Independent Venue Week: Meet Yard Act and their one-man entourage, Pete

(Left to right) Jay Russell, Sam Shjipstone, James Smith and Ryan Needham of Yard Act will perform a homecoming gig in Leeds on Tuesday for Independent Venue Week 2022

"We've done four gigs in a day," proclaims Yard Act frontman James Smith, raising a glass of red wine to the crowd at their final stop, Manchester venue Yes.

"We're the hardest-working band since..." he ponders: "Since James Brown [the late Godfather of Soul] died."

The Leeds group, as well as putting a shift in, are one of the most hotly-tipped acts around. Their danceable post-punk-funk riffs, aligned to Smith's quotable, wry spoken-word observations on tracks like Peanuts and Fixer Upper, saw them make the recent BBC Sound of 2022 list.

Their character-driven debut album, The Overload - designed to provoke "an open discussion about capitalism" - went straight into Friday's chart at number two.

Now, after a busy week promoting it in bars and record shops around the country, they will arrive back in their home city on Tuesday for a special concert to mark Independent Venue Week. The annual event, which was forced online in 2021, shines a light on the entire ecosystem around smaller venues and gives a nod to the people who own, run, work and play in them.

"The independent venues are the backbone of the community," Smith tells the BBC. "They're who takes the first punt on anyone before they explode and go global, if they do.

"It's those venues in which we've forged our friendships and bands".

The irony of his anti-capitalist band also being booked to perform at a series of larger sponsored venues this summer is not lost on the singer, whose songs he says, "revel in the contradictory nature of having to live within a capitalist society when you don't want to".

Yard Act is the brainchild of Smith and bandmate Ryan Needham, who both previously appeared in other bands on the Leeds scene - Post War Glamour Girls and Menace Beach respectively.

After a decade of "slogging away" in various musical incarnations, they finally went full-time in December.

While they now have the support of a major label - their album was a joint release between Island Records and their own imprint Zen FC - their entourage is still basically one person: live sound engineer, tour manager and van driver Pete Flinton, affectionately known as "the Scarborough army knife", who even moonlights as Smith's running buddy.

'Phone will ring again'

The ascent of the Yorkshire four-piece came last year, at a time when Flinton was having second thoughts about his career in music, due to work drying up when venues closed their doors in lockdown.

"There were some pretty dark times to be honest, it was tough," he says, having met Smith 10 years ago on the circuit.

"My wife was just constantly reminding me that this will come back. She works with Nathan [Clark] at the Brudenell [Social Club venue in Leeds], so she works at music venues from a different angle. She was reminding me, 'Our shows getting rescheduled, don't worry, something's going to happen'. I needed people like her to remind me that the phone will ring again."

He believes he was one of lucky ones, and was asked back to work pretty quickly once Yard Act started to take off. Many of his sound engineer colleagues, some of whom work with American and European touring bands, are still waiting for things to pick back up again due to a combination of Covid and new Brexit regulations.

Flinton says he has tried to cut back on his workload as tour manager, but admits: "I've tried to stop a few times but I can't, I love it! You realise what you had, what you lost, and you're more grateful to have it back."

Smith spoke on-stage in Manchester about the band's gratitude for Pete, along with Now Wave representative Natalie White, who was in charge of their merchandise on the night.

"People like Pete and Natalie, behind closed doors, you don't see that they make events happen and they are as essential as the performances," he tells the BBC.

Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen is one of 56 new UK venues putting on shows this week for IVW. There are 210 venues taking part this year in total, which is 20 down on 2020's pre-pandemic figure

Yard Act's homecoming gig, which will feature as part of BBC Radio 6 Music's coverage of Independent Venue Week, will be hosted at the Belgrave Music Hall & Canteen, in collaboration with the Brudenell - a venue the singer says they've played "every other week for the last 10 years".

BBC Music Introducing presenter Emily Pilbeam, who covers the "really tight knit" West Yorkshire patch beams that it is "really nice to see them doing well and then coming back to places like the Belgrave", where Smith used to DJ, she points out.

Joe Hughes, production manager at the Super Friendz-promoted venue, says it's been "a struggle" during the pandemic and they have had to adapt, hosting seated and outdoor shows.

The government furlough scheme, which has now ended, was "a lifesaver" for staff he says, along with them dropping VAT on ticket sales. With the effects of Covid still being felt though - the Belgrave saw seven shows cancelled or postponed in January - he'd like to see an extension of both of the above.

Many freelancers, as Independent Venue Week founder Sybil Bell underlines, have "fallen through the cracks" of the available financial support. "The really damning thing for us at the moment is just all the work you're having to essentially postpone or cancel for the casual staff," Hughes explains.

