YARD + BUCKET – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 25.3.26
YARD are an electrifying three-piece electropunk band from Dublin comprising George Ryan (beats, synth), Emmet White (beats, vocals) and Daniel Malone (guitar). They expertly bridge the gap between electronica and post-punk, by creating an auditory onslaught that leaves audiences sweaty, energized, and strangely unnerved. It’s fair to say that YARD are rapidly carving out their own niche in the UK, Irish and European music scene, and they are deservedly known for their intense and immersive live shows! A prime example of this is their in-yer-face live performance at the l’Antipode in Rennes in France for KEXP on 6th December 2024 – Watch and enjoy it HERE.
Last year witnessed YARD release 9 tracks across their ‘YARD’ & ‘YARD II’ EP’s, these being truly solid bodies of work comprising true fan favourites. The tunes were also released as a limited 500 ‘Dinked Edition’ run on white marbled vinyl, a copy of which now proudly sits pride of place in my treasured record collection, having thankfully snapped up a copy after this evening’s sold out headline set at the iconic Green Door Store. This is far from my first encounter with the lads, and they remain the only music act I’ve had the pleasure of catching performing live no less than three times within a single day. If you expand that time period to two days, then I had the fortune of watching YARD four times. For the record I’ve been continually gigging since 1978.
Tonight’s gig is the longest set, thus far, that I’ve caught from Dan, George and Emmet, with this running to exactly 60 minutes, from 9:00pm to 10:00pm. We are rewarded with 14 self-penned tracks, including a trio of brand new songs that premiered at last night’s gig at the Workman’s Club in Dublin. On a side note, a lady travelled all the way from Singapore to catch YARD in action last night and this evening she’s back again, centre front of the “boxing ring” waiting to be pulverised by the music! This seriously highlights the pull of the band! The Green Door Store is rammed as you would expect from a sold out event, and it has for me personally, the added enjoyment of having around 15 friends in attendance, who are here for the shared common goal of having a great night out.
The lads arrive on stage and it’s George on our left (stage right) on electronic drums, synth and backing vocals, Emmet is centre stage on vocals, synth and laptop duties, and Dan is to our right on guitar which comes with no less than 14 foot pedals. These pedals cannot be undermined, as they are crucial to the YARD sound, in that they make the instrument sound nothing like a guitar. As per usual they commence their onslaught by “checking outside” for “Trevor”, which is the tale of searching for one of the bandmembers’ lost cat: “I’m checking outside; I left him in the rain; I’m checking outside for Trevor; I left him in the rain”. The slow intro lures you into a false sense of security before the thudding dance beat kicks in, and all is good in the world! ‘Trevor’ segues straight into the slower 2024 ‘Bend’ single which has the first instance of Emmet’s vintage Nitzer Ebb style screamed vocal deliveries.
‘Appetite’ is their third choice and this benefits from a heavy pounding dance beat courtesy of sliding synth keys action from George and further enthusiastic vocals from Emmet, and rapid top guitar strings action from Dan. The lads are getting in the zone and the full house is lapping it up. There’s a great mood in the air as the trio carry on with ‘Essential Tremor’ which begins with a sound reminiscent of a mobile phone buzz that you get when it’s near an internet router. The banging beats on this simply flowed off the stage as the punters danced and shook their bodies, which was heightened by George regularly waving an arm in the air as though he’s at a rave. ‘Slumber’ comes next and I spy Dan continually playing the top two guitar notes in rapid succession, with the outcome being nothing like you expect to hear from a guitar. ‘Slumber’ is a seriously banging tune with an impressive EBM beat.
It’s now time for ‘Auto Erotic’ – “relating to sexual excitement generated by stimulating or fantasizing about one’s own body” – with its echoey trance music keys at the start prior to yet another booming beat kicking in. The vocals on this are Emmet’s most melodic during the set “Auto Erotic; Reckon it’s so; Reckon it’s so; Reckon it’s so”. The first of the three brand new tracks is up next, this one’s called ‘Voodoo’ and it features a rapid fire electronic beat, something that you would have expected to have heard from US duo Suicide back in the day. This has the loudest banging beat of the night thus far and my earlobes are under attack. If this is the way forward for YARD, then their future is certainly going to get ever brighter!
The next offering is ‘Big Shoes’ which immediately sees Emmet’s screamed vocals in action from the off which are accompanied by wonderful thudding beats, which fall into more Nitzer Ebb and Front 242 territory. There’s also a synth section from George which is vintage Gary Numan a la screaming synths as well. The standout line here being “Smiling through the keyhole”. There’s more industrial sounds and shouty vocals up next with the performance of their 2024 single ‘Call’, which has the addition of acid house bleeps-a-plenty. It’s time for another newbie, this time it’s ‘Dr. Crow’ which has a stark ‘Blue Monday’ (New Order) beat, which builds and builds as Emmet says “inside” and “outside”. ‘Friction’ is selection eleven and this has dirty gritty vocals along with a slow pounding Nine Inch Nails (and latter day Gary Numan) style beat. It reminds me of when the Belgian New Beats used to rule the clubs with their 33RPM sounding tracks, that I always desperately wanted to speed up to 45RPM. There’s some trademark chest thumping from Emmet here as he psych’s himself up further.
