Firstly, YAANG are Davey Moore (vocals/electronics), Oliver Duffy (guitar/vocals), and Ben White (bass).
Secondly, that name. What is a YAANG? Is it a baddie from He-Man that we’ve all forgotten about? Is it the sound the baddie made as he was thrust off a cliff by the eponymous hero? Or is it a gleeful pisstake? Probably the latter, if only because YAANG have written a song called ‘White Socks Yellow’, which includes the lyrics “I pissed my pants / I know the way that it feels when it dribbles down my thigh / It turns my white socks yellow / Hello!” My own introduction to this declaration of incontinence was the superb Live from Low Four Studio set from a couple of years ago. Enjoy the silliness, and enjoy the Killing Joke guitars. Indeed, the Mancunian YAANG remind me of Liverpool’s The DSM IV, though while the Scousers are a death-disco Black Sabbath, the Mancs are dafter at punk than Daft Punk. Go and have a listen to ‘‘Til Morning Light’ and tell me it isn’t the most exhilarating thing you’ve heard all year.
Luckily the band had some time away from their busy schedule writing filthy bangers, and they kindly spared me a few minutes to answer a few questions.
What inspires you to make music?
Ben White: Money, cars and birds.
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
What is the best description of your music that you’ve read/heard in a review?
Oliver Duffy: Someone said we looked like the result of a gas leak in a kilo sale.
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
What do you enjoy most and least about playing live?
Oliver Duffy: Free beer.
Ben White: The worst part is when there’s no free beer.
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
Is there a venue or city that you’d especially love to play, and why?
Oliver Duffy: The Barrowlands in Glasgow.
Ben White: Las Vegas Sphere, video screens just covered in close-ups of people eating yoghurt.
Davey Moore: Mongolia.
Gang of Four or Wire?
Ben White: Wire.
Oliver Duffy: Gang Of Four.
Davey Moore: Geng of Four.
What is the strangest thing that’s ever happened to you at a gig?
Ben White: Coming off stage at the same time as Focus after playing conjoined stages.
Oliver Duffy: Paddy from Emmerdale poking his head in our green room to say how much he liked our set.
Davey Moore: I stumbled across a steppe horde of horse warriors led by Genghis Khan.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be and why?
Ben White: Bring back Top of the Pops.
Oliver Duffy: And Later with Jools.
Davey Moore: Jaguar E-type, Mazda RX7, need for speed underground 2.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and what would you work on together?
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
Oliver Duffy: I got to play drums with Death From Above 1979 when we supported them so I’ve ticked off a big one. Aside from that I’d love to have Angel Olsen sing on something, that’d be unbelievable.
Ben White: Ian Dury. We’d make Kill Me With Your Rhythm Gun.
Who is your favourite new band/artist that we should be checking out and what do you like about them?
Ben White: Formal Sppeedwear. We’re lucky to have our favourite band be our best mates.
Oliver Duffy: Westside Cowboy.
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
In the video for your song ‘’Til Morning Light’, one of you is seen having a pint while on an exercise bike. What other two things should never be done at the same time?
Oliver Duffy: Don’t shop on an empty stomach. Next thing you know you, you’ve dropped £200 on Oreo cereal and strawberry milk.
Ben White: Spilling a vat of hot oil at your job at the popcorn kernel factory.
If you could give any aspiring musicians one piece of advice, what would it be?
Oliver Duffy: Give up. Not worth it.
Ben White: Run.
Oliver Duffy: Actually one thing I will say is don’t let promoters lowball you. £50 was the going rate for a show like 20 years ago, not now.
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
How has your approach to making music changed since you started out?
Oliver Duffy: It’s a lot better, it’s a three way democracy and I think our individual interests come through in the parts we write.
Ben White: I’m part of it now.
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
How important is the visual/aesthetic side of your music and why?
Oliver Duffy: It’s not something we’ve given much attention to, it happens pretty organically.
Ben White: I enjoy playing more when I’m comfortable and I’m most comfortable when I’m dressed like an extra from Life On Mars.
What is your favourite room?
Davey Moore: The Bathroom.
Ben White: The Room starring Tommy Wiseau.
Oliver Duffy: Airport smoking room with the vacuum seal doors.
What is the point?
Davey Moore: Genghis Khan.
Ben White: The thing Donald Sutherland’s character does at the end of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.
Oliver Duffy: I don’t know.
YAANG’S new EP is called No and you can get it via Bandcamp
Interview by Neil Laurenson
You can also read Paul F Cook’s live review of YAANG at The Lanes, Bristol
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