"All of our engineers, lighting engineers, box office, merch and cloakroom attendants - they're really struggling at the moment, and I think probably some kind of extension of grants that the self-employed people got throughout the pandemic would be really helpful to see."

IVW founder Sybil Bell says it is a "huge relief" to have many venues back up and running for this year's in-person event, although some are "not out of the woods yet", she warns

He continues: "I was talking to one of our engineers last night, who basically just had to move out of being an engineer and focus on video because it's just so uncertain and everything cancels very last minute".

Hughes' venue, which was rejected in its application for a grant from the Cultural Recovery Scheme, is no longer legally obliged to ask people to show Covid passes (or wear masks) on arrival; but they'll continue to follow safety protocols and respond to requests from artists, promoters and audiences.

In recent months, the Music Venue Trust has attempted to encourage fans to return to safe grassroots venues, with its Go Local and Revive Live campaigns.

With ticket buying confidence still "really low", Hughes is pleased the Yard Act ones sold out "in like 10 minutes". "It's good to get those heavy hitters, to get people back into the venue," he says. But he admits it was "touch-and-go" until a few weeks ago.

Artists playing Independent Venue Week 2022 on their favourite UK venues

English singer-songwriter Bess Atwell will play The Horn in St Albans on Friday as part of the annual event

Bess Atwell

It's hard to pick a favourite venue, but one of my most treasured was the 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street in Soho. I'm not sure that counts as it was very sadly shut down a few years ago, as so many small, independent venues are.

When I dropped out of university to pursue music full-time, I had a monthly residency there. Although it was a legendary venue on a legendary street, it also somehow felt like a little secret - there was always an attentive small crowd, but I was never quite sure how they'd heard of the gig or where they'd come from. I'm so glad I got to experience quite an old-school way of cutting my teeth.

James Bay

One of my most treasured and favourite rooms is Komedia in Brighton. The little room with the low ceiling, downstairs. I spent a couple of years living in Brighton between the ages of 18 and 20.

I was at the music college BIMM for a bit. They would hold showcase nights every half and end of term. It was 25 acts per bill and everyone got one song on the night. I went and played at one and as I arrived for a soundcheck I thought I heard Wendy, who organised the night, telling me some managers from London were coming to see me. That kind of thing made me nervous, so I half-ignored her to try and keep my cool.

It turns out two guys had found my MySpace page, where I'd posted a song I'd written. They really liked it and arrived that night to see what I was like live. I met them in the bar after my performance. They told me a bit about what they did and that they were keen to be my managers and help me find my way. That was just over 10 years ago now and Paul and Ryan are still my managers to this very day, we've never looked back!

Joesef

I'd probably say King Tut's in Glasgow is my favourite, [I'm] completely biased because I'm from Glasgow and my first gig was in Tut's. It really was a pivotal moment for me as far as my career and I still hold the shows I've played there pretty close.

Welsh rapper Mace the Great will appear at Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach venue on Thursday

Mace the Great

My most treasured independent venue would be Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff, as a lot of great events and live shows have been put on in this venue and I've had the honour of being part of some of them!

Melt Yourself Down

My favourite venue in the UK is The Crypt in Camberwell. It's the crypt of St. Giles's church, and Russell, Winston and the guys have been running a little jazz club there for as long as I can remember. It's been the location for so many of our various bands and experiments, and there have been quite a few seminal gigs for us there, where something that we're trying out has finally clicked.

The audience is always amazing - a fantastic mix of jazz buffs, music fiends and Camberwell Art College students so the atmosphere is always really progressive and appreciative.

SOAK

Bennigans Bar in Derry holds a special place in my heart. It was the first venue that I played a set as SOAK. When I started to play the entire room went pin drop silent, I hadn't expected anyone to actually take me seriously so I was genuinely quite surprised.

There's always been a great sense of community and support there. After my set I managed to sell every single dodgy CD that I'd been up the night before burning off my laptop.

Wet Leg

Fave independent venue has got to be The Louisiana in Bristol. It's just where my heart is, I think. It's where I played my first ever gig off the Isle of Wight. It's that perfect combo of small little sweaty room upstairs and pub vibes downstairs.

There's a real sense of community that you don't get at bigger venues and in my opinion, nothing compares to those small intimate shows for both the artist and the gig-goer. I think it just makes for better human connection and I guess that's the whole point.

Isle of Wight indie band Wet Leg will play The Louisiana venue in Bristol, also on Thursday

Independent Venue Week runs from 31 January-6 February. Yard's Act's debut album, The Overload, is out now.