YAK were born on the lower slopes of the Himalayas in 1982 – December to be precise. Quickly relocating to the more gentle climate of Essex, Martin Morgan (Keys), Robin Hodder (Guitar), Sy Snell (Bass) & John Wynn (Drums) could be heard most weekends making a racket often in unusual time signatures.
The band split up in 1984, although Morgan kept the YAK concept alive for the next 20 years. It wasn’t until 2004 that he finally got round to recording an album of the original YAK material. This was a solo album & called “Dark Side of the Duck”.
Enthused by the favourable web & magazine reviews the original band got back together & had a jam session in 2005. The highlights were released as the Live CD “Does your Yak Bite?”. Another jam followed in 2006 & again edits released as a 2nd live CD called “The Rutland Chronicles”
Then Morgan set about writing the next studio album “Journey of the Yak”. This was planned to be another solo effort a la ‘Dark Side of the Duck’, however the samples streaming on the YAK myspace caught the attention of Dave Speight who was then drummer for Pete Banks (Ex YES) as well as drummer for Nick May (Ex the Enid). Joined by bassist Gary Bennett Journey of the Yak was recorded in 2008 and has received fantastic reviews. The album has been featured in the new Classic Rock Presents Rock Magazine and continues to sell well from the YAK website – All proceeds going to Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary
Recently Steve Hackett from Genesis described ‘Journey of the Yak’ as “Beautiful Music” and Rick Wakeman played a track on his Planet Rock Radio show
The latest album “Journey of the Yak” can be obtained by making a donation to the animal sanctuary & I will send you the CD as a thank you, via this link
Editoral by Hannah Balcam
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