People call us 90s underdogs, but it’s probably why we’re still here… it’s kept us hungry, say Shed Seven
IT has been a busy and celebratory week for Shed Seven – they are on course for their first No1 album after three decades in the music industry.
The five-piece from York, who formed in 1990, have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity since reforming in 2007.
And with it looking like they will hit the album top spot later today, you could say Shed Seven are finally hitting their peak.
In the middle of a record store tour, singer Rick Witter, 51, says proudly: “It’s amazing that we are going to hit the top spot.
“It’s taken us 30 years so we’ve put in the hours.
“I remember when me and [lead guitarist] Paul started writing songs as 13-year-olds, we said the aim is a number one.
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“I just didn’t think we’d achieve it in our 50s.”
I caught up with the Britpop star after an in-store gig in Brighton — and he has been enjoying being in the spotlight.
He says: “It’s been great visiting record stores this week.
“It’s amazing to see our fans and say hello.
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“And the acoustic performances in such an intimate setting have been great.”
For a band who were supposedly at their biggest in the late 1990s, it’s an exciting start to 2024 for Witter.
And the singer has no quarrels with those who didn’t rate them as high as other big bands of the era, such as Oasis, Blur and Pulp.
‘Expect hips to swing and voices to sing’
“It’s all relative,” he says.
“A lot of people use the terms under-valued and underdog when they discuss our ’90s phase, but I don’t let it worry me.
“It’s probably the reason we are still here doing this.
“It’s kept us hungry.
“And we bump into loads of bands on our travels.
“It’s always great to catch up with people we first met in the early ’90s.”
The band have always had a big live following and their live performances mean their fanbase has kept growing.
Witter says: “We pride ourselves on putting on a show.
“If people are coming to see us live, expect hips to swing and voices sing.”
The band today are founder members Witter, Paul Banks on guitar and Tom Gladwin on bass plus Rob “Maxi” Maxfield on drums and Tim Wills on keys.
New album A Matter Of Time was born when Witter and Banks began writing songs in March 2022, starting with memories of being young and falling in love with music.
Witter says: “We discussed our youth and reminisced about meeting as 11-year-old boys and bonding over a love of music.
“Which then led us to writing songs together as 13-year-olds.
“So, we wanted to capture a bit of what we were listening to as youngsters, so we listened to a lot of Duran Duran, Simple Minds, U2 and Frankie Goes To Hollywood as well as the staple bands such as The Smiths.
“I think the first three ideas came quite quickly and that set us off on a creative path that we enjoyed travelling down throughout 2022.”
Themes on A Matter Of Time are “love, hate, sex, death, stalking, recreation, travel and ornithology,” says Witter.
And the album title is a perfect description for ’s resurgence.
Witter says: “We are putting out this new set of songs in our 30th year of releasing music, and we believe it’s up there with our best work, so I guess it’s us saying it was only a matter of time to arrive here.
“It’s also a lyric in the last track on the album Throwaways and it’s kind of always stood out.”
This defiant album closer includes the lines: “It’s just a matter of time before we belong somewhere/But we won’t toe the line, we won’t accept the dare/But we won’t be erased/Or left out in the rain/We won’t change our ways.” The standout song was recorded with Libertines frontman Pete Doherty.
Witter says: “We played the Bingley festival in summer 2022 alongside the Libertines and Pete was watching our set and singing along, which was nice to see.
“I went over and introduced myself and discovered he was a fan from way back.
“I mentioned we had a song which he’d fit really well on and invited him to sing on it.
‘It’s a song about being outsiders’
“He sang his parts remotely as he lives in France but as soon as he sent his parts over for us to hear it sounded like he’d always been on it.
“I’m hoping he’ll come and guest on it live at some future shows.
“It’s a song about being outsiders, which in some ways could be the Sheds or the Libertines, so that gives it an extra edge.”
Other collaborators on the new album include Happy Mondays singer Rowetta on In Ecstasy and Reverend And The Makers keyboardist Laura McClure on Tripping With You.
“As soon as I started humming the melody of In Ecstasy it reminded me of the Happy Mondays in the late ’80s and early ’90s, which is a period of time musically that was very influential for us.
“So, I reached out to Rowetta and thankfully she loved it and what you hear now is exactly how it sounded in my head.
“Then Tripping With You was a sweet, twee love song which didn’t sit right, so I threw it on its head and started to imagine it more as a dark stalking kind of song.
“We invited Laura to sing on it as we wanted a really sweet female voice to counteract the dark imagery of what I was doing, and Laura nailed it.”
It’s just over six years since Shed Seven’s last album, Instant Pleasures, which was the band’s first new music in 16 years.
“Instant Pleasures happened by accident,” explains Witter.
“We ended up writing some songs which when we played the demos to family and friends everyone was saying these deserve to be heard.
“It had been 16 years since the previous release so I guess that brought its own pressures.
“That made the process of writing this one a lot easier in a way.
‘We are a better band all-round these days’
“It kind of freed us up to enjoy the experience of creating and I think that is captured within the songs.
“It sounds joyous.”
Writing this sixth studio album saw the two friends stranded up the Sierra Nevada mountain near Granada, Spain, with Killing Joke and The Verve producer Youth.
Witter says: “We spent three weeks halfway up a mountain with one vehicle which Youth owned, so we were kind of trapped, which is actually a positive thing as there were literally no distractions.
“We recorded a song a day so it had a real live feel to it which was exciting, and I think that really comes across throughout the album.”
It’s been a rollercoaster ride for Shed Seven who at their peak in 1996 enjoyed more hit singles than any other act that year, with indie anthems Getting Better, On Standby, Chasing Rainbows and Going For Gold.
By 2003 their popularity had dwindled, with their record label refusing to release a would-be fifth studio album. The band decided to split and issued a statement announcing their current sold-out shows would be a farewell tour.
Witter says now: “Wow! I’ve never really thought about it but it’s 20 years since we called it a day.
“We had a three or four-year break and decided we missed playing live, which is essentially just showing off.
“So, we spent a few years playing our back catalogue, which was all fine for a period of time, but we became conscious of becoming a nostalgia act and that didn’t sit right.
“So it’s great that with the release of Instant Pleasures in 2017 and now this new album in 2024 we are still relevant.
“I also think we are a better band all-round these days which perhaps comes with age and experience.”
But does Witter have any regrets or wish he had done things differently?
“No, never,” he answers.
“Life’s a funny thing and you’ve got to ride it like a wild animal. You fall off and get back on for more wild rides.
“The older I get the more I want to look forward and enjoy rather than look back and regret.
“I think it’s amazing that in the very first week of our 30th anniversary year we have released a brand-new set of songs.
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“We are going to be busy all year with loads of exciting Shed-related business, so if I can be so bold as to give some advice, can I say if you are a fan of Shed Seven, I’d buckle up for the ride.
“And if not, then find a big rock to hide behind. Or go and listen to something else instead.”
