The Yards
By Sam SaundersSam Saunders spoke to Chris Helme of the Yards in January 2004...
The Yards are part way into duties on a national tour supporting Love with Arthur Lee. There's a special Yards gig at the Vine promised for January 29th, Chris Helme is just back from Japan promoting the Yards' "The Devil is alive and well and in DC" EP and work on mixing a first album is just about done. So the future is looking up and busy. LMS called Mr Helme in the distant city of York and asked a few dumb questions.
LMS: Chris Helme?
CH: How ya doin'?
LMS: Very well indeed. You're sounding chipper yourself.
CH: Ah yes, I've been drinking beer
LMS: Ah right, the big improver!
CH: I've had a really really busy day. I deserve it, honestly.
LMS: Right! You'll deserve another one after this, I tell you. Or three. Do you actually live in York or are up there at Blakey Ridge?
CH: Oh no. I don't live at Blakey Ridge. I'd probably weigh about fifty stone and be an alcoholic if I lived up there. There's not much to do but eat and drink. I've got an old college friend whose Mum and Dad own the pub. It's quite handy. We just go up there and do the odd gig every so often and stay up there till late getting very pissed.
LMS: You must have been quite young when you got into music?
CH: No, I wasn't. I've always been into much fiddling around on a piano and stuff when I was about eight. But I must have been one of the strangest kids. I actually begged my parents to give me piano lessons. They said "No". They thought I wouldn't stick to it and we didn't have room for a piano in the house.
LMS: That must have been a bit of a challenge to you then?
CH: Well, I just remember thinking "Well, that's that out of the window, I'll start doing something else." I was more into sports really. And fighting and stuff.
LMS: Similar to music, really?
CH: Well, yeh. But then I go into music because when I was nineteen the girl I was going out with ended up finished me and going out with a guy who was playing in a band and I thought, "Right, I can fuckin' do that. So I picked up a guitar and started to learn how to play. And then started singin' and that's how it all came about. I wonder what she's doing now? I think she lives in Leeds, HELLO JEANNIE!
LMS: Well, there's exciting stuff in the weeks and months ahead for you and the Yards isn't there?
CH: Yes. We're doing quite a lot. I've been working non-stop for the last two months on recording and editing. We've been doing it all pretty much ourselves. We did a certain amount in the studio and we're finishing it off at my house. We've been sitting in front of a computer screen for the last month figuring things out. It's been a good learning experience and things are sounding how we want them to sound as opposed to putting our tracks down and leaving it in the hands of someone who knows absolutely fuckin' nothing about us.
LMS: When are we likely to hear the album?
CH: It's going to be out in May.
LMS: We'll look forward to that then. What's the relationship between Chris Helme and The Yards? Are you in the band, or is it your band? How does that work?
CH: Well it started off as me doing some solo stuff and I ended up playing with various musicians and then. Well, I didn't really feel comfortable doing solo stuff because I don't like forcing opinions down people's necks, forcing ideas down people and then saying "No, that's shit, do it like this" or whatever. When I'd rather people felt a bit more natural about their playing so they're having a bit of fun and it comes through as opposed to being a complete control freak and getting it wrong. The great thing about the Yards is that we all just seem to play off each other. More vibey MAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!
LMS: It's basically your material though, isn't it?
CH: The first ideas were. There's quite a lot of songs which are ours. I had quite a lot of songs and we've kept a few of them. But I really like coming up with ideas and I like the idea of the band to come with ideas as well. So I'm not very comfortable with the fact that people seem to think it's my band. And especially the band members when it suits them. It's usually my band when things are going tits up. When things are going good it's, like "We are a band". Actually, It's only Stuart who says that.
LMS: What's the creative part? Is it the writing in the first place, those ideas ... is it the recording or is it performing? Where does it really happen for you?
