We’ve stood test of time
Shed Seven didn’t get credit they deserved in 90s but unlike rivals, they’re still going strong
IN the 90s, Shed Seven were the whipping boys of Britpop
Despite indie anthems like Going for Gold, Chasing Rainbows, On Standby and She Left Me on Friday they weren’t given the respect or love of groups such as Oasis, Blur or Pulp.
But while most of the 90s bands have bitten the dust – the Sheds have had a resurgence. Comeback album Instant Pleasures – their first in 16 years – went to No8 two years ago. And they are turning November and December into Shedcember with a string of UK gigs including a date in Aberdeen and two in Glasgow.
Here, singer Rick Witter tells us he’s happy more people have joined the Sheds party.
You guys get bigger and bigger. This tour is your biggest ever and you’re playing your first headline stadium gig at Leeds First Direct. What’s going on?
It’s taken 30 years to get to this point. But who cares. What we’ve done is battered people into submission. There seems to be an awful lot of love for Shed Seven. But we have to be careful with that because we don’t want to overkill it.
I think why it’s happened is because what we did release in the 90s, songs like Chasing Rainbows, have stuck with people. And because we released a new album after so many years which is a good album, I think people have genuinely warmed to us. We’ve stood the test of time.
You must feel vindicated. You guys got it in the neck from NME and others in the 90s.
Being a bit of an older gentlemen, I much prefer to have it like it is now than be a flash-in-the-pan in 1995. Music is forever. For those that didn’t get Shed Seven back in the 90s but like us now – welcome to the party. Everyone is invited.
You’re playing Aberdeen’s Music Hall and two nights at the O2 Academy Glasgow at the end of the month. Did you think of playing the SSE Hydro?
It was a discussion we had. Maybe think about it in two years’ time (the York band tour every two years and do festivals in the year they aren’t on tour).
In two years we will be in our late 40s. Maybe it’s time not to do the 23/24-date tours.
But I know a lot of our promoters and fans like us doing two nights rather than one big night. It’s more intimate. We could have probably put four nights on at the Barras which would have been immense. There’s never enough time in Shedcember. You have come a long way since your first Scots gig in 1993 supporting Compulsion at King Tut’s in Glasgow, when after their first song someone in the crowd said: “F*** me, I wish I had a gun . . .”
It wasn’t our gig to be fair. We were the support act. But we love coming to Scotland. People are crazy and just lose themselves in it. You played TRSNMT last year and were one of the best acts of the day with a huge crowd of all ages singing every word. What do you remember of it?
We are finding more and more of our crowds are young. I think people who are our age, or slightly older, who were coming to our shows in the 90s are now bringing their teenage children with them – not under sufferance, they are singing every word.
To me that means we will continue going and going and going. If we put a gig on and no one buys a ticket it’s game over.
TRNSMT was amazing. The night before, we’d done our biggest ever headline show at the Castlefield Bowl in Manchester and had come up to Glasgow on a bus drinking brandy through the night.
However rough you feel, performing to a huge crowd gets you in gear.
You brought your son Duke on stage. He’s in a band now?
He’s in a band called Serotones. When he was 12 he’d say, “Why are you so uncool on stage?” Now I go and watch him performing around pubs in York with his band and it’s like watching me when I was 18. Must be
the Witter in him coming out.
Liam Gallagher’s sons are also in bands. Feels like there could be a Britpop II.
It’s a bit scary as it shows we are getting f ****** old aren’t we?
You had your moments with Liam Gallagher but he seems to have changed?
He still has his moments but at least he’s admitted a lot of it is an act. When I see other bands from the 90s, it feels less competitiony. I think Oasis were instrumental in the 90s for making it into a competition.
Any plans for new music?
It took us 16 years to release new material. I’d rather wait until we’ve got a quality product. I’m really proud of Instant Pleasures. It felt like a debut album.
● Shed Seven play Aberdeen Music Hall next Thursday and Glasgow O2 Academy on Friday and Saturday. A deluxe edition of singles collection Going for Gold is out now.