[BadPanda054] James Yates – A72

James Yates is mainly an english drummer and he plays drums with The Pattern Theory, The Declining Winter and Epic 45.
He has also released a solo EP (that you can get from the Demo Archive of FatCat Records) to critical acclaim and he manages to perform live using two loop pedals, a drum kit and some keyboards with no backing track, building up dense layers of rhythmic polyphony.

AA72 will hypnotize you with its xylophone, vibraphone, marimba and glockenspiel. Terry Riley says hi.

James Yates – A72 [mp3] [ogg]

[myspace]

Where do you live actually?

Taunton, England.

What is the last thing you ate?

Marmite on toast.

Your addiction?

Yorkshire Tea.

What do you collect?

Old drums. Not seriously though, Its just happened, I see a bargain…. These days the bargain’s have all dried up, but about five years ago on ebay you could pick up some crazy stuff quite cheaply. It gets quite geeky and obsessive, with people kind of forgetting to play the things…

One quote?

“You need enough technique so you can execute your ideas. But be careful not to acquire too much technique, otherwise the technique will rule your ideas” – Jack DeJohnette

One movie?

Seven days to noon – I love British films from this era, they seem to have a slower pace to modern films. Very nice.

One book?

I’m reading Crash by JG Ballard at the minute, I would recommend it, but its pretty graphic. I’ve seen the film, but the book is much more sickening I’m about three quarters of the way through so I’m pushing towards the finish…. It’s fantastically well written though, just very strange and very graphic.

One song?

‘Details on how to get ICEMAN on your license plate’ by Don Caballero. Perfect.

Which song do you listen to when you wake up?

Today: Camel – Flying Lotus

A song you wish you wrote yourself?

Strangers – The Kinks

The song to be played at your funeral?

Contra Song – Egg

A song for relaxing on a beach?

Doin’ It – Herbie Hancock

One website?

normanrecords.com

Your thoughts about music industry?

That’s a big question. I think the music industry’s pretty much dead. Saying that, decreasing record sales for major label artists means that independent label artists are able to push through into more mainstream coverage, and there definitely isn’t as much of a gap between Major and indie as there seemingly used to be. I do think this is just a transitional phase, they’ll work out how to squeeze money out of it, but perhaps major labels are now too big and impersonal to deal with what seems like a more personal industry, I guess what I mean by that is there is less separation between artist and listener, which can only be a good thing. In terms of the internet/filesharing I’m kind of torn; I still find it hard to willingly give my music away for free to be honest. A lot of time, thought and effort goes in to it, so why shouldn’t that be rewarded financially? However I also know people are much more likely to download this from an unsigned unknown because it’s free, hopefully promoting myself when it comes to physical release, it’s quite a tricky situation really, I can’t really answer conclusively. The internet for all its problems, is a great tool for promotion. I would really be nowhere without it, I couldn’t imagine booking a tour the old way! Bloody long winded answer there, sorry!

Favourite venue?

I played at Palac Akropolis in Prague recently. That was pretty good.

Favourite concert?

Tortoise at Columbia Club in Berlin will take some beating…. It was just perfect, everything. The sound, energy, dynamics. Amazing.

Favourite place on earth?

Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast is pretty hard to beat, it would probably be horrible to live there though.

Where would you wish to wake up tomorrow?

If Berlin would hurry up and turn into Spring, then here is fine.