How Elton John helped “shine a light” on a Yard Act song
It seemed like a bizarre pair-up on paper: modern post-punk heroes Yard Act getting together with glam rock superstar Elton John. Yard Act specialise in a stripped-back atmosphere, one where metallic guitar lines and spoken word were essential sonic elements. Those sounds had no place in a traditional Elton John track, but John’s enthusiasm and fandom for the band bridged the musical gaps between the two parties.
Not that ‘100% Endurance’ is totally far removed from John’s light and bouncy pop-rock style. “Overall, I’m an optimist,” Yard Act vocalist James Smith told Mojo magazine, “And I quite like people. I am trying to find a bit of enlightenment and purpose. What are we doing here? What is the meaning of life? I like chasing those questions.”
“Everything you talked about changing last night feels impossible with a hangover,” he told Consequence about the themes of ‘100% Endurance’. “But you get up, and you make your body move because deep down, you know that something is better than nothing. Always. We move until we don’t, and we exist because we do. That’s beautiful, and I find it humbling.”
John’s contributions to the ‘100% Endurance’ remix changed the entire feeling of the song, something that Smith welcomed. “We wanted to shine a light on ‘100% Endurance’ a bit more, now the album had been out a bit, and we felt we’d established the one side of Yard Act,” Smith explained to Matt Wilkinson on Apple Music 1.
“We wanted to highlight the other side of it a bit more, which is explored on the back end of the album. It felt like there was more we could do with that track,” he added.
“It felt like there’s ways we could accentuate and highlight the melody and the emotion of that track without over-egging it while still sling in a string section and loads of lush Elton John piano all over it,” Smith added. “And then, obviously, because he’d been so kind about us and he’d been calling me a little bit, we thought, why not ask him?”
How someone doesn’t answer the phone the first time Elton John calls them is beyond me. As Yard Act stare down following up 2022’s The Overload, perhaps the more melodic style that John added to ‘100% Endurance’ could be a path toward the future for the band. Or maybe they’ll double down on the minimalist aggression and dry wit that made their debut so unique. We’ll just have to wait and see, but there are certainly worse collaborators to call on than Elton John.
