The lead singer of post-punk quartet Yard Act, James Smith was born in 1990 and grew up outside Warrington. He moved to Leeds for university and plugged away on the local music scene for years, working as a music teacher and support carer. In 2019 he co-founded Yard Act with bassist Ryan Needham; the band became a lockdown sensation with early singles such as Fixer Upper. Their 2022 debut album, The Overload, nominated for a Mercury prize, was described by the Observer as “raucous and fun, incisive and… profoundly heartfelt”. The follow-up, Where’s My Utopia?, is released by Island Records on 1 March. Smith lives in Leeds with his wife and child.
