Shed Seven have shared their anthemic new single ‘In Ecstasy’ that includes Completely happy Mondays powerhouse Rowetta, and spoken to NME about how in addition they recruited Pete Doherty and Reverend And The Makers’ Laura McClure for his or her sixth studio album ‘A Matter Of Time’. Try the brand new video on NME first under, together with our interview with frontman Rick Witter.
The rousing monitor, sees Witter and the Mondays’ singer buying and selling vocals, over a driving, motorik beat and hovering guitars. It got here collectively after the frontman stumbled throughout a melody he felt can be excellent for Rowetta’s highly effective vocals.
“When I was writing that song, as soon as I thought of this particular melody, I just thought of Rowetta, I just thought ‘I can hear her singing that,’” he advised NME.
“Because we’ve met a few times over the years and we supported the Mondays way back when, I just thought I might as well reach out and see if she’s interested and she was all over it.”
He continued: “She’s just got that sass hasn’t she? She’s got the Manchester sass, that Manchester energy. It didn’t take a lot for her to understand what we wanted either. I just showed her the melody and said, ‘These are the words, see what you wanna do and before we knew it she had a big (adopts her singing voice): ‘In ecstaaasy!’ It was very Rowetta.”
The Shed Seven frontman additionally managed to get Pete Doherty onboard for the album’s closing monitor ‘Throwaways’ after he caught The Libertines man singing alongside to their songs along with the stage eventually yr’s Bingley Weekender.
“We played just before The Libertines on the main stage and while we were doing our set, I just looked at the side of the stage and discovered that Peter was stood there with my family watching the gig and he was singing every word,” Witter remembered.
“So after we’d finished our gig, I went over and he was telling me that in the ;90s – pre-Libertines – he’d sit on his bed with his guitar and learn Shed Seven songs, which I thought was pretty cool. I just said, ‘Look we’ve got this song, we’ve got another couple of guests on our record, we might as well throw the boat out here, would you fancy jumping on?’ And he said, ‘I would absolutely love to’.”
Elsewhere, the York band recruited Reverend And The Makers keyboardist and backing singer Laura McClure for ‘Tripping With You’, a track about an obsessive stalker.
“We wanted a girl’s voice that sounded really sweet and innocent,” Witter defined. “We’ve supported the Reverend a few times over the years and I thought of Laura. I spoke to her over the phone and gave her the brief and said it’s a bit stalker-ish. We wanted someone very innocent down to the point where I wanted a sort of giggle on there. So she gave us a few different giggles and I chose the right one for us and I think she nailed it.”
Forward of the writing classes for the album, which began in March 2022, longterm drummer Alan Leach and guitarist Joe Johnson left the band to pursue different initiatives.
“It’s one of those things isn’t it? You can’t stop someone from doing what they want to do,” Witter reasoned. “And the 2 guys clearly felt that it was time for them to attempt to do one thing else. All we are able to do is want them the most effective of luck with what they do sooner or later.
“But I guess as long as there is me, [bassist] Tom [Gladwin] and [guitarist] Paul [Banks] in the band, we are the mainstays that have been there from the beginning. So as long as people are watching me fling my hips about onstage and singing about gold and rainbows then we should be all be happy shouldn’t we?”
Former Shed Seven drummer Alan Leach CREDIT: Press.
Following the duo’s departure, the band drafted in former Audioweb drummer Robert “Maxi” Maxfield and multi-instrumentalist Tim Wills, who had beforehand labored with Ian Brown, for the recording classes on ‘A Matter Of Time’ which finally noticed them retreat to the Spanish mountains. There they reunited with Killing Joke bassist Youth, who produced their 2017 album ‘Instant Pleasures’.
“We were in Spain for three weeks in his studio, halfway up a mountain with one hire car and he was the only person that was allowed to drive it. So we were basically trapped there and he’s quite a force of nature is Youth,” mentioned Witter.
In the course of the classes, the producer would power the band to play every track on an acoustic guitar moderately than hearken to their demos.
“We found ourselves every morning having to show him the next song we were gonna record so we basically recorded a song a day,” the frontman defined. “He would say, ‘Right what song are we playing today?’ And we’d strum it on an acoustic guitar and I’d be singing and one minute he’d be looking to the heavens wondering what on earth he’s hearing and the next he’d be going, ‘Oh yeah that sounds really good’. He’s a very clever man and it was a really interesting process to kind of hear his thoughts and opinions! And then he’d fall asleep while we were recording.”
Producer and The Killing Joke bassist Martin “Youth” Glover April 6, 2023 CREDIT: Lorne Thomson/Redferns
As for his ideas on working with the brand new band members, Witter mentioned: “It’s been fantastic. They’ve made us pull our socks up because they’re hungry, they’re brand new to the party, they want things to go as well as they possibly can. So it’s kind of given us a massive kick up the arse. They’re also fantastic musicians and we don’t have to tell them twice how to do something. They’re just clued in.”
Having recorded two albums within the final six years, Witter argues that the band have lastly shed what he describes as their 90s “nostalgia tag”.
“We’ve lost that nostalgia of just going out and playing our old hits like a lot of bands tend to do,” he added. “We’ve discovered ourselves feeling a bit of extra present once more as a result of we’re doing model new stuff. The actual fact the brand new stuff undoubtedly stands up with our previous materials within the sense that it sounds very contemporary and present is a good factor. So we’ve discovered ourselves in a very wholesome place.
“Having said that I’ve never got bored of singing our old stuff because of the fact that everyone there in that room watching us is just having the best time. It’s difficult to get bored when you’re looking at 2,000 people looking like they’re having a really, really good night out.”
Earlier than they launch their new album, Shed Seven will head out on a UK tour subsequent month which they hope will give them the prospect to roadtest their songs with a number of the visitor artists on the report.
“Unfortunately Rowetta is in Australia while we’re doing most of these gigs. It turns out that she gets home the day before we play Manchester so that would be pretty cool if we could get her to come out and join us onstage in her hometown. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that she’s not too jet lagged,” Witter enthused.
“If we’re in Sheffield and Laura’s available we’ll definitely ask the question. And with Peter obviously he’s a busy man himself but they’re always welcome and why wouldn’t we? The other alternative to that is to get a big screen and get them to sing on it. We’ve gotta keep up with the modern times haven’t we?”
As for what lies forward in 2024, the frontman concluded: “I think it’s gonna be a big year for us, starting with the release of our brand new album in the first week of the 30th anniversary of our debut ‘Change Giver’. If you’re a Shed Seven fan I think you should buckle up because you’re gonna be in for a good ride. And if you’re not a fan, find a big rock and hide behind it.”
A ‘Matter Of Time’ is launched on January 5, 2024. You may pre-order/pre-save the album right here.
The band’s UK tour dates are under. Go to right here for any remaining tickets.
Shed Seven’s UK dates are as follows:
