Big Yard are the modern day example of a band, and entity, on the rise. Since their debut release 'Proof' at the beginning of this year, they have teased fans with a plethora of singles that hark back to true golden country rock, re-defining an era of music that seemed long forgotten. Ranging from shuffle-pop anthems to country blues, Big Yard seem to know exactly what they want to say, and more importantly, how to.
'Melody' is their fourth release, and is a sumptuous piece of country blues rock that sweeps you off your feet. Lead singer and songwriter Darryl Scotti has a commanding presence, and you can feel his personality infused in his clever lyrics and melodies. We sat down with this rising collective to find out more about how they formed, the recording and writing process they go through and much, much more. Check it out below!
--
Hello! Can you tell us how Big Yard came together as a band? What inspired the formation of this musical collective?
First off thank you Ignite Music for the opportunity, we appreciate your support.
I love this question. After I moved to Cave Creek, AZ from Northern California in 2020 with my wife Yvonne, I started meeting some incredible local talent as we were getting acquainted with the area. I mean some amazing talent; guys like Alex Chacon, Aaron Howard, Sarah James, Bill Dutcher; local acoustic guitar virtuoso, Chuck Hall; legendary blues artist and Carl Herrgesell; Kenny Logans keyboardist just to name a few.
It was like a tsunami of musicians I was getting to know and while spending most of my career in a melding pot of world class talent I was super impressed with the music scene here in Cave Creek and particularly Arizona in general.Meeting the musicians I was being drawn to inspired me and led me to kicking around some ideas while writing new material.
My last record was in 2005 ‘The Will and The Way’ on Fairoaks Records produced by Bob Kilpatrick and quite frankly I never imagined recording again, much less writing enough material for a project but… the creative floodgate opened and before long I was sitting on around 20 new songs. I started closely working with Alex Chacon and Aaron Howard, my co-producers until we narrowed down the new material to the six we believed in and that was enough to start the EP.
We ended up calling it ‘54th St. for no other reason than that’s where my studio is located, in my home, on 54th St. in Cave Creek, AZ. When we finished the recording and began the marketing side with Liberty Music PR in the UK we decided to name our collaboration 'Big Yard’, a name I had used for my bands since the early 2000’s.
We’ve already released four tracks under the collective's name with the full EP ‘54th St. dropping 28th August, 2024. We are already finishing up a follow up project with the title track 'Poet’s and Heroes' as the first release in the fall of 2024.
Your music blends a variety of genres like rock, pop, jazz, R&B, and big band. How do you approach combining these diverse elements into a cohesive sound?
Thank you. I’ve always been a fan of a variety of genres in my life as a musician, songwriter and record producer. I’ve often said as a songwriter I wear everything I’ve ever heard or enjoyed on my sleeve. When someone asks me what my favorite music is I often will say ‘anything done well’. I enjoy the classics including opera and all of the above from Deep South blues, jazz and dixieland to pop rock and Rhythm and Blues. If it’s done well and performed from the soul I’m a fan.
Darryl, as the singer-songwriter of Big Yard, what are some of your main musical influences? How have they shaped the band's creative direction and sound?
Like I said I love all genres and anything done well from the classic to pop and between. I’m a huge fan of Steely Dan, Sting, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, U2, Dire Straits and all the great writers from this era. I’ve always been fascinated by their techniques and how while staying inside the lines each of them spread their wings, tell stories and bring us a unique brand. Every band or songwriter with a successful catalog is able to do that.
I’ve tried to write in this way with a diversity of genres. In this project I did some collaboration with guys like Chuck Hall, Bill Dutcher and Aaron Howard that opened up new perspectives.
You've released four singles in as many months. How has the band evolved musically and creatively since your debut single 'Proof' earlier this year?
Well that’s an interesting question since all of the songs we produced for this project were already in the can so to speak and ready to release however we did try to pick songs that lend themselves to building the brand of music we produced methodically and evolve in a manner to engage listeners and pique there interests as we go. I hope our new fans and listeners stick around with some cool stuff coming down the pike.
