Photo: Press
With so much new music out there thanks to the affordibility of high quality home recording and ease of online distribution, it can be easy to fall into a path where it takes quite a long time to discover a truly great band who are up there with the very best the 21st century has spawned.
If you're listening to SHAME, though, you're on the right path. This band are one of the most exhilarating live bands - after their showcase gigs at Eurosonic 2017 they got booked for more festivals than any other of the bands there, and we're talking about hundreds of bands who were being considered for coveted festival slots at the same time. Their shows are up there next to early Libertines gigs, Fat Whites' and Palma Violets'. SHAME will be one of those bands that people look back on in years to come when they're tracing what sounds defined youth culture in London in 2017.
The video above is for new single 'Tasteless' and it incorporates some original ideas into it. Singer and video director Charlie Steen explains in fairly impenetrable English that could be interpreted in numerous ways: "There always seems to be comfort in the collapsed, the constant pursuit for oblivion. What we portray is the detachment from what we have created ourselves, the willingness to destroy and demean it through stabbing, spray painting and eventually burning. All for one man's slight amusement. It is a comment on removing oneself from thought and reasoning and accepting how nothing is truly permanent, nothing is completely original and only by understanding this can progression be made. The only boundary being reality itself, something many tend to avoid."
Elswhere, Steen and band have shown a very forthright straightforward resentment of the Tories. One of their recent uploads onto Youtube a song called 'Visa Vulture', which refers to May's policy on Brexit and they're using their burgeoning fame to campaign against Brexit. Good on them.
Shame will play the following shows:
22/04- Reading, GB - Oakford Social Club
25/04 - Liverpool, GB - Magnet
26/04 - Glasgow, GB - Broadcast
27/04 - Middlesbrough, GB - Westgarth Social Club
28/04 - Newcastle, GB - Hit The North Festival
29/04 - Leicester, GB - Handmade Festival
30/04 - Manchester, GB - Sounds From The Other City
01/05 - Nottingham, GB - Bodega Social Club
03/05 - Birmingham GB - Sunflower Lounge
04/05 – Oxford, GB - The Cellar
06/05 – Cardiff, GB - Clwb Ifor Bach
07/05 – Exeter, GB - Exeter Pheonix
08/05 – Bristol, GB - Crofters
09/05 – Guildford, GB - The Boileroom
10/05 – Southampton, GB - The Joiners Arms
11/05 – London, GB - Tufnell Park Dome
13/05 – Lausanne, CH – Premices Festival
16/05 – Brussels, BE – Les Nuits Botanique
18/05 – Brighton, GB – The Great Escape Festival
20/05 – Leeds, GB – Gold Sounds Festival
04/06 – Saint Brieuc, FR – Festival Artrock
09/06 – Nimes, FR – This is not a Love Song
10/06– Paris, FR – We Love Green Festival
15/06 – Nickelsdorf, AT – Nova Rock
30/06 – Barcelona, ES – Vida Festival
01/07 – Clermont-Ferrand, FR – Cooperative de Mai
13/07 – Carhaix, FR – Vieilles Charrues Festival
15/07 –Tonsberg, NO – Slottsfjell Festival
28/07 – Cabourg, FR – Cabourg Mon Amour
29/07 – Lowther, GB – Kendall Calling
08/08 – Rees-Haldern, DE – Haldern Pop Festival
11/08 – Kent, GB – LeeFest
12/08 – Oslo, GB – Øya Festival
17/08 – Marinen, NO – PSTEREO
18/08 – Biddinghuizen, NL – Lowlands Festival
19/08 – Hasselt, BE – Pukkelpop Festival
20/08 – Glanusk, GB – Green Man Festival
26/08 – Reading, GB – Reading Festival
27/08 – Leeds, GB – Leeds Festival
03/09 – Salisbury, GB – End Of The Road Festival
02/11 – Reykjavik, IS – Iceland Airwaves
