Artist: Shaded
New EP: The Better Man In Me
Release Date: 1st September 2017

 

Marcus Halsey

If you thought that Thorpe Park was the only fun thing based in Surrey, you seriously need to reconsider. Shaded are a new pop punk quartet and about to unleash their self-released EP “The Better Man In Me“ on 1st September.

With the current trend of many pop punk bands to be heavy on the punk rock, I found The Better Man in Me to be quite refreshing. You won’t find guttural screams and heavily distorted guitar riffs from Shaded. What you get instead are some superbly written lyrics, winding melodies and catchy choruses and you could quickly run out of superlatives trying to describe the band’s sound. If you were to take the likes of All Time Low, Neck Deep and 5 Seconds of Summer and smush the best bits together, you will get an idea of just how good Shaded are.

Each of the five tracks on the EP is based around a central theme of lost relationships and the associated thoughts and feelings this brings but I will leave you make your own interpretations of the lyrics. The musicianship is superb throughout, so keep an ear open for the superb drums on Here’s to Starting Again, the cracking guitar solo on Deal My Hand and the beautifully sung Too Far Distant.

I would say that Shaded are probably the next big thing that you haven’t even heard of yet. So make sure you don’t miss out.

Track Listing:
1) Better With You
2) Here’s To Starting Again
3) Tendencies (The Times I Caved) [Feat. Miles Kent]
4) Too Far Distant
5) Bitter Cold
6) Deal My Hand

SHADED are:
Matt East – Vocals
Callum Irons – Guitar
Dan Bradberry – Bass
Barney Shanks – Drums

“Better With You” – single from EP “The Better Man In Me”

 

Last week the band took sometime out to be interviewed by us. You can find out a little more about the band and their music.

Hello, Shaded! First of all, could you introduce yourselves? Your names and your roles in the band?

Hey! I’m Matt, I sing.

I’m Callum, I play guitar.

I’m Dan, I play bass.

I’m Barney, I play the drums.

Thanks guys. Could you tell us how you all met up and became a band?

Matt: So, myself and Callum met just over a year ago. We’d been writing and demoing for about 3 months and were looking for band members to fill our lineup! We met Dan and Barn through our old guitarist as they were his housemates.

Now I believe you are a new band! Who are your influences? Does everyone listen to similar music and bands?

Matt: Yeah i’d say our music tastes are all very similar. We’re all massively into pop punk. I personally listen to a lot of heavier stuff like metalcore and hardcore, Dan’s really into Brand New, so he likes his emo. Having said that, we do also have ALOT of ‘guilty’ pleasures… actually nah, we’re not even guilty, Barney would die for Little Mix. Our tour playlist is looking extremely diverse at the moment!

Nice! You are just about to release the debut EP “The Better Man In Me”. How would you describe this EP?

Matt: A bundle of mixed emotions. Every song offers something completely different to the others. We’ve got bouncy tracks, we’ve got a couple of slower and more emotional songs, we’ve got a slightly darker sounding track… it’s a real mix that we’ve got. It’s definitely an out and out pop punk EP, but we tried to keep any songs from sounding even slightly similar, something which I think a lot of pop punk bands in our position often struggle with.

Absolutely. Can you tell us how long did you take to create this EP?

Matt: I think in total, around 4 months. We had the tracks demo’d and ready to be recorded in about a month of writing but we went through so many band members, trying to find the right people so that took up a lot of time that we could have spent recording. Actual recording, mixing and mastering took around 3 weeks altogether.

I think you did a great job in a short time. How do you go about writing your songs?

Matt: I guess it depends. Usually we’ll always start with an idea of a riff or progression that we will aim to develop into a full verse or chorus. I often start by programming some drums while Callum works our riffs and chords to accompany – our songs usually revolve heavily around the drums!. Then i’ll lay down some rough bass ideas before sending it all over to Dan and Barney for them to make any tweaks or give input. Once we’re fully settled on instrumentals, I’ll start writing lyrics.

How important are the lyrics to you? And what is your message through the EP?

Matt: I don’t have an overriding ‘message’ for the EP so to speak, its more just a group of stories and experiences that I’ve had, some good, some bad, that have made me a better person, it’s where the title ‘The Better Man In Me’ comes from.

Okay, that’s good to know.
Do you have a special show for the release?

Matt: We actually played a show in London back in July which saw the physical release of our EP. However, our EP comes out digitally on the 1st of September. We’ve got a show on the 7th of September which will be the first time we can actually say that our EP is available on all platforms.

You must be looking forward to it! What has been the highlight so far? 

Matt: Our show in London in July was a lot of fun. There were a fair few people there, some who even knew the words so that was really cool.

What should we expect from your live shows?

Matt: A lot of energy. We like to get people involved and get people having a good time so expect a lot of movement.

Great! Is there anything you would like to say?

Matt: Thanks for having us on! Check us out on all social media platforms @shadeduk, go to our Songkick page, SHADED (UK), to see where and when we’re playing next! Alternatively, all our upcoming shows are on our Facebook page! We will see you at a show!

Thank you! And good luck!

Teri Morris

To find out more about Shaded, visit their sites using the links below;
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShadedUK/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadeduk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SHADEDUK
BandCamp: https://shadeduk.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/46lf9xDBhmOtltUfdKGvbw
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC048SoCeMj5GMzQG3lKQPJA