CH: They're all different. Writing's weird. You kind of lose yourself in it. You've got this thing that you need to punch into some kind of shape. And then you play it to the band. But there are so many different way of doing it. I can write a song from start to finish just sitting at home and then get people to come over and play bits on top of it. But I'm not particularly keen on that any more. I'd rather we just jammed stuff out and kept the good bits. That's more of what I'm into at the moment. Especially because the people in the band are pretty good players especially when they just go off on one and come out with some pretty good ideas. It's a real shame to waste that.
And then playing. It depends. It depends on where it is and who it's with and what the audiences are like. It's strange at the moment because no one has heard any of our songs, except for our special fans who come along and see us quite a lot. We're doing quite a lot of gigs with Arthur Lee and Love at the moment. We've done about three or four gigs with them so far. I've got a tour with them doing some solo stuff and the band are going to do some stuff with them as well. That's all happening in February and March. The weird thing with their crowd is they just want to see Arthur Lee. That's brilliant for us, because it means when we get on and play our tunes if you see people getting into it, which they have been, it's a double bonus because you can guarantee pretty much that that crowd have never heard any of the tunes
LMS: That's real communication then.
CH: We try! I think the tequila before we go on helps.
LMS: How is the live scene these days?
CH: What is it with venues closing down all over the place? I mean there are plenty of people who want to come out and listen to live music. I think it is harder at the grass roots level for it to be financially possible for bands to get all over the country. A lot of the venues aren't making any money either, so they can't get money to pay the bands.
LMS: Where in the UK is best to play do you think? Where do they have the audiences?
CH: Further up north. The further up north you get, they just love it. They just know how to enjoy themselves. The further down south you get they're wondering what their mates think of it before they decide whether they'll like it or not. So it's kind of funny. It says quite a lot about the country really. There's people down south who are running things but they're probably looking at their best mates wondering what they're thinking about.
LMS: There seems to be a bit of pull up towards Leeds at the moment.
CH: Is there? I'd not really noticed! With the Music and people like that I guess. It's good. It's funny. Who knows what goes on in A&R guy's heads? But it's brilliant if they make the effort to get on the train and come further up north.
LMS: What have been your personal top moments in music?
CH: Well, it's hard to pin it down to one. But I do remember playing in a black out with old band CHUTZPAH in the south of France in the summer of 1995.
LMS: If there was anyone at all to sit in on a Yards recording, as a producer or a musician, who would that be?
CH: Toni Visconti. I'd love to work with him again.
LMS: Anyone else? Fantasy time. You can have who ever you like. Beck?
CH: I would actually, He seems to always, I mean every record he's made is mint. But there's lots of people and people are going to think I'm a big Tony Visconti and Beck fan, when I'm not really. I'd probably say Glyn Johns the guy who did the Faces stuff. I really like him, or Joe Boyd. I'd like him to come and sprinkle on some magic dust. It would be nice.
LMS: That would fit with the sort of acoustic-ish but really rocking stuff that you do
CH: It starts off acoustic but then I put the acoustic through an amp and it doesn't sound acoustic anymore. But the good thing about that is that I can swap and change, I have a little pedal that goes from acoustic to through-the-amp, so it gives it a little more dynamic. I think that has probably come about through having about ten guitarists over the last four or five years. We've got a new guy now who played with us at Shed Seven's last ever gig in York. Chris Farrell - he's fantastic. It was a really good gig. That would be second on the list of great musical moments actually.
LMS: So the line-up now is ...
CH: John Hargreaves on keyboards and vocals, John Miller on drums, me on guitar and vocals, Stuart Fletcher on bass and Chris Farrell guitar. Have I missed anybody? We did have James Lindsay on cello and Matt on viola. But Matt went back to the States and it kind of left James on cello a bit redundant. But he still plays some stuff with us, which is cool. And I'm going to do some acoustic stuff with John the keyboard player and James. So that's going to be something to look out for the future.
LMS: If you were advising young bands, I know you've done a little bit of guitar teaching, what should they be doing? Should they be trying to get to big companies, or trying to stay independent?
