Well hello! I'm Yip Man. You probably know me as Al Nero if you know me at all. The former sorta-frontman of Le Reno Amps and co-founder of this here, Armellodie Records. You might be forgiven for thinking that I've been somewhat idle, or at least focussing on running Armellodie, since Le Reno Amps bowed out in 2011. But in truth I've been away. Al Nero went to China… Yip Man came back.
Upon my return to Scotland I hooked up with my old sparring partner, Scott Maple and we began to work together on some songs that I had written while I was away courting The Red Dragon. We found a cosy little studio in Glasgow courtesy of Sean Pollock and Beatroute Arts and I roped in some other pals to flesh out my bones, Neil Warrack (Super Adventure Club) came and played some drums, Greg Barnes (who has previously provided generous organ donations to Le Reno Amps and Chris Devotion & The Expectations) came and played keyboards, Gordon Kyle joined us for a splash of trumpets and a dear friend, Clare Rajan came in and sang some sweet, sweet harmonies. Together we made a record, the debut record of Yip Man. It's called 'Braw Power' and it looks like it'll be out in November this year. That's the plan anyways, though plans change all the time don't they!?! Who really knows...
There's a couple of tunes from the album that have found their way out into the ether. I've been fortunate enough to have some spins on BBC 6 Music courtesy of Steve Lamacq and Stuart Maconie, and Radio Scotland thanks to Vic Galloway. I'm also lucky to have such talented pals willing to commit a lot of their time to making me look good. Namely, Ian Tilling (he of Trapped Mice fame) for making the Not That Easy video and Jason Sinclair of Poppycock Films for making the For Your Own Good video. It's been a blast so far and we've only just got started. You can check out both of those videos below and stay tuned for more Yip Man in the coming months. Braw!
