The Tim Smal Show

James Acker (Yndian Mynah) – The Boys Scribbled Like Mad

00:00 / 21:22

James Acker of Yndian Mynah discusses their record, The Boys Scribbled Like Mad.

🎙️ Episode Summary

In this episode, Tim sits down with longtime friend James Acker, guitarist for the Cape Town-based instrumental band Yndian Mynah. They dive deep into the release of the band’s second album, The Boys Scribbled Like Mad.

James opens up about the band’s decision to shift from the meticulous, multi-year production of their debut album (Velvet Youth) to recording the new record entirely live in the studio with producer Dane Taylor. The goal? To capture the raw, kinetic energy and tempo changes that define their live performances.

Tim and James also discuss the fascinating (and often hilarious) stories behind their unique track titles—including why an ice skate appears on a single cover—and the dynamics of working as a four-piece instrumental group without a vocalist. Whether you are a fan of post-rock or just curious about the creative process behind recording live, this episode is packed with insights.

🗝️ Key Takeaways

The “Live” Aesthetic: Unlike their first album, which took two years to produce, the new record was recorded live in the room to maintain the natural flow and tempo changes of the band, avoiding the robotic feel of click tracks.
Vinyl Variations: The new record is available on vinyl in four distinct colorways (Pink, Blue, Gold, and Green) distributed by different partners.
The “Eisbein” Story: The track Eisbein was inspired by a lunch on the Garden Route where the band learned that the eisbein bone was historically used as an ice skate—a concept that made it onto the artwork.
Instrumental Songwriting: Without a vocalist, the band relies on “kitchen conversations,” visual cues (like dots on a fretboard), and pop culture references (Downton Abbey) to name their tracks and convey emotion.
Mount Wave Studios: When not touring, James and fellow guitarist Matthew Dickinson work at Mount Wave Studios, composing original music for visual media.

⏱️ Chapter Markers

[00:00] Intro: Who is Yndian Mynah?
[01:38] The new vinyl: Four different colorways.
[03:16] The instrumental style: Replacing vocals with melody.
[04:40] Recording The Boys Scribbled Like Mad: Why they chose to record live.
[07:06] Storytime: The origin of Eisbein, Socks on Astroturf, and Mr. Bates.
[11:39] The Kitchen Conversation and Cosmos.
[13:12] Returning to the stage: The reunion show at District.
[14:45] Future touring plans: Europe and The Good Times Co.
[16:26] Day jobs: composing at Mount Wave Studios.
[17:20] The collaborative songwriting process (No egos allowed).
[18:30] Plans for a third record & experimental sounds.

🔗 Connect with Yndian Mynah

Band: Yndian Mynah
Album: The Boys Scribbled Like Mad
Studio: Mount Wave Studios
Label/Distributors: The Good Times Co., Roastin’ Records, Permanent Records.

💬 Memorable Quotes

“We felt that if we were playing to click… it would feel very robotic and it would lose that natural flow.” — James Acker

“The band is bigger than all the members… it’s always bigger than the sum of its parts.” — James Acker on the meaning of Gestalt

“There’s no egos—everyone’s just in for a good time. And the main thing with Yndian Mynah is: just have the best time you can with your best friends.” — James Acker

📖 Transcript

Tim Smal [host]: Hey everyone, and welcome to the show today. My name is Tim Smal, and here on the show I chat to some awesome musicians. And today I have a very special guest by the name of James Acker from Yndian Mynah. He’s a longtime friend of mine, so I’m very excited to have him on the show. James is a part of the group, Yndian Mynah, from Cape Town. They’re a South African instrumental band based in Cape Town and their sound can be described as “post-rock music with hints of dreamy psychedelia, post-punk and prog rock, that vacillates sounds between explosive edges and nostalgic narratives.”

Expect large guitar driven songs led by spontaneous structural changes, with a tendency for heavy breakdowns and momentary euphoria. Growing from their first album, Velvet Youth, the band wanted to capture the rawness and togetherness of life performances on their new album, The Boys Scribbled Like Mad. With the Trust of Dane Taylor, this new record was all recorded live, choosing the best takes and using the energy of playing in the same room as the aesthetic to the band’s lifestyle and communicative nature of their performances. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only James Acker.

James Acker [guest]: Hey Tim, thanks so much for having me.

Tim [01:13]: You’re welcome, James. I’m super excited to speak with you today, and as everyone can see, you’re a super busy man in the studio. You’re working at Mount Wave Studios, and you’ve had a very busy day. So we actually don’t have a lot of time.
We’re gonna have to speak relatively fast and do the whole rock and roll thing, so let’s jump straight into it. You’ve got a brand new record out with your band, Yndian Mynah, I believe it’s your second record. Is that right?

James [01:38]: It’s our second record. Yeah, and we’ve just had it printed to vinyl as well, just like the first one. And we are super proud and super excited to finally have it out there.

Tim [01:50]: Awesome. Well, you’ve got amazing artwork for the record. And you showed me just before we started, so I know some of the listeners are listening via audio only, but for those that are watching on video, do you wanna show them what the record looks like?

James [02:02]: Sure thing, Tim. Here it is. This is our brand new vinyl. And we printed four different colorways. I think this is the bubblegum pink version – yes it is. Here we go. So we’ve got a blue version, a gold version, green, and yeah, that’s it.

Tim [02:22]: Okay, so different color vinyl records for the fans, depending on what their personal favorite color is. I think I would go for the pink personally. I think that’s a pretty cool one.

James [02:32]: It’s great. Yeah, it’s a four-way split between The Good Times Co., Roastin’ Records, Permanent Records, and ourselves. So we thought, “Let’s do something cool.” We can do four different colorways, that way, the different distributors could have a different color and just made it a little bit more interesting than just going for a straight standard color. So yeah, collect them all.

Tim [02:54]: Awesome. All right, so the new record is called The Boys Scribbled Like Mad, and it’s really incredible that you guys recorded it entirely live. So I’m really looking forward to hearing more about the recording process. But for the folks out there that are maybe not too familiar with your music, you guys are actually an instrumental band. So do you want to talk a little bit more about your style?

James [03:16]: Yeah, sure. So, I mean, when we began as a band, all four of us, we’d played in previous bands and always had vocalists. And, myself and Matthew, who I met at the time, we were listening to a lot of instrumental music and thought, “You know what? Let’s try and just do something new, at least for us.” And when we got into the room and we just started jamming, Matt’s an incredible guitarist and it was just cool to finally try and work around music and write melodies that would be strong enough to replace vocals. And the rest is history. I mean, it’s super fun for us. It’s also super easy for us to go touring and not have to rely on certain sound equipment, we can literally just set up on the floor, plug in our amps and go, and it’s still just as much fun and it works.

Tim [04:06]: Awesome. So we got Jonathan Ueckerman on the bass, Kenan Tatt on the drums, you (James Acker) on guitar and Matthew Dickinson on guitar, a four piece band. And the new records got seven tracks on it, starting off with Socks on Astroturf, going into Gestalt, Eisbein, Follow the Dots, Cosmos, The Kitchen Conversation and Mr. Bates. So I’ve just run through some of the tracks on the record and I’ve been listening to it a lot lately. I’m super excited to hear more about how you guys recorded it. So compared to the first album, Velvet Youth, tell me about how recording this new record was, kind of, the same or different.

James [04:40]: It was very different. So the first album, Velvet Youth, we produced, engineered, recorded ourselves with our good friend, Jimmy, who helped engineer, and he just really helped with amp tones and all of that. So Velvet Youth was pretty much a two year process of us having, pretty much, too much time to work on it, but enough time. And it was an incredible experience. We learned a lot about being in studio and what we wanted and how we, sort of, wanted to capture the sounds that we were playing live and try and capture that, in a studio, over a studio session and over the songs.

Where The Boys Scribbled Like Mad, we decided: let’s do these songs live. We first and foremost are a live band, and that’s where I feel you need to really experience our band Yndian Mynah, is actually to see us live. I really feel that that’s the best way to experience us. And the nice thing about this is that we left the whole process in Dane Taylor’s hands, who’s an incredible engineer and mixer, and just all around amazing person. We just said, “Look, Dane, this is what we wanna do.” Also the reason why we decided to do it live was because of obviously capturing the energy. But the nice thing is that the songs have a lot of tempo changes and we felt that if we were playing to click and changing the click, it would feel very robotic and it would lose that natural flow.

So leading up to the album, we practiced a lot to be able to get the right tempos and right feel. So it’s not like we just rocked up and just played live. There was a lot of work that was done leading up to it. How it worked with Dane is that we were in a room, he would set up us all together so we could all see each other, mic up our amps and drums, as it would be, and pretty much saying “Go,” and we would start the song. And we’d do about four or five takes per song and then obviously just choose the best one that felt it had the best energy. And then Dane would just do his magic and mix away. And I’m just really happy with how it all came out.

Tim [06:50]: Cool. Yeah, there’s so many tracks that I enjoy on the album. So I think the first one I wanted to chat about was Eisbein, if I’m pronouncing it correctly, but it’s just got this, this really incredible energy and maybe a good place for us to start is to talk about how you choose song titles.

James [07:06]: Sure. So yeah, you’ve pronounced right, Eisbein is correct, named after the dish eisbein. In terms of our song titles, it’s not necessarily too much of a serious thing. Like how Eisbein came about, for example, is that we went along The Garden Route. We’ve got a little small holding in a town called Heidelberg, where we just went away for a long weekend to just work and write new music. And we just went for lunch and we all decided “Let’s order an eisbein.” And they brought the eisbein with the Jagermeister shots, which is actually the singles cover artwork. And upon bringing it, he gave us the little history lesson of how the eisbein bone used to be used as an ice skate.

So what they would do once they were finished with the eisbein bone, they would sharpen it and they would tie it to a shoe and they would use it as an ice skate. And that’s why you’ll see the eisbein, instead of us putting a piece of meat on there, we thought we’d put an ice skate. So that’s a little bit of a story behind the artwork and the song. And then I think it was just like we were so full, but the Jagermeister was a great digestive, and made us feel good. And Matt just picked up the guitar and I think we just said, “We say tokkel,” which means just like “play around with something that feels right.” And the next thing, this riff” came up and then we just like, “It’s the energy of the eisbein.” And then we were like, “Okay, great – let’s give ode to the eisbein and call the song eisbein.” So that’s sort of like, pretty much little reasons of how we come up with song names.

For example, Socks on Astroturf: one day I think we were in socks and we were walking on the astroturf, and we were like, “This feels so nice – we should do this more often.” And then we were like, “Cool, the song intro was just beautiful and it built up and we were like, we just like said, okay, cool. This is like Socks on Astroturf.” So we always try and associate feelings or like things in the moment and call it songs. For example, another one, Follow the Dots, which is a song as well. While I was playing the riff, Johnny was playing it as well and I was just like, “Johnny, just follow the dots,” which are obviously the dots on the fretboard of the guitar. And then we’re like, “Hey, that’s pretty cool. Let’s just call this Follow the Dots.” So there’s no real sort of like, deep, deep meaning. I mean, okay, there are some – I think Cosmos has quite a deep meaning, but I don’t think I’m ready to share that just yet. I think when we are ready for our VH1 Storytellers one day, we’ll chat about it. But it’s… there is some story behind a lot of the song titles.

Mr. Bates, Matt came up with explaining… what was it? I think it’s a TV show called Downtown Abbey. I don’t watch it. Anyway, Mr. Bates is, you know, this gentleman who is quite a hectic person – I’m speaking on the correction as well, that would kill someone, but would also at the same time be a very good gentleman, so it’s like that balance. And the song has that balance of soft, loud, and dynamic. And then there is The Kitchen Conversation, which is another title that Matt came up with. When you are either with someone or at a social event and a house party and there’s always these deep conversations that always happen in the kitchen – whether it be religion, politics, or just the meaning of life. There’s always that moment in the kitchen where you’ll walk in and someone’s having that. And then again, that was sort of playing on the dynamic of the conversation that happens within those moments.

And what else… what other song have I left out here? Oh, Gestalt – that pretty much is the meaning of… it’s always bigger than the sum of its parts. So, for example, the band is bigger than all the members, instead of it being individual. And then as well as playing with Gestalt Theory, where I think Matt came up with the track that had a lot of Britpop influence as well as American rock influence. So I would be playing, I think, more of the American-style type guitar. And then he would be playing Britpop, and we would fuse the two. So that’s sort of the concept behind that. I’m not gonna bore you and go into too deep with everything. That’s surface level stuff that I’ve just given now.

Tim [11:39]: No, that’s fantastic. I loved how you were talking about “the energy of the eisbein” – yes! That sounds fantastic. I’m always gonna think about that when I listen to that track. A I was gonna ask you about the kitchen conversation because I was intrigued, to hear more about that song. And yeah, I mean, last night I was having some kitchen conversations with my friends at Brian’s apartment, he’s a mate of mine that lives in the city, so I know all about the good kitchen conversations.

And, it was really interesting when you mentioned Cosmos, because that track in particular when I listened to it – it kind of reminds me of traveling in the US. I visited the US a couple times in the two thousands and I listened to a lot of bands and I was always on the road with, you know, headphones on. And it just somehow reminds me of being in the US and listening to bands and watching bands at festivals and so forth. So there is something really special about that song and so, I’m intrigued now to find out more about it at another time, of course, in the future when you guys are ready to talk about it.

But yeah, I think the production on the new album is amazing. The songwriting is great, the performances are awesome. You guys have put a lot of effort into practicing before you went into the studio. You collaborated well with Dane Taylor, and so I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of the new record The Boys Scribbled Like Mad. And speaking of live shows, I caught a live show at District last year, which was great – one of the first real club shows I went to after Covid, so it was super fun. The place was packed out and I just had a good time. So what was that show like? And do you guys have any other shows coming up?

James [13:12]: It’s funny you mentioned that Tim, because today we are actually planning that exact same show. We’re doing a reunion version of that with the same band, same lineup at District again on the 31st of March. I mean, we had played quite a few shows post-covid and as things were opening up, but I think that one was a really special one where, I think we had over 400 people in the room and it was packed and it was just an incredible energy. Everyone was in the vibe and everyone was just, in the mood, and it was just fantastic to be a part of. So I’m hoping that it’s even bigger next time. But, it’s always special to play any venues because, with covid and stuff, we’ve lost quite a few venues and there’s not a lot going on venue-wise and District is doing some cool stuff. There’s a whole bunch of young, and exciting kids doing new shows and new bands coming up. And places like District is a fantastic place to watch live music and it’s just great, because it’s the old Assembly. So it’s cool to also have that bit of a history in the venue as well.

Tim [14:20]: Yeah, so for anyone that’s in Cape Town on March 31st, you can check Yndian Mynah out at District, it’s gonna be a great show. For the folks that are maybe not in Cape Town, in other parts of South Africa or maybe even other countries, do you guys have any plans to tour? I know that you’re very busy, you’ve got all the work going there at Mount Wave Studios and so forth, but what does the future look like in terms of touring possibilities for this new record?

James [14:45]: Uh, very good. So it’s a bit of a strange time at the moment – well, an exciting time. Johnny just actually gave birth to their first little one, sweet Ivy, his little girl, on the 19th of January. So he’s got fatherhood, for the next few months. But we are busy chatting and looking at what we are going to be doing for the rest of the year, at least locally. Overseas, it’s something that we definitely are, planning to do and something we want to do. Our label The Good Times Co., which is run by Blaise Janichon in the Netherlands – we’ve been talking about getting us over to Europe. And there was some plans that came together, but unfortunately with the second / third wave that came up in Europe, it just pushed everything back. So I think as soon as we’re in the clear with everything, which it looks pretty positive – touch wood, we’ll be making plans to hopefully be there by at least, early next year, mid next year. Yeah, that’s the plan, ‘cos we’d love to get over to Europe and anywhere really, you know, it would just be lovely to share music across the pond.

Tim [15:57]: Yeah, well that’s great news that you’ve got Blaise helping you guys out in the Netherlands – I’m sure he’ll hook you up with some good gigs there. I know your sound is gonna do really well overseas, in Europe in particular – well, at least in my opinion. I think the new record is fantastic and is gonna open up some really good doors for you guys, so I’m excited to watch the developments. I know you and Matt work there at Mount Wave Studios in Cape Town, so I’m keen to hear a little bit more about what you guys get up to there during the day.

