Do The Yards have a consistent line up, or are things flexible? We do get string players in occasionally. We had a string section as part of the band at one point, but the viola player left to go back to the states and cellist left to go to Brighton. So we ended up being a five piece. John the keyboard player is doing a doctorate in music and he's pretty good at getting string players down from the university. That makes us sound much better than we are... When you're in the studio do you find the end result is different to your expectations? The album isn't what we expected it to be. There's loads of different things you can do with a tune. The album's quite rocky and guitar led. But it's also nice to take them back to the basics. A few years ago we played in York Minster with a string section and that makes the same song feel very different. What was it like to play in York Minster?
 | | The Yards in York Minster |
It was a great gig. It was absolutely terrifying to be honest but we got it together in the end. There is something very strange about the Minster. It's such a lovely, amazing, calm building and then we turn up and make a racket in there. Chatting with one of the clergy about Fender Stratocasters in the vestry of the Minster ahead of the gig was the most head blowing experience ever. The staff were lovely and really accommodating, but I've never seen 450 people make so little noise. Do you have any similar gigs planned for the future? | "If I can't do a guitar solo on the top of Clifford's Tower before I die then I've clearly failed in my life." | | Chris Farrell |
It's nice just to do different types of gigs. Something in a venue, just the five of us with the guitars turned up. Then we can do something like the Minster gig with acoustic guitars and bring in a string section. One of the things about York is it's a fantastic city to live in and there's loads of great places. I've got a wish list of places that would work really well and I wander around wondering who owns it and whether it would work. If I can't do a guitar solo on the top of Clifford's Tower before I die then I've clearly failed in my life. So what are the Yards planning to do next? I'd like as many people as possible to hear our new material. It's all opened up a bit now with the internet and MySpace has done us huge favours. It's a weird one because of what we used to do in the Seahorses. We really wanted to get away from all that. We were competing with things where we had no chance of winning. We have to be ourselves and be known for our own merit. That's what we've been doing with The Yards. I'd just like people to appreciate our music for what it is. It doesn't need to get into the charts, but it would be nice if it did. We've got maybe a dozen good songs that we've spent 12 months working on and we're talking with some producers about what their input might be. Maybe we need to withdraw even deeper into the woods and come out of deepest darkest Yorkshire in six months time with a new record. It's all very exciting. Why not go for the corporate record deal? I've experienced that side of it and it takes all the fun out of it. You're basically a puppet doing what everyone wants you to do because they've paid you money in advance. It is quite scary and it's very hard work. But playing music is what I love doing, and what everyone in the band loves doing, so if we can make a living out of that it would be great. | 
