Yard Act’s James Smith concludes series one of Before They Knew Better

Happy new year listeners! We’ve had a stellar run of guests on this inaugural series of Before They Knew Better: from rap icon Killer Mike, to comedian-musician hybrid James Acaster, to BBC Sound of 2024 runner-up Olivia Dean; we’ve spoken to them all about the wins, woes, and wtf moments of their youth. We’ve also been awarded second place for ‘Best Music Podcast’ in the Pod Bible Listener Polls 2023, so a big thank you to everyone who voted!

For the final episode of series one, then, we chat to the inimitable James Smith - frontman of DIY faves Yard Act, former Man U fan, and all round very funny guy. James spoke to us all about growing up in Warrington, meeting Beckham (but now being unable to prove it), and having his dreams of being an animator unfortunately curtailed…

“I wasn’t allowed to do art at GCSE”, he explains, speaking on the podcast. “I was not a naughty child at all, and I wasn’t really that rebellious, but I really fell out with the teacher in the art department because I told her she didn’t have any passion and shouldn’t be teaching the subject, and threw a pot of glue across the room. I don’t know if I would’ve got into music if I’d carried on with the art path, because that’s all I was interested in.”

You can listen to the full episode now on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts, where you can also find the rest of series one. Before They Knew Better will be taking a short hiatus ahead of its next installment, so now’s the perfect time to catch up on any you might have missed. Enjoy!