Sir Elton John has always championed up-and-coming artists. The music legend’s patronage of stars including Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa is well known. But socially conscious, bitingly witty, Leeds-based indie sprechgesang (spoken singing) band Yard Act? Well, it turns out Elton loves them too, to the extent that he offered his services to the group as a musician for hire in 2022.
“He said, ‘You’ve hired me as a session player. I’ll do whatever you want,’” says Yard Act frontman James Smith of the day when the superstar visited their studio. At one point, Smith found himself telling the Rocket Man that his piano playing “wasn’t the right vibe”. Elton took the direction well. “Yeah, he loved it. He said that it was amazing. He was, like, ‘I’ve been doing this for so long, I’ve never wanted to stop learning. I don’t know how your band does what you do, but I want to learn.’” Yard Act bassist Ryan Needham says that despite the initial jaw-drop moment of seeing him — “It was Elton John, dripping in Prada” — the musician “wasn’t a daunting presence” at all. The fruits of their joint labour can be heard on a version of the track 100% Endurance.