CH: Trying? I think trying to do anything is what usually fucks it up. You end up not being yourself. If you're happy with what you're doing and you believe in what you're doing then that's it. You just go along with it. Someone will pick up on it eventually. But I think the key to failure, as Bill Cosby said, is to try to please everybody all the time. You can't do it. Music is so fickle. People change their opinions about music like the wind. So by the time you've ended up sounding like someone else wants you to sound like it'll be out of fashion and they'll be into something else anyway. So you might as well stick to what you know and play what you love playing and play what you like to hear.
LMS: So, you've got to be yourself. And for the young ones, maybe knowing yourself is the hard part?
CH: But they will. They will. Do you know who you are?
LMS: No.
CH: Well, there you go. It's funny, because I've got a four year old boy and he reminds me of me. More so than if other people say "you're like this, or like that". It totally scrambles your head. It's very enlightening.
LMS: Do you sing songs to him?
CH: I do Yeah. He's stopped telling me to shut up now, which is cool. I used to sing stuff like old jazz stuff, Chet Baker stuff. He used to love all that.
LMS: Just watch him go when he's 19 and his girlfriend rejects him!
CH: Well, lets hope he comes up with a better excuse than that.
LMS: If you hadn't started music what would you have done? And what can you see him doing?
CH: Well, I was going to be a builder and then I ended up doing graphic design. And I'm colourblind so I was pretty shit at that but I managed to blag my way through for few years. And then I ended up getting sick of that and doing music instead. I didn't have any focus really; I just sort of flailed around and ended up doing music. I'm pretty crap at anything else. I think Marley [Chris's son] will just do what he wants to do and I'm not going to force him into music. But if he wants some piano lessons, I'll get him some. It's up to him at the end of the day. You do what you want to do.
LMS: Tell us a bit about the Arthur Lee and Love story. What's the story there? Are they on form?
CH: They're good. They're amazing. When I first went to see them I was thinking it would be a bit strange. I used to work in a venue years and years ago and you got people who had done stuff, and their albums were absolutely fantastic. And then you'd see them play (I'm not naming any names!) but they'd be absolutely shit and they'd a got a crap band behind them and it just doesn't seem to work. I was expecting that kind of thing from Love (and I hope Arthur Lee doesn't read this interview, because I think Arthur Lee is a genius) and it ended up, me and Stuart were going to see them with Mike our manager, he knows Arthur quite well so it was good we got in on that. It was the first night that Mike had started managing us. I was just blown away. The band he's got, Baby Lemonade, I mean they're just awesome. It was just like Forever Changes album, and they had the string section and the brass section. It was just amazing. And Arthur Lee looked cooler than I'll ever look, and he must be, what sixty odd? He was amazing. The Yards have supported him about four times now and I've not had the courage to go up and talk to him about anything yet.
LMS: A bit of an awesome guy. Who's your audience? Who's thinking, "Whoah, daren't go and talk to him?"
CH: I don't think anyone thinks that. I mean we're not really like that. I've been in bands in the past where the thing was to be stuck in your dressing room and you don't mingle with anyone you don't talk to anyone and you don't know what people think of you. And the only people who come backstage are the people who the security guys fancy. So it's a horrible experience of being in a goldfish bowl. The thing that's happened over the last few years is getting back to normality. You're playing to people, and that's what you're doing. It's a bit rude if you don't spend some time talking to people at the end. I'm just as interested in them as they're interested in me. It's good now because I don't get the same old questions of all that Seahorses rubbish like "have you seen so and so", and all that kind of thing. We just talk about all sorts of stuff, just like I'm talking to you now.
LMS: Is a particular age group or set of people?
CH: I don't know, it's all sorts of people really. Usually you get a broad selection of people. You get people who come down who just love music, who come to the venue every night if anybody decent is playing. You get all the people whose brothers and sisters used to listen to the Seahorses stuff and all that. And then there are people who like the Yards. At the moment we're just trying to build up a fan base that's got nothing to do with what any of us have done in the past. It's a fresh start.
LMS: An honest way of doing it. Like the music I've heard you do. It's honest music.
