt some people will misinterpret its many meanings, no doubt the cloth-eared amongst us will dismiss it by way of heuristics but ultimately you’re all wrong and only positive opinions matter. No irony necessary.”

Regular collaborator James Slater had this to say about directing the song’s video: “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.’”

Where’s My Utopia? is Yard Act’s second album, the follow-up to their acclaimed Mercury Prize-nominated debut album, 2022’s The Overload.

Where’s My Utopia? includes “The Trench Coat Museum,” a new eight-minute song the band shared in July that landed at #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then when the album was announced they shared its second single, “Dream Job,” also via a music video (and also one of our Songs of the Week). Then they shared its third single, “Petroleum,” via a music video that stars British-based Australian comedian/actress Rose Matafeo (creator/star of Max’s acclaimed Starstruck).

Where’s My Utopia? is less post-punk and more finds the band embracing an upbeat dance-rock vibe.

“The main reason that ‘post-punk’ was the vehicle for album one was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we’ve had the confidence to embrace it,” Smith explains in a press release.

The press release lists Fela Kuti, Ennio Moricone, and Spiller’s 2000-released single “Groovejet” as influences on the new album. Remi Kabaka Jr. of Gorillaz co-produced the album with Yard Act. The band also features bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell.

For the new album, Smith says he has reached deeper inside himself for lyrical inspiration, relying less on the character studies that populated the songs on The Overload. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine,” he says. “But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”

Read our print magazine interview with Yard Act on The Overload.

Read our rave 9/10 review of The Overload.

Yard Act Tour Dates:

Wed. Mar. 13 - Norwich, UK @ The Nick Rayns LCR (UEA)
Thu. Mar. 14 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
Fri. Mar. 15 - Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy
Sat. Mar. 16 - Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo
Sun. Mar. 17 - Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria University
Tue. Mar. 19 - Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall
Wed. Mar. 20 - Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street
Fri. Mar. 22 - Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory
Sat. Mar. 23 - Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
Mon. Mar. 25 - Brighton, UK @ The Dome
Wed. Mar. 27 - London, UK @ Eventim Apollo
Thu. Apr. 4 - Nantes, FR @ Stereolux
Fri. Apr. 5 - Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
Sat. Apr. 6 - Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
Mon. Apr. 8 - Lisbon, PT @ LAV
Tue. Apr. 9 - Madrid, ES @ Mon
Thu. Apr. 11 - Barcelona, ES @ La 2
Fri. Apr. 12 - Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur
Sat. Apr. 13 - Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club
Sun. Apr. 14 - Milan, IT @ Santeria Toscana 31
Tue. Apr. 16 - Zurich, CH @ Mascotte
Wed. Apr. 17 - Munich, DE @ Muffathalle
Thu. Apr. 18 - Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg
Sat. Apr. 20 - Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan
Wed. Apr. 24 - Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Thu. Apr. 25 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Main Hall
Fri. Apr. 26 - Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Sat. Apr. 27 - Cologne, DE @ Kantine
Sun. Apr. 28 - Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique
Thu. May 30 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Fri. May 31 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater
Sat. Jun. 1 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Mon. Jun. 3 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium
Tue. Jun. 4 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Thu. Jun. 6 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Fri. Jun. 7 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
Sat. Jun. 8 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Sat. Aug. 3 - Leeds, UK @ Millenium Square

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