Can you share the story behind your latest single 'Melody'? What was the inspiration behind the song and its nostalgic blues-rock feel?
Melody was one of those songs that developed in a songwriting session I did with Chuck Hall, a legendary Blues Artist and Musician living in Carefree, AZ. Melody was a concept I had lyrically about giving a song a female name and turning it into a love song over a twelve bar blues riff.
You know… a Songwriters love song to a song!!! Chuck came up with the opening riff and we went from there.
Watch the lyric video for 'Melody' below:
You've collaborated with Chuck Hall on 'Melody'. How did this partnership come about, and what did Chuck Hall bring to the songwriting process?
I met Chuck through Ed Heisler, the owner of Black Mountain Guitar Company where Chuck gives private lessons. We hit it off, started doing some local gigs together and soon began co-writing.
Here’s an interesting factoid. Chuck's slide solo on 'Melody’ was a first take performance using one of the guitars he picked up randomly in my studio, a late model Godin 5th Avenue that was recorded direct to tape through an interface. The truth is it was only meant as a scratch track… but it was simply magical. When he came back to my studio to re-cut it, with his own guitar, a 55 Strat and a mic’d up Twin Reverb in an ISO booth, we couldn’t quite capture that same magic as the original scratch performance so we re-amped the direct track in the DAW, added some processing and kept it. Now you know the whole story!!!!
Darryl, you founded Big Yard Nation as a record label. What motivated you to start your own label, and how has it influenced the band's journey so far?
I love this question and thank you for asking. When I moved to Cave Creek and began to get to know this community with the abundance of talent and live music venues, almost a little slice of Nashville, I noticed one thing was missing... a collaboration of musicians, songwriters, record producers and artists all under one umbrella.
After we recorded the EP ‘54th St. I sat back and was blown away with the ease of getting all this talent together and creating these songs I had written or co-written. It was magical to me knowing how difficult it is to write, record, produce and release original music. We had at our fingertips a virtual wrecking crew of world class talent that could quickly and professionally make records at the highest level.
Listen, I’ve had a great ride as a musician, songwriter and businessman and our aspiration in founding Big Yard Nation was to provide not only a platform for the talent involved in our debut EP ‘54th St. but to provide a viable platform for aspiring artists that might not otherwise have the same opportunities I’ve enjoyed. We never charge to be on our website BigYardNation.com or attempt to profit from the label itself. Only the publishing in it of itself, where appropriate, participates in revenues. The songwriters, musicians and producers earn their fees and keep their royalties. Big Yard Nation is altruistic by nature, from the beginning and will always stay that way.
How does/will Big Yard approach live performances? What can audiences expect from your shows, and how do you translate your recorded sound into a live setting?
I get this question a lot. At this time we are busy producing records and releasing them. It’s a huge effort to create videos, do the marketing while continuing to write material and develop content.
So while we have no plans this year to tour we are open to explore the possibilities in the future. Stay tuned and we’ll make sure you and your readers are the first to know.
What's next for Big Yard after the release of 'Melody' and your recent successes? Any plans for an EP or album in the near future, and what can fans anticipate from your upcoming projects?
Our next scheduled release is dropping the EP '54th St. on 28th August of the entire six song catalog, with the remaining two tracks ‘Sweet Soulmate’ and ‘Give it Away’ (my personal favourite) released as featured tracks.
As I mentioned we're just finishing up our follow up EP project entitled ‘Poets and Heroes’ featuring the artistry of Larry Antonino (Bassist for Pablo Cruise) and Aaron Howard (singer songwriter and producer) with the title track scheduled for the fall of 2024. We’ll have regular waterfall releases into 2025.
As for the immediate future we just signed a deal with a post production film company to represent our collective catalogs to Film and TV through 2025. I believe Film and TV offer wonderful opportunities and we’re excited to see what comes about.
We hope our fans stay in touch and enjoy our releases as we go. We think the future is bright. You can stream Darryl Scotti and Big Yard on Spotify and all the popular platforms as well as visit our YouTube channel BigYard Nation going into its third season and follow us on our socials #BigYardNation.
Stream 'Melody' and more from Big Yard now: