GARDEN VARIETY

Four albums that inspire Yard Act, as told to Andrew Perry.

THE SPECIALS

More Specials

(2 Tone, 1980)

James Smith: “The Specials are a really important band to me. The debut is incredible, but I return to More Specials, uh, more. It’s political without being on-the-nose, it’s funny without telling you it’s doing a joke, and it’s sonically eclectic without ever sounding disjointed.”

ELASTICA

Elastica

Ryan Needham: “I always go back to this album as a reminder of how important leaving space in songs is. Also, the basslines are all amazing and the songs are all incredible. The Incident [off Yard Act’s The Overload] is my best Annie Holland impression.”

BLUR

Think Tank

Jay Russell:

“I love this album for a lot of reasons, I’ve always admired the way it’s arranged, produced and mixed. I think without Coxon on this record, they had more space to play with. The result is something pretty different to anything they’d done before. You can hear where Albarn’s head was at the time, given where he went with Gorillaz.”

EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING

Primary Colours

Sam Shipstone: “The pumped garage-rock guitars were a spiritual influence for me on this record: trying to get jacked up while recording into a laptop because of lockdowns. Which Way To Go gave me confidence that a rich G chord can keep your attention, so I used it to oblivion on our track Tall Poppies.”