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<\/p>\nOakland hard rockers Y&T have been a durable fixture on the rock scene since their start more than 50 years ago. And while the metal masters have racked up more than four million units in sales, when it comes to recognition via awards, they\u2019ve arguably never received their due. That\u2019s about to change: Y&T will be presented with the Icon Award at this year\u2019s Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, April 8-15.<\/p>\n
An embryonic lineup of the group came together in 1972 as a quartet playing covers; for their first gig they thought up the name Yesterday & Today, a nod to the 1966 Beatles album that originally sported the notorious (and now rare) \u201cbutcher\u201d cover. By 1974, the group had changed in two significant ways: Dave Meniketti had joined on lead guitar, and the band began to write its own material.<\/p>\n
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Yesterday & Today\u2019s early albums earned positive reviews, but minimal support and tepid promotion by their label kept them from breaking out in a bigger way. In retrospect, it was a good thing when London Records dropped the band after 1978\u2019s presciently-titled Struck Down<\/i>. Signing with A&M Records and shortening their name to the snappier Y&T, the band\u2019s classic era would begin.<\/p>\n
The foursome \u2013 Meniketti plus rhythm guitarist Joey Alves, drummer Leonard Haze and bassist Phil Kennemore \u2013 would record and release five studio LPs and a live set between 1976 and \u201886. Three of those melodic metal albums would appear on the Billboard<\/i> 200; 1984\u2019s In Rock We Trust<\/i> peaked at No. 45. Notably \u2013 and unusually for an album-oriented hard rock act \u2013 Y&T landed three of its songs on Billboard<\/i>\u2019s Mainstream Rock singles chart in that period: 1983\u2019s \u201cMean Streak\u201d (No. 25), In Rock We Trust<\/i>\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Stop Running\u201d from \u201884 (No. 33), 1985\u2019s \u201cAll American Boy\u201d (No. 48) and their biggest hit, \u201cSummertime Girls\u201d from 1985 (No. 16).<\/p>\n
Meniketti \u2013 longtime leader of the band and today the sole surviving member from that classic era \u2013 looks back fondly on the lineup that turned out those hits and wowed audiences with its powerful live shows. He notes that the interaction among the players defined Y&T\u2019s sound. \u201cPhil had to really hold it down [on bass], because Leonard\u2019s [drumming] style got wilder and wilder,\u201d he says. \u201cBut Leonard and Phil had a great relationship through the years, with all of our songwriting and playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The band\u2019s lineup and style underwent a foundational change when Haze exited the band in 1987 (he\u2019d return again in 2001 and remain with the group until 2007). In his place came a very different drummer, Jimmy DeGrasso. Where Haze played a straight-ahead style built around a drum kit with a single bass drum, DeGrasso made full use of a double-bass setup. \u201cHis style \u2013 and everything else that went with it \u2013 made quite a difference in the band,\u201d Meniketti says, noting that DeGrasso\u2019s approach freed Kennemore to play his bass in a more inventive and expressive manner.<\/p>\n
By the late 1980s, Y&T entered a period in which the lineup would undergo multiple changes. Three of the classic four were still on board for 1990\u2019s Ten<\/i> and Yesterday & Today Live<\/i> (1991), but the group went inactive in \u201892. But within the space of three years, the lineup that made Ten<\/i> had reunited, going on to craft a pair of studio records, 1995\u2019s Musically Incorrect<\/i> and the critically-acclaimed Endangered Species<\/i> in 1998. The group continued as a popular live act, but didn\u2019t release another studio record until 2010\u2019s Facemelter<\/i>. That record would be Y&T\u2019s last with Kennemore, and first studio set with drummer Mike Vanderhule.<\/p>\n
With Vanderhule on board, Meniketti says that Y&T came \u201cfull circle,\u201d as his style is closer to that of original drummer Leonard Haze. But the lineup continued to rotate for a few more years before settling down to a stable, durable and powerful foursome that has now been together for many years.<\/p>\n
An EP featuring acoustic arrangements of band classics (Acoustic Classix Vol. 1<\/i>) appeared in 2018, but releasing new music isn\u2019t the priority it once was. Facemelter<\/i> remains Y&T\u2019s most recent release of new material to date. \u201cAlbum releases don\u2019t mean what they used to mean,\u201d Meniketti explains. \u201cIn the \u201870s and \u201880s you made a big release, and it was part of getting airplay and booking a tour.\u201d Today, he says, hardcore fans might enjoy hearing a new tune. \u201cBut will that sell more tickets?\u201d he asks rhetorically. \u201cAnd will it make us any money? No, not really.\u201d<\/p>\n