The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Witter promises some Seven heaven at Sam’ s
For fans heading to Shed Seven’s gig at Fat Sam’s, frontman Rick Witter promises a “rock n’ roll evening for a Monday night at the end of November”.
The Britpop legends were massive in the 1990s and, while they’ve gone through a few changes in line-up over the decades, they’re as strong and musically tight as ever.
Famed for hits including Going for Gold, Chasing Rainbows and On Standby, the band has a loyal army of fans in Scotland.
They’ll perform an “intimate” warm-up gig at Fat Sam’s in Dundee on Monday followed by Inverness Ironworks on Tuesday.
Rick says both gigs are being used to “get into the groove again” ahead of a string of sell-out dates across the UK for their greatest hits tour.
He reckons the last time the band played Fat Sam’s was in 2001 – and they graced the stage there a good few times in the 1990s.
“It’s nice to be able to come up to Dundee again – it’s been a while,” he says.
“We thought we’d add a couple of intimate warm-up kind of shows to get into the groove again. And where better than Fat Sam’s? It’ll be a full show, just in a slightly smaller venue, just so we can find our legs and see the whites of people’s eyes.”
The band played a couple of festivals in September which, says Rick, helped them “get used to playing in front of a crowd again”.
“We were all a bit on edge because it was ‘new’ again and there were masses of people stood together in a field. But within two or three songs it was like Covid never happened.”
In August, the band announced two of its founding members – drummer Alan Leach, and guitar and keyboard player Joe Johnson – would be stepping down from their roles.
The Dundee gig will be the first time they’ve played live with the new line-up, with Maxi on drums and Tim Wills on keyboard and guitar.
“Rehearsals are sounding immense,” says Rick. “The guys are recreating our sound but obviously putting a little bit of their own slant on it, but there’s nothing that should worry any Shed Seven fan.
“If anything it’s reinvigorated us and made us feel a little bit more hungry to do it. It’s also made us look at the setlist and we’ve decided to play a few songs we’ve not played since the 90s which will be a treat for the fans hopefully.
“There’ll be a few surprises but I think on the whole people should just expect to go and see a great Shed Seven gig.
“We’ll be playing all the old hits and making it a bit of a rock n’ roll evening for a Monday night at the end of November.”
Of course, 2021 is a big year for Shed Seven, with two major milestones – the 25th anniversary of their first album A Maximum High and the hit single Chasing Rainbows.
“Anniversaries seem to come more often which is worrying; it shows we’re getting old,” chuckles Rick.
“We’re really lucky. We’ve got a great set of fans and a lot of songs from the 90s but they never seem to age; they never seem to get tiring to listen to.
“I often get asked – do you ever get bored of playing Chasing Rainbows. Never. The atmosphere while we play that song is incredible so no way would we get bored of that feeling when everybody’s singing every word back at you.”
The band released a new album, Instant Pleasures, in 2017, which charted at number eight in the UK album chart. “That made us a little bit more relevant,” reflects Rick.
“It’s not just a case of being a nostalgia act playing songs from the 90s. We plan on doing a lot more of that in the new year.
“It’s important to keep moving forward, as well as playing songs from the 90s, which got us where we are.
“People come to see us who are around our age who’ve bought tickets months ago and got babysitters lined up.
“They want to reminisce about the 1990s and the songs they listened to then. It’s a great atmosphere. There’s a real buzz.”
Support for the warm-up gigs will be from Kirkcaldybased Shambolics. ticketmaster.co.uk