Y&T's DAVE MENIKETTI: 'We're Hopeful That We'll Have New Product Out Next Year'

Episode 260 of the "Iron City Rocks" podcast (web site) features an interview with Y&T's founder and frontman Dave Meniketti. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Speaking about Y&T's plans to release a follow-up album to 2010's "Facemelter", Meniketti said: "We're playing 70 to 80 shows every year, and [that] gives us a limited amount of time to really sit down and focus on writing and everything. But this year we've been talking about making a real effort to spend, like the time right now, as a matter of fact, where we've got a couple of weeks off before the next show, and so on and so forth, to just get in the studio and start writing and put songs together. And when we get the time to finalize all this stuff, we're hopeful that we'll have new product out next year."

Meniketti also talked about what motivates Y&T to make new music. He said: "I'm a whole lot less into the money side of things than just about the what-feels-good kind of thing. So what we basically try to do is we're just… We're gonna write songs because we need to stay creative. We love playing live, and, quite frankly, I'd be happy just playing live all the time, but getting in there, being creative and getting that side of your brain working again is pretty inspiring, it's pretty amazing what it does just for your headspace, if nothing else. And, of course, it's great that we can insert different songs that are brand new into the set; it makes ir really fresh for us all and so on and so forth. It's all just about being creative and touring and playing live; that's all that really matters to us. As far as marketing… obviously, we wanna market a product the best that we can, and, of course, the Internet, with social media, and so many other things, have helped to make that a little bit easier nowadays for bands that already have a following. As far as worrying about how many records we may actually sell versus… and all that kinds of stuff, that went away about a dozen years ago. I mean, it was no longer, 'You're gonna make a million bucks on a record release.' You just don't think that way anymore. It's more just to create new material, give the fans something new to listen to, and see the evolution of the band. I mean, that's kind of where it's all at at this point."

Y&T bassist Brad Lang originally joined the band in 2010 after founding bassist Phil Kennemore was diagnosed with lung cancer. Phil lost his fight with cancer in 2011 and Lang was asked to become an official member of Y&T.

Y&T's live album, "Live At The Mystic", was released in November 2012 via Frontiers Records.

The band's first studio album in 13 years, "Facemelter", came out in Europe on May 21, 2010 via Frontiers.

Y&T is:

Dave Meniketti (guitar, lead vocals)
John Nymann (guitar, vocals)
Mike Vanderhule (drums, vocals)
Brad Lang (bass, vocals)

Interview (audio):