Big Yard is a brand new group entity with a record label based out of Arizona in Big Yard Nation, fronted by seasoned singer-songwriter Darryl Scotti. Their debut single is a spine tingling country-rock anthem that harks back to those vintage early 2000s singles by Kieth Urban and the likes.
With a plethora of material to follow this year, 'Proof' is only a sign of things to come from this exciting outfit. We sat down with the band to learn more about the story of Big Yard, the label, and so much more in this deep dive interview, exclusively for FLEX. Check it out below!
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Hey Big Yard, welcome to FLEX! How are you doing?
Darryl: We’re doing well, it’s been a heck of a year or so and we’re having a lot of fun. Thanks for having us.
Tell us how the three of you met?
Darryl: Well, I had moved from California in 2020 during the pandemic to a little township in Arizona called Cave Creek in North Scottsdale outside of Pheonix. It’s an incredible little mountain town full of history, old Americana folklore and ancient Native American history. I was interested in getting out of California with my wife, Yvonne and settle into the next chapter of our life never intending to restart my songwriting or recording carrier.
I kept running into a phenomenal young guitarist named Alec Chacon and his sister Stephanie who had the voice of an angel and I was gassed by their talent. Things kinda went from there.
Alex: Yea, after coming out to see my band a few times, Darryl approached me and we struck up a conversation. Actually he was very interested in knowing what our influences were and what we were up to. He was new in town and didn’t really know many of the locals. Cave Creek is a hot bed for local talent with a ton of places to play and a lot going on . Darryl is older than us so it wasn’t the usual, ‘Hey man, what’s up?' kind of chat, it was more like him wanting to get to know us, then sit down together in his studio and see what might happen. He’s that way.
So eventually I went over to his home studio with my guitar and we sat down to play some music. We exchanged ideas and then one thing led to another. We ended up putting a couple sets together and I booked us a few gigs. Darryl hadn’t performed in over twenty years and I think his last record was like in 2005, so he was eager to play out.
From there, it wasn’t long before Darryl started writing new music, it was like a flood gate had opened. That seems to be his comfort zone. I think he was inspired by his move to Arizona, living in this cool community and he was starting to meet some hot shot local musicians like Bill Dutcher and Chuck Hall, guys I had admired as a kid growing up. I knew about Darryl's background and when he asked me to come over to start tracking some of his new material I gave it a go.
We ended up narrowing down around ten of his new tunes to six and I started to produce them on his DAW at first. I used a lot of the musicians I work with and the rhythm section in my own band which he dug. We moved everything to a local studio in Pheonix and in few months or so were ready to start mixing and mastering what ended up being our debut EP ‘54th St.
Aaron: I was introduced to Darryl from a mutual friend, Sarah James, another artist I produce here in Scottsdale. I guess they had met one night at a local venue and struck up a conversation. Darryl had mentioned to Sarah he was interested in finding someone that could work with him and Alex, who I’ve worked with on other projects to help them out with background vocals and getting the tracks ready to mix and master.
I went one night to Darryl's studio and we sat for hours just talking, playing each other our songs and listening to tracks. I was drawn to Darryl by his vision, his experience, the retro vibe of his songwriting and his being totally open to a more contemporary sonic value that he was looking for in the final production stages of his new project.
He liked my work and we started working on ideas. At first it was on a song he wrote called ‘Done it Just Right’. I absolutely loved the opening guitar lick, kind of an Ed Sherran vibe in an open D tuning. We ended up co-writing a lyrical rewrite and we now call it ‘History’. It's a heartfelt story about his long time marriage with Yvonne. We’ll be releasing it later this year since it's not on the ‘54th St EP but eventually I got fully involved in all the new material. It’s been one of the most rewarding collaborations I've done as a record producer..
What made you want to set up a record label in Big Yard Nation as well as a band?
Darryl: That’s an easy one, it was Alex’s idea. It’s all his fault. He’s an extraordinarily gifted musician and record producer but he also manages a lot of social media. So when we were done with the record I wanted to get it out. Well, from my last record a lot of things have changed in the record business. I came from Vinyl, through cassettes and CD’s where after we recorded a project it was released through the record company, marketed to press and radio and it either hit or flopped. Today it just ain’t that way. While there are challenges, there are also opportunities if, you go about things the right way.
So Alex felt if we built up social platforms and call it Big Yard Nation which since 2005 was always the name of my band and we then launched it all through YouTube, IG and TikTok featuring interviews with the musicians and collaborators on the project we’d build up a community. We decided to talk about the industry, songwriting, making records and what it’s like to create music today. From there our plan would be to release the new EP ‘54th St. and hopefully we would have enough momentum to build up an audience. It seems to be working so far.
From there I started interviewing Music PR companies and after a month or so I landed on Liberty Music PR in the UK. I was struck by their integrity. Liberty’s co-founder Bee Adamic and her team liked what we were doing and believed in us so we entered a comprehensive multi PR campaign built around press, radio, play listing and social influencing.
We asked Liberty to first start with promoting Big Yard Nation the Record Company Brand and from there to promote the first Big Yard single release on the song ‘Proof’, coinciding with a music video Alex produced. Our next release is on 11April this year with a cool vibe I wrote called ’State of Mind’. It has a Steely Dan shuffle feel with a massive horn section. We’re excited to get it out and had a lot of fun recording it.
Congratulations on your debut single 'Proof'! We're loving it, how would you describe this song for our readers?
Darryl: Thank you. We appreciate the question. Proof is a story that impacts every one of us in one way or another. The struggle with addiction, substance abuse and self centeredness whether in our own lives or our family and friends. It's something we are all touched by, isn’t it?
