News

The Shills Tour News

• 13th Apr 2010

Hailing from Cambridge, The Shills don’t hang about when it comes to knocking together thorny three-minute wonders with a classic British charm reminiscent of The Smiths, Pulp, The Clash and Elvis Costello. This certainly holds true for their newest offering the ‘Sweet Inertia’ EP which is out on the 17th May on CD and download across the globe.

For this release, they teamed up with producer Roger Fife, (Cyndi Lauper, Tricky, Manic Street Preachers, Anthony and the Johnsons) to create 4 distinct tracks containing a vital mixture of post-punk intelligence and rock n roll swagger that’s a rallying cry to get your feet moving whilst like all the best rock bands, possessing that innate ability to vocalise your disaffection, to climb inside your head and make you think. Fife elaborates on their sound stating:

“The Shills evoke the best of the early 90's: spikey guitars, angular bass, great tunes, and a lead singer who evokes both the pain and beauty of existence. A great antidote to the synthesizer laden world of today.”

Formed in late 2008, The Shills have slowly gone from strength to strength with relentless gigging including supporting tours for Yeti, Tom Hingley, Five O’Clock Heroes and Patrick Jones and the release of 2 previous singles. Debut single ‘Raison d’être’ released on R*E*P*E*A*T Records was picked up by Strummerville (The Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music), who gave them ‘Artist of the Week’ and posted the single on-line. ‘Raison d’être’ went on to become the most downloaded songs in Strummerville’s history while their 2nd single ‘Apparition’ received critical acclaims from Artrocker, NME, Organ and caught the attention of ex-Verve manager Dave Halliwell who works with them closely now.

The band is kicking their career up a notch with this release. Title track and lead single ‘Sweet Inertia’ is the most immediate tune on the EP, an urgent kick-start, fired into life by infectious licks supplied Olly Yates and Rob D'Ath and heart pounding rhythms of bassist Dickon Collinson and drummer Ed Bateson while frontman Tom Yates’s keening, vocals arc between the tremolo of Elvis Costello and the unstoppable passion of Joe Strummer on its chorus line, replete with anthemic backings and cart wheeling guitars that burn into its outro.

More gigs have just been announced in London and Cambridge including a launch party at the Rocklands’ night at The Monarch in Camden on the 26th May. A UK tour is being booked in for the summer with a slot already confirmed at Livestock Music Festival on the 19th June.