James [16:26]: Right, so Mount Wave is a studio that is owned by Matthew and I’m the project manager. And I pretty much oversee and manage the projects that come in. So it’s a sound studio where we write original music for anything visual, whether it be advertising, shorts, film, anything along that line. And Matt’s the main composer that writes pretty much everything, and I am client liaison and just making sure that deadlines happen and all of that.

Tim [16:56]: Awesome. So you’re getting to spend a lot of your time during your day working on audio, which is great, meeting people, which is fantastic. So you sparked a thought in my mind now, talking about writing. In terms of songwriting in Yndian Mynah, and particularly on this new record, do you guys all kind of write together or does it happen where maybe one individual composes the majority of the song and then brings it to the band?

James [17:20]: Yeah. So how it would normally work is that, as Matthew Dickinson and I are the guitarists, we’ll normally be writing new riffs. Matthew’s pretty amazing at composing in general, so he would come up with a song, a riff. And, you know, I would come up with a song and a riff, and regardless of what it is, it would always change when we bring it in – and that’s the cool thing. And that’s the thing that we always wanted this band to be: is that no one is told what to play, it’s completely open. So if I’ll bring a riff and it goes like this, Matthew would come in just completely flip the thing on its head. Jonathan Ueckerman will play something that would even flip it more. Kenan Tatt comes and plays drums that just like, okay, cool, it can actually go this way. So it’s very much about: the idea will start with maybe one or two people and then it would just evolve in a room. I think that’s where the real magic is, when it happens all in the room together. I don’t say we write songs pretty quickly, but there is always a nice natural feel and flow with the whole songwriting process.

Tim [18:24]: Awesome. And it might be a little bit early to ask this question, but are there plans for a third record?

James [18:30]: Absolutely. We’ve started already playing around with some riffs and looking to do some new things. The nice thing for this next record is that, the previous two… well, the first record obviously has its own sound and it’s quite different to – not different, but still, you know, has some influence from the first one. Where I think for this third one, we are keen to completely try something new. But then again, whatever I’m telling you now could completely change. It could go back to something that we do original that could be even heavier. So I’m not sure it really depends what we feel like in the moment. But the nice thing is that we can decide whatever we want to do. You know, a label isn’t telling us we need to make this type of music. We don’t make music that’s played on the radio, so there’s no constraints on time or duration of the song, it’s completely open. So it’s an open canvas and we can just do whatever we want. And that’s also partly the reason why this thing is so fun and why it’s lasted the way it has is that, there’s no egos – everyone’s just in for a good time. And the main thing with Yndian Mynah is: just have the best time you can with your best friends.

Tim [19:41]: Awesome. Well, yeah, I think, that pretty much wraps it up for today. It’s been really great speaking with you, James, and, I know you’ve got some clients coming in soon, so you’re carrying on there, with the work there at Mount Wave. But I guess before we wrap up, I always like to ask the musician if they have any final words for the fans. So this is your opportunity to connect with your fan base and tell them what’s on your mind.

James [20:07]: For anyone that’s ever listened or come to an Yndian Mynah show, thank you so much. It means so much and we can’t wait to see you again. We are excited to be playing live and it’s so cool to be a part of this Cape Town music scene, as well as the South African music scene. And we are looking forward to new listeners discovering us. And if there’s a young kid that’s discovering local music – that’s just the most special thing for me is that it would be cool for, you know, new fans to grow with us and see where we go, and that’s exciting.

Tim [20:43]: Awesome, James. Well, yeah, great speaking with you today. Looking forward to catching you guys live again on March 31st at District in Cape Town. I’ll be able to hear all the songs off The Boys Scribbled Like Mad and know a little bit more about what they’re all about. Hopefully you’ll play all seven of those tracks – Who knows? I’m not sure. But, as long as you play Eisbein, so I can feel the energy of the eisbein, I’m gonna be super stoked man,

James [21:05]: We’ll definitely be playing ice spine for you, Tim – extra loud.

Tim [21:10]: Awesome. James, say hi to the rest of the guys. I really appreciate your time. I’ll see you ’round and keep rocking in the free world.

James [21:18]: Thanks, dude Cheers Tim.