My own recovery, over nearly two decades, is one I celebrate a day at a time and being open with it helps me keep it. The line ‘Drinking 90 Proof is only proof I still ain't over you yet’ came to me when I was driving home from Las Vegas with my wife, Yvonne. We had just seen Keith Urban perform. I’ve always been moved by Keith's story and the transparency of his recovery.
Although the man in the Proof lyric is not my experience with addiction I just wanted to tell the story in a way showing a battle that can bring us to our knees. If we’re blessed it forces us to admit our defeat, reach out for help and clean up the wreckage of our past. In his case, it was losing himself in the bottle and hurting the women he loved. He wanted her back so he set out to prove to himself before they buried him he was Proof. My hope is the driving groove of the track attracts an audience and the symbolism of the lyric can inspire even just one man or woman, lost and hopeless to provide a way back. The actors we used in the official Proof Video on YouTube portray this way back beautifully. If. One person finds recovery it will all be worth it.
By the way I’m grateful for the support my Producer, Alex Chacon had as we laid down the tracks and produced the video. He along with the vision of Aaron Howard as he brilliantly mixed and mastered it. Two incredible talents.
Stream 'Proof' here:
Who are your main influences as a group?
Darryl: For me, musically my writing is a product of everything I’ve ever heard, enjoyed or admired from songwriters I grew up with. Legends like Sting, McCartney, Lennon, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Bono and Dylan to name a few.
As Big Yard the band, I think the collaboration we all bring to the table is the product of our individual influences.
Alex: I've listened to a lot of music over the last 30 years since I was a kid growing up. I like everything that’s good and down well from Jazz to Rock, Alternative to Pop. My parents were musicians. My father was the bass player for the legendary group the Platters and my mother was an incredible vocalist. There was music and musicians always in my home and when I got out of High School I attended the Berkeley School of Music where I learned the discipline of practice, opening my ears, playing with other talented musicians and was exposed to the arts through multi media.
Aaron: I grew up with a musical family as well. My father was a songwriter and there was always music in my home. I was a trained classical violinist and my first gigs were on the streets of Chicago playing violin for tips. I later was influenced by the modern Folk music era and started playing guitar, singing anywhere I could and writing songs.
I was on fire with learning technique. I studied the great songwriters of the time and how to craft a song. In my twenties I was attracted to the world of making records and I got an apprenticeship at a studio where I literally slept on the coach during the day and learned how to track and produce records at night. I started listening to Pop records and studied the technics of the great producers used to create hits and started using them to produce my own records. Eventually I started making records for other artists along with working as a full time artist, songwriter and record producer.
We love the blend of genres, from pop to country to rock in 'Proof', was this the aim when recording the track?
Darryl: Thank you, interesting question that I admit was not intentional other than, like I said earlier... I wear my musical and songwriting influences on my sleeve for better or worse.
How was the recording and writing process?
Darryl: For Proof it started out as a lyrical concept based on the story I mentioned earlier. One day, again quite by accident I was in my studio playing with a couple pedals, particularly a beat machine and as I was bending back and forth fiddling with the pedals I was noodling over and over on what became the opening guitar lick that has become synonymous with the song.
It just stuck in my head and later that day I added the chord progression, a melody and eventually married it to the lyric I had started months earlier. It all happened quite organically and ended up working. I’m glad you dig it. Thank you.
Aaron: Cool, so happy you love it. Once Alex and Darryl were finished recording the tracks they came to me to do the background vocals then mix and master it. I had heard a two bar section in the song, right before the bridge that sounded to me like it dragged a bit and gave it a dated feel for the record. I love producing sections in songs that let the listener know something is about to happen so stick around. I presented an idea to Darryl he was open to check out, I made a quick edit in the DAW and then sent it to Darryl to listen. He loved it. I think it made the record jump and now you know the rest of the story.
And finally, what is next for Big Yard?
Darryl: Thanks. Musically we’re continuing to develop content in the studio. I’m still writing and we’re finishing up a follow up project to our debut EP ‘54th St. called 'Poet’s & Heroes' for a Fall 2024 release. We plan on releasing new singles every couple months to radio and play listing for the next couple years and see where it goes. We’re hoping we find a growing audience that digs our vibe and God willing we’ll see how things click for Big Yard.
Meanwhile, we’ve added a fourth collaborator to Big Yard Nation, Larry Antonino a long time friend of mine who tours with Pablo Cruise on Bass and has played, toured composed and recorded with Air Supply, Ronnie Laws, The Jazz Crusaders, Steve Oliver and currently has a smooth jazz instrumental single out called ‘Drive Time’ that's charting across Europe and USA. Check it out. Larry brings his record producing skills and a network of seasoned LA recording artists to the table with him and is a huge part of Big Yard the band as well.
As a record company brand we're in the process of signing a couple artist development deals as well as building up Big Yard and putting out additional tracks with Larry for his new Drive Time project. The future seems pretty bright here in The Yard.
Alex: Yea, it’s been a trip seeing what’s happened over the last two years since Darryl and I met when we started to collaborate with each other. The buzz is getting out, not only locally but internationally and we’re excited to see where it goes. I plan on continuing to build strong social media content as we work with Liberty Music and expand your global reach. Our main goal is, has been and will always be…. do the best work we can and have fun doing it.
Aaron: I’m excited to see this thing take off from meeting Darryl, collaborating on the project with Alex. Releasing the music with Liberty and being part of Darryl's vision is a blessing . I love that we have this cool symbiotic relationship with each other and now that Larry is on board it opens up a whole new level of excitement and creative potential to what we are doing. It’s a cool thing.
Darryl: We want to thank Flex, Liberty Music PR and all of our new fans. Can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us. Stay in touch and follow us on YouTube and all of our socials @BigYardNation visit us on our websites www.MusicByBigYard.com and www.BigYardNation.com . Thanks again, we'll see you all in The Yard.