CH: We're lazy bastards, we don't have to try to do "honest" music.
LMS: Have you got any strong feelings about the way the music industry is at the moment? Is it any worse or better than it ever was?
CH: Well I think it's always been that one half is utter crap and half of it's absolute genius. What I really don't like at the moment is the radio. Maybe it's a sign of me getting old, but I don't think it is. There's fresh new bands like the Kings of Leon and the Soledad Brothers. And even the White Stripes. You don't hear the really good stuff on the radio. Maybe it's just me and my musical taste changing but that's real music to me and I don't want to hear 50 different versions of the same kind of tune that's some sort of R&B shit that isn't really R&B at all. R&B was Chuck Berry, not the crap that ... well, I was watching Justin Timberlake the other day, and with the volume down it was quite good for what he does. But turn it up and it sounds just like everything else.
LMS: I suppose however crappy it sounds you've still got to believe it. Or people spot it, don't they?
CH: Yes. The thing is as well, over the last few years there has been a lot of turbulence with the business side of the record companies where all these little A&R men, (because there was a big merger in about 1998, 99), they've all been clinging on to their jobs and really worried about how far they stick their necks out. That's why it's been saturated with all this pop idol shit. They've just been trying to keep their jobs and make as much money for the companies as they can. I suppose they've fulfilled their quota but for the general public ... I don't know, I just want to turn the radio on and listen to something I like.
LMS: Maybe it's time for another turn around though. They come every few years don't they?
CH: I'm sure it will do.
LMS: Tell me about the album you're working on. You're doing the mixing yourself on a PC?
CH: Yes, I'm editing on a PC so I can cut the shit bits out. Everyone who's working on it are old friends of mine which is why it has been pretty relaxed, It's quite nice to work at a snail's pace, so you can think about what you're doing. There are lots of people in York who are doing a lot of home recording. The equipment you can get now, you can get some really good results. And quite soulful too because you're not in that studio environment and you can have your own space and think about what you're going to do without worrying about blowing loads of money.
LMS: It sounds as though you know what that sounds like.
CH: Well it was never my money so I'm not that fussed. But now, with doing it all ourselves it's quite homegrown so it's just a better way of doing it. I can play it to everyone and say "What do you think of this?" and they can "Yes, I like it, like it! Or "No, it's shit, do it again". You can spend time getting it right.
LMS: So you'll be touring that around for a year, two years?
CH: No, we won't be touring that round for very long actually. We've got a load of other new songs that we need to finish off. I think on this album we're putting closure on quite a lot of songs we've been playing for quite while so we needed to record them so we could say, "right we've done that now, let's get onto some other stuff". So we'll be playing the songs probably for the next, say, six months and creeping new stuff in.
LMS: So the second album's all ready?
CH: Well it's already simmering. It just needs the heat turning up on it.
LMS: What does it all sound like. How would you describe it if you were a journalist?
CH: I don't think you can. I wouldn't like to be in your head.
LMS: Who would you most like to praise it? Who would give you a real buzz for them to say, "Yes, it's sound, I like it?"
CH: Anyone I like really. Anyone whose music I appreciate, I'd like them to appreciate mine.
LMS: A mutual respect thing?
CH: Yes, but if there's someone who you know has done an absolute pile of shit and they slag your album of, then at least you know you're on the right track. (chuckles)
LMS: Which question would you hate me to ask?
CH: Well, you haven't asked it!
LMS: Do you use a piano at all?
CH: I've got an old Hohner Piano, sort of seventies thing. Three quarter length? I don't know. Basically you just plug it in. It sounds a bit like a Rhodes, but toppier. A little bit more plink. But that's great I fiddle around on that. I've got all the chord books. But I'm trying to teach myself without looking at all that. I did that with guitar, learning by getting things wrong.
LMS: So what's next? Gig tomorrow?
CH: There's one on the 24th of this month at Fibbers. There's a Leeds gig on the 29th at the Vine. I'm looking forward to that. But if anyone wants to find out more there's the website at www.theyards.org.