The final new number is next, this is called ‘Suzuki’ and the keys kick this one off and it’s akin to the finest aural onslaught that was historically brought to us by The Prodigy. Fan favourite ‘Lawmaker’ is the penultimate track, and this has a vocals only start with a submarine sonar style sound and then “boom boom boom boom” the speedy beat kicks in. Dan is attacking the top guitar string with gusto and the track is full-on enjoyment – it’s my equal set highlight!
Emmet rarely addressed the crowd, preferring the music to do all the talking, but did thank us for selling out the venue, as well as the sound engineer and the support act, before adding that we will be seeing them back in Brighton pretty soon! Emmet then offers whispered vocals and backing beat teases us of what is about to drop, then it’s “bang bang bang bang” again and it’s bloody epic. This builds and builds and my eyes are almost permanently shut throughout as I merrily dance my worries away. Dan then discards his guitar and sets about unleashing some foot pedal action with his hands. It’s my other equal bestie of the set. Then bang on 10pm the lads finish and are rewarded to a house full of hearty claps and screams! I then spoke to the lady from Singapore and she informed me that tonight’s gig was much better than last night’s set in Dublin – well done lads!
Ladies and gentlemen………….YARD have arrived!
Yard:
Emmet White – vocals, synth, laptop
Dan Malone – guitar
George Ryan – electronic drums, synth, backing vocals
Yard setlist:
‘Trevor’ (from 2025 ‘YARD’ EP)
‘Bend’ (a 2024 single)
‘Appetite’ (from 2025 ‘YARD’ EP)
‘Essential Tremor’ (from 2025 ‘YARD II’ EP)
‘Slumber’ (from 2025 ‘YARD’ EP)
‘Auto Erotic’ (from 2025 ‘YARD II’ EP)
‘Voodoo’ (unreleased)
‘Big Shoes’ (from 2025 ‘YARD II’ EP)
‘Call’ (a 2024 single)
‘Dr. Crow’ (unreleased)
‘Friction’ (from 2025 ‘YARD II’ EP)
‘Suzuki’ (unreleased)
‘Lawmaker’ (from 2025 ‘YARD II’ EP)
‘Sunlight’ (from 2025 ‘YARD’ EP)
Support this evening came from Irish trio Bucket who comprise Cian Dahdouh (guitar, vocals), Emmet McNamee (bass, backing vocals) and Korey O’Byrne (drums). This is our debut encounter with the band that formed in Dublin in 2021, but we have been hearing great things about them. The original lineup was just Emmet and Cian and then in 2024 Korey came along and joined the ranks. Thus far they have released a half dozen singles and their debut ‘Muck’ EP. The next musical installment is due to arrive on 29th April in the form of their ‘Mosaic’ EP – details HERE.
We are in their company for 29 minutes from 8:01pm to 8:30pm and during that time they present, or is that bombard us, with 7 self-penned compositions, with the first of these being their 2026 ‘Nonsense’ single. It’s a no nonsense start with some kickdrum action, screeching of guitar, and some full on 6-string bass guitar followed by screaming vocals. They’ve certainly got our attention!. It’s raw, loud and full of distorted energy. The first of two selections from their ‘Muck’ EP comes next in the form of ‘Hash Browns’, for which I note that Cian is utilizing a stainless steel cylinder tube guitar slide for the desired effect. It’s another onslaught and I come to the conclusion that Bucket are Dublin’s version of Brighton’s very own noise merchants Ditz.
There’s solid enthusiastic drumming, screeching guitar and seriously chunky bass action for their 2026 ‘DNB’ single, which is a tune that explodes into action and then goes all quiet at regular intervals, they certainly keep us guessing! Their 2024 ‘Budgie’ single is up next, which Cian refers to as “an old one”. This is fully laden with a bursting neck vein vocal delivery and Cian even manages to play his guitar behind his back with some aplomb towards the conclusion of the track. After which the guitar was rested and Cian utilizes a bicycle lamp style hand held microphone, which he manages to ram into his mouth and strangely this makes him look like Pob. This tune is ‘Nails’ which is from their forthcoming 2026 ‘Mosaic’ EP and it takes their nu metal meets indie rock sound to another level. It’s the most intense track of the set.
Bucket’s penultimate selection is ‘Crack Alley’ which can be found on their 2025 ‘Muck’ EP. There’s copious amounts of foot pedal bass guitar action from Emmet and rapid fire drumming action from Korey on this one. The trio sign off with ‘Momento’ which is their second offering from forthcoming ‘Mosaic’ EP. Cian’s guitar is back in action for this and there’s loads of head bobbing action from the attending punters. Suffice to say that this Dublin trio have been added onto many folks “Bucket” list off the back of this full on appearance! They seriously need to come back to Brighton and share the bill with Ditz!
Bucket:
Emmet McNamee – bass, backing vocals
Cian Dahdouh – guitar, vocals
Korey O’Byrne – drums
Bucket setlist:
‘Nonsense’ (a 2026 single)
‘Hash Browns’ (from 2025 ‘Muck’ EP)
‘DNB’ (a 2026 single)
‘Budgie’ (a 2024 single)
‘Nails’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Mosaic’ EP)
‘Crack Alley’ (from 2025 ‘Muck’ EP)
‘Momento’ (from forthcoming 2026 ‘Mosaic’ EP)
I asked them about Trevor. I said I assumed it was a cat but they said no, it was a bicycle!