Shed Seven Interview

In 2003 Shed Seven split up after releasing 4 albums and being an integral part of the Britpop scene in the 90’s. Although they were never as widely acknowledged as Oasis or Blur, they did collect an army of fans so when they reformed for a tour in 2007 they had to add more dates and sold out everywhere. The tour that had just been “for our own amusement” went so well that in 2009 they decided to do it again, getting into a routine of touring every 2 years. This time round they are celebrating 15 years since their most popular album ‘A Maximum High’ and 27 years since Shed Seven formed, a thought that front man Rick Witter finds quite crazy. We get to spend some time with him about looking like an idiot and how we will all be listening to music in the future.

Do you expect the same kind if turn out that you got when you toured in 2009?

We obviously question it ourselves, there is only so long you can keep going out and playing your old stuff. Right now I think a lot of the people who like Shed Seven just like coming down and hearing us playing the old stuff. For them I think it’s a bit of a party night out which is why we like to do things at Christmas time because people are finishing work and Christmas is a nice time of year.

We have found ourselves a bit like The Pogues who seem to tour every Christmas, we decided to do it every other year because we don’t want to do too much. We love playing live so much that we don’t want to ruin it for people and be everywhere; we still want it to feel special. It’s really nice to know we have a strong set of fans that really love to hear our old stuff its quite mental really.

Have you changed as a front man since you formed in 1990?

I have definitely changed over that space of time. I don’t know whether it’s more since we reformed and came back in the mid noughties, but I think there is suddenly no pressure on us anymore. We get to decide on what we are going to do, how long we are going to play for and what we are going to play. We always did have that but we always had a record company behind us suggesting other options. These days it’s entirely our call and because of that all of us as musicians have just relaxed. It shows when we play live because we are just more into it. It’s less pressure and more fun. Certainly myself I find I am having more of a joke with the crowd and putting more into it without feeling like I am looking stupid, it’s a bit of a strange thing explain. Without making myself look like a complete idiot, I can make myself look like a complete idiot.

So as long as you look like you are enjoying it everyone else will.

That’s exactly it; I think because we are enjoying it so much, that feeds into the crowd. We are the type of band that if the crowd are up to it we respond to that, it’s a two way street. You can’t beat it. There have been times in the past where the lights have dimmed and there is a spattering of applause, those times you know you are going to have to work to get the crowd’s reaction, which we are very good at doing. But when the lights go out and there is a massive roar you know that crowd are up for it and it’s going to be fun. I can’t believe I am still doing it, it’s so great.

Now that you are a family man is touring a different experience from when you were 21?

No not really, when we are on tour it's all about being on tour. Obviously making sure you do a good gig so that people who have spent money on you appreciate it and enjoy it. Its just a game of two half’s, one day I will find myself walking kids to school the next day I am doing gigs in front of 2000 people who are all telling me how good I am. Then I come home again and have to get breakfast, get the Coco Pops out for the kids. Kids don’t give a toss, it’s quite hard sometimes to get your head around the two things, but its what’s makes life interesting.

Do your kids listen to your music?

The older they get the more into music they are. They are all into quite traditional early teens, Tinie Tempah and that sort of stuff. I have sort of lost the plot on all of that stuff really; I am an old stick in the mud. They are all into pop but the older they get the more interested they are. It just annoys me sometimes because when I was their age I religiously watched Top of the Pops every week and every week I would say “one day I am going to be on that”. Now if I am feeling like I want to give myself a bit of a big up, I will say to one of my kids “I did Top of the Pops ten times I did” and they will just go “what’s Top of the Pops?” You can’t win.

Its quite rubbish for kids these days with music shows, there isn’t really that much there. When I was younger you had your Saturday morning programmes and chart shows, there isn’t really that much out there for kids this minute which is a bit of a shame. You got such a diverse range of acts on Top of the Pops, whenever there was an Indie band on there it was big news. I remember The Smiths being on there and I thought that’s what I want to do. When I was my oldest kids age I was round at what transpired to be our guitarist Paul Banks house. We formed our first band when we were 12 and we were in and out of each other’s houses writing stuff, which granted wasn’t great but you have got to start somewhere. We were designing record sleeves before we had written the songs. Now I have to give my kids a kick up the arse to get up, they can’t just sit on the Xbox all day.

Do you think the Internet has been a good or a bad think for music?

The Internet has changed everything from what I remember. In a positive way it gets your name out there a lot quicker and a lot easier. You can sell yourself a lot easier because there are that many different social networking sites where you can get friends quickly. But on the other hand its overkill, there is too much of it and also it’s easy now to just go and buy a song with a click of a finger. I used to absolutely love getting a wage packet and going straight to my local record shop and browsing. I used to buy records on the strength of the cover alone and sometimes it would be awful but sometimes it would be great. There are pros and cons of all of it really, it’s just the way that the future is set out for us so there is nothing much we can do about it. I am sure anyone who is getting on a bit would hanker over old times but its technology. It just makes you wonder what will happen in the following years when we are all flying around on little disks so we don’t have to walk anywhere anymore. They will probably invent some chip that they put in your head and all you have to do is think of a song and it will start playing in your head, that actually sounds like a mint idea.

Do you have any plans to tour with your solo project, Rick Witter and the Dukes, any time soon?

It’s kind of been put on the shelf for a while when I am touring with Shed Seven. I don’t think it would be very fair on the rest of the Dukes if, for example, Shed Seven booked a few gigs before or after the Dukes did. I think the majority of people would come and see Shed Seven because they were the bigger band. It’s a project that’s on hold, if and when Shed Seven decide to take a long break, I will dust off the old Dukes, if they will still have me of course and see where we take it from there.

Do you think there will ever be a time when you stop wanting to go on stage?

No, it’s the one thing that I know that I enjoy doing and I know I do quite well. Well, you never know I might have a massive change of heart at some point and want to sit on a Tesco checkout but I can’t really see it happening any time soon. 

Published in Metro and Yorkshire Evening Post