For over thirty years, Y&T have been melting the faces of rock fans worldwide. With the band members in their fifties, the boys made a few drastic changes this past year and have pulled off what many bands fail to do: they have returned to the form that brought them success in the first place. In a recent radio interview, Greg Kihn referred to the boys as “Road Dogs”, saying that Y&T was able to stay out on the road for sustained periods in the 80’s. Dave Meniketti stated that over the past couple of years the band had tried to return to that status and Phil Kennemore sited hang ability as the key to being able to stay out on the road as much as they wanted to. This was not done without a casualty though, as the band once again parted ways with original founding member Leonard Haze, once renowned as the fastest foot in the business. Haze seemed to lose his desire to be out on the road as much as the rest of the band wanted to. So, last year, with very short notice, the band made a drastic move parting ways with Haze and bringing in a top local bay area drummer, Mike Vanderhule. Mike brings thunder to the band and a fresh desire to tour.
Currently on tour supporting the re-release of Earth Shaker and In Rock We Trust, as well as the band’s first DVD Live One Hot Night, only one year after adding Vanderhule, the band has jelled. The rhythm section has never been tighter than it was last week in Santa Cruz. Meniketti has acquired an arsenal of guitars that offer a nice variety of tones. Playing in rare form, Meniketti has shown over the past 30 years why he is a Guitar God. Being sought after to lead many top bands, including Ozzy Osborne, Meniketti chose to be true to himself and to Y&T and his many fans without a doubt at the cost of more fame and fortune than he has had leading Y&T. Instead, he has opted to be his own man together with long time partner
Phil Kennemore, John Nymann, and now Mike Vanderhule. The foursome is currently working on a new CD, with no release date yet, but the re-releases of all the A&M recordings are now available here, and the DVD is on sale as follows:
Germany-Austria-Switzerland: June 22nd
Rest Of Europe: July 13th
US/Canada: August 14th
Rest of the world to follow
