LLOYD YATES
At 15, Channel-Islander Lloyd Yates taught himself to play guitar. Two weeks after first getting his hands on one, and goaded onto stage by a friend who controlled the microphone, he improvised his way through his first live set.
Yates moved to London, signed to EMI, and his career is on the rise. Booked for this summer’s Bestival festival alongside Billy Bragg and Dan Le Sac, it seems that he’s got more than just the fringes whispering. He believes the recent attention his music has been drawing is largely down to the musical zeitgeist.
“There’s a hype for folk rock now as with bands such as Mumford and Sons, people went ballistic, with artists such as Lucy Rose and Passenger, they convey this real emotion and it’s okay to say you feel like this.”
With Yates, emotion runs barely beneath the surface. He ends his eight-song set at The Social on London’s Oxford Street with the song ‘Burn Me Baby’ which, written following a dream about his daughter, takes comfort in the belief that a blanket of love will always surround her. He pays tribute to artists like Ben Howard, Passenger and Bon Iver for leading the way, “Seeing music for the real, to appreciate emotion, this is why people are paying attention to folk rock more than ever before.”
Yates is an assured live performer. Though many first discover him online he believes live is the only avenue that acts like himself can take to make the hype stick: “Live music is where it’s at. That is where the money is in today’s market, and you have to be good live in order to succeed. People who are willing to work for themselves have the upper hand, a better chance than to those who are willing to side with the industry.”