The Shining
The Shining are the only band you need this year. Featuring ex-Verve members Simon Jones and Simon Tong alongside rock superstar in the making Duncan Baxter (think Northern Swagger ala Liam Gallagher mixed with the looks of Jonathan Rhys Meyers) they deliver the dirtiest rock & roll riffs and massive grooves in the style of Led Zep meets Oasis. An album is ready for release in September and it won't be long before the Verve simply become a distant memory. In fact we'll go further than that and say the Shining are simply the most important band since the Beatles.
Q: You've been locked up in a dingy basement for the
past 12 months. What's it like to finally get on the road?
Simon: Its quite liberating. Like you say we spent
over a year locked away...we've got this Railway Arch and we just locked
ourselves away and wrote loads of material. Its good to get out...were
actually seeing the sun now. This is only our six gig now so its good to
get your instrument strapped on and get those decibels coming out!!!
Q: Before the current line-up you spent a lot of time
working with John Squire. How come that fizzled out?
Simon: We spent a lot of time playing with John
Squire and it just didn't working out. Me personally, I just left because
my heart wasn't in it. I live in London and I spent about 7 months, 5 days
a week travelling up to Macclesfield...I had a day at home each week and
I didn't feel I had a life outside going up to Johns and musically it wasn't
100% satisfying for me musically. Its nothing to do with John or who John
is or what he does musically - it was just a personal thing for me that
I wasn't into it.
So I came down to London, got this band together and instantly
the chemistry was there.
Q: Obviously there was the Verve connection between
yourself and Simon Tong. How did it all come together pre-John Squire then?
Duncan: Me and John met through a mutual friend.
I had my own band back home which split up for the better thankfully
Simon: For me I met John at the last ever gig
that the Verve gig did in Ireland at Slane Castle. I just met John there
and just got talking to him. He rung me up a few months after that when
the Verve split up...so that's how that happened.
I still keep in touch with the Verve guys...Si obviously and I speak to Nick...but I haven't seen Richard for about two years
Q: Do you feel more at home now with the Shining as
oppose to where the Verve were heading?
Simon: When I started we were making pretty heavy
guitar music, way back when I was 18, 19. That's what I was into, the Stooges
and Can. That's not why the Verve broke up, because of the direction it
was taking....but personally I feel much more at home with the music I'm
playing.
The single doesn't sum up the whole spectrum of the band,
but its still dirty rock & roll with massive grooves. There's a lot
of up and downs - just bringing it down to a locked groove and then exploding
into massive massive guitars. There's a track on the album called "Until
The End" which starts off really really slow and by the end its reached
double time - its one of the heaviest things I've heard.
Q: I guess Britain needs a band like the Shining. If
you look at what's happening musically there's either your pop acts or
your nu-metal bands. How do you think people are going to take to you?
Simon: There's no middle ground really. Acoustic
rock, nu-metal and there's a little grey area in the middle. I'd like to
think people will embrace us. I came off stage last and sometimes you forget
its all just about the music. There was about 70 people and you could see
everybody's faces. If I can go and us lot can go and turn people on then
that's mission accomplished - next time there will be 500 people there!!!
I'm totally prepared to go out and work for it. I don't
want any help because I was in the Verve or anything. I just wanna go out
there and rock the stage and touch people. We've all said that if this
doesn't go off on the first album it doesn't matter...it didn't go off
on the first album for the Verve. Were all prepared to go out and work
this for years because we all believe in it. All you need is self belief,
confidence and shit hot musicians!!!!
Q: You guys have got confidence by the bucketload.
Is it a case of each and every gig makes you stronger?
Simon: It takes something to get that confidence.
We had to do those shit gigs where everything went wrong and our confidence
was shattered....to come out and think if its that bad, then it can never
get that bad again. Rock & roll is about a vibe. Its not about singing
perfectly or everyone worrying about going out and playing perfectly. Its
just about going out and having a good time really.
You form a band to go out and play music really. That's what were doing really, so mission accomplished. Like I say we did those few warm up gigs - I was carrying my own guitar and setting my amp up in a pub. Its a very humbling experience but it was like this is what being a musician is about. I've not got an ego because I had a bit of success - f**k that - some people think you have a bit of success and you live in a mansion. I haven't got that sort of money at all. I'm just doing this because I love music and I still love playing.
We just want to go out and see the world and play music
in a nice big silver bus!!!
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The Ltd Edition single "Quicksilver" is out now
For more info
www.theshiningishere.com
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