Our Favourite Martials

Music
19 Oct 09

Say “hello” to Belfast’s hottest newcomers, Yes Cadets. They talk about early career setbacks, and the long road to redemption.

Yes Cadets appear to have taken their career lead from Benjamin Button.

Take the case of main vocalist Alan Haslam, not only did he make the counter-intuitive move from Britain to Belfast in order to develop his music, he also decided to quit a solo career, in order to spend more time in a band.
“It was kind of back-to-front,” he agrees. “But I really did despise the singer-songwriter circuit. Hated the fact that no-one listened, hated that I had to write in a really personal and direct way. There’s nothing worse than listening to someone spilling their guts and I became disillusioned with it very, very quickly. I think, at the end of the day, I was kidding myself and what I really wanted was to be in a gang, making a lot of noise.”
The moon-walking momentum doesn’t stop there. If you look at the path taken by the band(s) he subsequently went on to form – the sense of a life lived with the rewind button pressed down continues. Most groups, after all, start off adolescently shiny and noisy, before deciding to dip the volume, grow beards and mellow down. In keeping with the Yes Cadets M.O., their first incarnation, The Elliots, were a serious-minded classic rock outfit. Now though, they’re giddily youthful – messing around with the kind of wiry, heavily-caffeinated electro pop that’s fast becoming the signature sound of contemporary Belfast.
“We started off writing the kind of music we grew up listening to,” reveals bass-player Steve Matthews. “The usual suspects – The Beatles, Stones, Neil Young, Gram Parsons. But we got tired of it. There’s only so far you can go in that direction and we’d hit a bit of a brick wall.”
According to Alan, the impetus to change tack came about when he heard Canadian outfit, Wolf Parade for the first time. And once his passion ignited, it soon engulfed the rest of the band.
“I think it’s safe to say Wolf Parade are responsible for dragging us one-by-one out of The Elliots and into Yes Cadets. They made us think about doing things a completely different way. It was mind-blowing.”
Apart from Alan, who had some slight previous experience (“I learned how to play ‘Desperado’ when I was eight,”), none of the other band members knew their way around a keyboard. To develop the sound they wanted, the Yes Cadets collective had to go back to school.
“It was a steep learning curve,” Steve admits. “In fact, it’s still a pretty daunting challenge. We took on Ronan (McLaughlin) because we thought he was a keyboard-player. Matter of fact, it turned out he only owned one, and that he was only a bit better than the rest of us. But it’s been great. We’ve really had to push ourselves and it’s meant whatever we’ve written sounds really fresh.”
Less than a year in and that initial risk looks to have paid off handsomely.
On the strength of a bracing demo (including live favourites, ‘Fashionista Art Party’ and ‘Charm Offensive’) Yes Cadets claimed slots at both Oxygen and Glasgowbury, while their new EP Canada bristles with confidence and off-beam thinking. There’s undeniably a buzz surrounding this crowd. But as we all know, a buzz can sometimes leave you with nothing but stings.
“We’re aware of that,” Alan concedes. “Quite a few of our friends have been in bands who’ve been over-hyped early on and then had the bottom fall out. We don’t want to be in that position, so the most important thing for all of us is to concentrate on the writing, and to make sure we have enough material for a really good album. But we’re excited by it. We’re a tight unit. Wouldn’t take anyone else one. Wouldn’t let anyone leave. We can all fit in my car – which is a good rule.”
And said motor will see plenty of action over the next few months. October sees Yes Cadets makes an appearance at HWCH and then, afterwards, attempt to introduce themselves to English audiences for the first time.
“We booked it all ourselves,” says Alan. “Which has been an eye-opening experience. Dealing with London promoters is something else, I’ve had to expend an awful lot of bullshit. I’m a scatter-brain, but have been forced to sort my shit out.”
And will the car make it back in one piece?
“The car’s going to hold up. No problem. Even if we’ve to stick it together with tape and chewing gum, it’ll get us there and back.”