{"id":30954,"date":"2026-04-24T05:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=30954"},"modified":"2026-03-17T09:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T13:19:06","slug":"yt-get-their-due-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/yt-get-their-due-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Y&T Get Their Due (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Yet Meniketti doesn\u2019t categorically rule out a new Y&T single or album in the band\u2019s future. \u201cIt\u2019s not as simple as saying, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s go to a rehearsal studio, get together and write some songs,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cBut it\u2019s absolutely a possibility.\u201d Instead, these days, Y&T focuses its energies on live performance. And with a seasoned, tight lineup, the band is well-positioned to do just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn Nymann has been with us the longest,\u201d Meniketti says. In fact, guitarist Nymann provided background vocals on Y&T records \u2013 and toured with the band \u2013 for some time before joining officially in 2003. \u201cI\u2019ve known him since the very beginning of Y&T\u2019s career,\u201d Meniketti says. \u201cHe went to school with Leonard Haze; even before we became a band, he came over the first time Leonard and I rehearsed together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meniketti points out that at 20 years, Mike Vanderhule has the distinction of being the drummer with the longest tenure in Y&T. \u201cHe\u2019s a drummer\u2019s drummer; with him, every night is consistent.\u201d Relative newbie Aaron Leigh has been Y&T\u2019s bassist for a decade. Even before joining, he played with bands that opened for Meniketti\u2019s group. \u201cI was always impressed with his playing and his attitude,\u201d Meniketti says. \u201cWhen he first auditioned after Phil Kennemore passed away, that was the first time that the songs sounded like they did when Phil was in the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meniketti believes that this long-running current lineup is true to the original goals and spirit of Y&T. \u201cI\u2019d like to think that we haven\u2019t really changed from the standpoint of how we put the songs across,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been a stickler for making sure that we play the songs the way that the original band did, but these guys had that attitude already. It\u2019s about all of us working together to maintain the integrity of the songs; that\u2019s been the standard all the way through our existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Y&T\u2019s significance, power and enduring appeal were all underscored by the appearance of a 2019 documentary film, Y&T: On With the Show<\/i>. Narrated by rock historian, podcaster and radio personality Eddie Trunk, the film charts the group\u2019s history, highlighting the band\u2019s connections and tours with AC\/DC, Ozzy Osbourne and others. \u201cIt was pretty true to the band\u2019s sentiments all the way through,\u201d Meniketti says, adding that directors Geoff Ganz and Mark White \u201creally captured our essence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way, Y&T earned praise from some of the biggest names in hard rock and metal. Ronnie James Dio singled the band\u2019s leader for special praise when he described Meniketti as \u201cone of the most underrated singers on the face of the Earth.\u201d Meniketti recalls his reaction when Dio put his arm around his shoulder after a gig and made that proclamation to everyone within earshot. \u201cI was turning red, because he\u2019s the god of this style of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now \u2013 a half century after Meniketti\u2019s band released its debut album recorded in San Francisco \u2013 Y&T is receiving more recognition. At this year\u2019s Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, the band will be presented with the Icon Award, in honor of what organizers describe as the group\u2019s \u201cpioneering influence on American rock music and their enduring five-decade legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous Icon Award recipients represent achievement across the spectrum of arts and entertainment; past honorees include Brian Auger, Ed Begley Jr., Edward James Olmos and Penelope Spheeris. \u201cFrom the very beginning, Poppy Jasper has always been about storytelling across disciplines,\u201d says festival director Mattie Scariot. \u201cMusic, in particular, is essential to cinematic storytelling; it shapes emotion, memory, and meaning.\u201d She explains that Y&T was selected for the Icon Award \u201cbecause their story represents the very spirit of what Poppy Jasper stands for: independence, longevity, authenticity, and community connection. What makes Y&T special is not just their music, but their endurance and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Icon Award will be presented to Meniketti and his band mates by Randy Spendlove, producer and two-time Grammy Award winner. \u201cMusic and film share the same emotional language,\u201d Spendlove says. \u201cAnd Y&T\u2019s music has always carried a cinematic power. Honoring them at Poppy Jasper recognizes the role music plays in storytelling, and celebrates artists who\u2019ve shaped culture well beyond a single medium.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Meniketti appears equally appreciative and nonplussed to be honored with PJIFF\u2019s Icon Award. \u201cWhen I first heard about it, I thought, \u2018Well, that\u2019s\u2026 interesting,\u2019\u201d he says with a chuckle. But he emphasizes that in his view, Y&T has always been slightly under-recognized for its contributions to music. \u201cBut then, here\u2019s a band from the Bay Area that\u2019s been consistently popular for 52 years, so it\u2019s nice to get recognition for that. And it\u2019ll be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Yet Meniketti doesn\u2019t categorically rule out a new Y&T single or album in the band\u2019s future. \u201cIt\u2019s not as simple as saying, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s go to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,46,62],"tags":[5637],"class_list":["post-30954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-metal","category-rawk","tag-yt","cat-41-id","cat-46-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30959,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30954\/revisions\/30959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}