40 years ago a motivated hard rock band from
Oakland, CA began their musical journey as
Yesterday & Today. A couple years later, the group
shortened their name to Y&T, and began a
marathon journey on stages across the globe. 12
studio albums later, Y&T is still a respected brand
and band, and they continue to record and tour on
a regular basis. In 2011, the group suffered a devastating loss when bassist, Phil Kennemore was
diagnosed with cancer and passed away. Phil's
wishes were for the band to continue, and guitarist/singer, Dave Meniketti is doing just that.
Meniketti, talked to IE's Mark Kadzielawa about
the group's longevity, Ronnie James Dio, Ronnie
Montrose, and everything else in between.
Illinois Entertainer: Your last studio album,
Facemelter, was positively received by fans
and critics. Are there any new songs being
written for a possible follow up?
Dave Meniketti: Yes, but we haven't really gotten into it heavily yet because we've been so
busy. To be honest with you we're not gonna
get into doing another record until the next
year because we're gonna be so busy the rest of
this year touring. If we have some time off
here and there we'll be working on some new
material. I promise there will not be 13 years in
between the records.
IE: When Phil Kennemore (bassist) passed
away in 2011 you became the only original
member in the band. Was it easy to pick up the
pieces and move forward?
DM: It was easy in-as-much that the band was
tight and ready to go, we just needed a bass
player to fill in for Phil, when he was first diagnosed with cancer. It could've gone horribly
wrong because playing with somebody new
could've ended in disaster. We didn't have that
option because we were in the second week of
our tour of the States, and we had to make it
work. Luckily, it worked out extremely well.
Brad (Lang) had come in, and I never even met
him before, I didn't even know who he was.
He was just recommended by the couple of a
guys in the band. He came in on one day
notice, and picked it up from there. Amazingly
enough, he knew the material so well, by the
time he arrived, that I probably made more
mistakes than he did on the first night. It
worked out. But as far as going forward with
Y&T, I don't think there was ever a question
that we would not go forward. I questioned it
in the very first moment when I first found out
about Phil. The next day Phil told me that I
had to keep going. He told me, "We got a new
record out, and the band sounds great; you just
have to keep it going." That just made it that
much easier for me to be certain of my decision.
IE: How does Y&T adapt to the current (fragmented) trends of the music business? How
would you describe your operation these days?
DM: The operation is quite in control, let's put
it that way. With my wife, Jill, handling the
band for a decade now. She took things over
from a manager who was with us for 25 years.
He was fantastic when he was into it, but for
the last few years of him working with us we
felt like we were not the most important thing
anymore. And that made a huge difference to
us because we were ha ɑ