Dave
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S
ome artists hem and haw when try-
ing to pinpoint the reason for their
longevity. Not Dave Meniketti. He’s
as surprised as the next guy about the
four-decade career longevity of his Bay
Area metal outfit Y&T, nee Yesterday and
classics like “In Rock We Trust’ sound just
as relevant today. Ergo, Y&T’s innate value
has grown exponentially in the process.
“We’re real proud of the fact that we’ve
still got it,” he says.
Y&T, Dave Meniketti (center right)
IE: I can’t recall ever reading any trashy
drugs/booze stories about Y&T. How did
you avoid those pitfalls?
Dave Meniketti: Well, in the ‘70s and the
‘80s, there was a lot of drug use going on,
and a couple of the guys in the band were
heavy into it. Meaning simply, that we
couldn’t keep going with them doing that,
year after year — we had to replace them.
But I was the one staple guy that didn’t do
it. I did drugs when I was in high school —
16 to 18 years old, I did every frigging
drug outside of heroin. But that’s when I
02•2019
Today. They’ve survived because they’ve
deserved to, a modern exercise in
Darwinian natural selection. “We’ve hon-
estly recorded hundreds and hundreds of
songs, and we’ve got this loyal following
that keeps going and I just never saw any
reason to stop because I enjoy playing,”
says the guitarist/vocalist, who also
moonlights as a solo artist and runs a fam-
ily winery with his wife, Jill. “But it’s got-
ten under my skin after this many years —
we’re coming up on our 45th anniversary
this January.”
He believes he’s singing and playing
better than he ever has, that newer mem-
bers have fit in seamlessly, and catalog
first started playing guitar, as well. At 18
years old, I just said, “You know what? I’m
not playing as well as I did just last week
— I’ve got to cool it.” Now I’m the sole
surviving member of that original band —
everyone else has passed. So I guess I just
lived a pretty clean life. I didn’t start
drinking alcohol until I was 50, and I’m 65
now.
IE: Well, you do have annual wine vin-
tages to taste...
DM: We got into wine 15 years ago, and it
became a passion after a while for us. So
we just started doing more wine tastings,
going out with friends, learning all about
8 illinoisentertainer.com february 2019
the growing of the grapes, everything —
all the dirty technical stuff that most peo-
ple don’t care about. But I guess I devel-
oped a really good palate, and a lot of peo-
ple who I’d become friends with [with]in
the industry started telling me the same
thing — “Dave, you should put your own
wine out because your palate is great.”
And I said, “Ehh, I dunno.” I resisted it for
a few years and finally said, “Why not?”
IE: What’s been the most surprising thing
you learned about wine?
DM: People had told me how crippling the
business side could be, with all its rules
and regulations. There’s so much paper-
work, it’s unbelievable.
IE: You’ve written so many songs, and
you can keep releasing acoustic versions
of your classics. Do you even feel com-
pelled to write new songs anymore?
DM: Motivation for me, it’s more about a
time frame. Jill keeps us on the road pretty