THE SHADOW LINE, formed earlier this year, put the finishing touches on their debut demo - produced by John Robb and engineered by Paul Fenech - in July. The demo has received positive feedback from the public and here the band speak about the recording process and their future plans.
The Shadow Line are:
Tom Gregory: Vocals
Dan Taylor: Guitars
Ed Stokes: Rhythm
Will Maccabe: Bass
Accompanying the answers are photos from the recording of the band's demo. Thanks to the band for these photos and for taking the time out to give this interview.
Q1) Firstly, can you tell us a bit about yourselves individually ? For example, how old is each member of the band ?
Tom: I'm 25, born in Swindon, favourite colour is sky blue (this isn't a Smash Hits interview, y'know ! - McAuley) and I have more pairs of trainers / shoes than is healthy for a straight bloke in his 20's. Hahaha !
Dan: I'm the granddad at 28 ! Born in Cheltenham.
Ed: Age 25. From Nottingham. Lived all over the place.
Will: 25. Born in Burnley and lived in Manchester before ending up in London.
Q2) Can you give us a history of the band to date ? Have there been any changes in personnel in getting to this point ?
Tom: I was looking to put a new band together - saw an ad in a local free ads paper that literally just said 'guitarist seeks band' - no influences, nothing... I rang up and it was Dan - we clicked straight away with what we were into and background etc... I'd been jamming with Tim for a couple of weeks so all we were missing then was a drummer - I didn't think of anyone other than Ed as me and him were mates and had played in a band together in Bristol. We parted ways with Tim after the last gig and made a top close season signing in Will.
Dan: I had been in a few bands and some set ups over a period of a few years but most of them were crap so I started looking for something more my style. Decided to advertise locally first to see what was out there and Tom called me up straight away. Sounded pretty cool on the phone so decided to get together. Knew as soon as we started playing it was gonna be good.
Ed: I had been playing in bands for over 8 years before I moved to Bristol to join the band Tom was in. That turned out to be a bit of an ill-fated venture due to the two other people in the band being idiots, but Tom and me stayed in touch. I was then living in London playing in a band with Will. That ended up not happening but me and Will made plans to start another band. It was around this time that I got the call from Tom asking me what I was up to and whether I wanted to be in a new band with him. I knew that things had worked well previously with Tom and Will, and as soon as I played with Dan I knew that it was gonna work out.
Will: Ed's the best drummer I've played with and we bonded well in our last band. We ended up moving on as you do. He was ravin' on about his new band The Shadow Line with Tom and Dan, and when I heard them, the sound was right up my street. They asked me to join and it was a very easy decision to make.
Q3) What artists / bands would each individual member of the band cite as their main influences ?
Tom: Personally I like loads of different stuff - I hate the way music is so divided up into genre - as far as I'm concerned there's only two types of music - good and bad. I think I'd have to say my favourites are the Roses, Charlatans, Primal Scream, Beatles, Stones...but I'm also really into old northern soul. I love those compilations you can get of 40 northern soul tunes - you've never heard of any of them but the bass lines are all ace... there's all sorts..as far as vocalists are concerned - Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, James Brown.... I think Michael Jackson was the earliest influence. I used to go to junior school discos with my mate in drain pipe jeans, leather jackets with studs on and plasters on the ends of our fingers.
Dan: Where do I start !! Grew up listening to old British blues albums, bands like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and early Clapton (thanks to my old man !). Got into Hendrix when learning to play guitar but the last years of school is where it all kicked off. Bands like the Mondays, Charlatans and the Roses just made music worth listening to again. Knew from then on that I just had to be in a band !
Ed: The first major influence on my drumming was the legendary John Bonham. I remember watching a video of Led Zep playing live at Madison Square Gardens and being blown away by it. Later on I really got into The Charlatans, Primal Scream, The Roses and The Mondays. I am also well into Hip Hop and various dance music etc. A lot of my drumming style comes from listening to virtually every release on Mo Wax in the last 10 years ! Stuff like DJ Shadow, Dr Krush, U.N.K.L.E, and Nightmares on Wax is heaven to listen to for a drummer !
Will: Mani always comes out with wicked bass-lines and would have to be my favourite bass player. I love listening to anything with a nice groove on it. My bass playing also draws a lot of inspiration from drum & bass, hip hop, dub etc. Some influences have been Stone Roses, Primal Scream, Nirvana, James Brown, DJ Shadow, Chemical Brothers and of recent times BRMC.
Q4) Give us a bit of background about the demo please (how long it took to record, etc).
Tom: It was recorded at In Heaven studio in Swindon over two days in July (we couldn't afford any more time). We figured that we'd be able to do a really good job of recording three tracks over that time than trying to do more and not doing a finished job. It's pretty mad to think that the Beatles recorded the whole of their first LP in one day.
Ed: I think we could have done with more time. Even only doing 3 tracks it felt rushed. The next time, recording we do will be ten times better.
Q5) How did you hook up with John Robb and Paul Fenech (Meteors frontman) ?
Tom: I blagged it with John ! I sent him an email a few years ago about the band I was in at the time, telling him how great we were !! Haha - we were rubbish, but I think he said he "liked the cut of my jib", so he did a demo for that band and we've kept in contact ever since. Paul, we didn't know at all - he's got this brilliant little studio tucked away in an old chapel in Swindon and I didn't even know it existed - but I went in to see him and book the studio and it all worked out from there. I'd heard of the Meteors but didn't realise they were still going - they still get top ten LPs in Germany (but then so does David Hasselhoff !!! Haha !).
Q6) It's been getting a positive reaction so far - you must be pleased with the feedback.
Tom: Yeah, it's been really good - we knew it was good when we'd finished it - we played it back and Paul said he thought it sounded like a week's work. I think a lot of that comes from us being well rehearsed - we ploughed through the tunes time and time again. It's been cool getting such good feedback. It's really cool to see other people buzzing off something that you wrote and that you've poured your heart and soul into and sweated over. You put things like this out into the world and you hope that they'll connect with people. Sometimes people just don't get it (record companies looking for the latest Strokes copyists mainly) but when somebody does it's the best feeling in the world - like scoring an overhead kick in the World Cup final.
Ed: Considering we had been together only 4 months when we did it, I was pleased that people were into it. Obviously not everyone is gonna be into what we're doing but it was cool hearing opinions from neutral people.
Q7) What other songs, aside from these three, are there in The Shadow line cannon ? Do you have an album's worth of material at the moment ?
Tom: Yeah, there's loads of stuff written - the other ones we've done live so far include 'Shot to Pieces' which has got a wicked guitar riff and some shit hot drumming - reminds me of James Brown. 'Who Are You ?' which is kinda The Shadow Line theme and 'Young In Love' which is a future number one, no worries. There's loads more - people will be able to come and hear them in the next few months as we start doing more gigs.
Ed: We have just written another 3 tunes since Will joined and they are cool as fuck. The addition of Will to the band is really starting to bring the best out of our sound.
Q8) When is the album due to be put together ?
Tom: Well, the next step is to play more gigs and get signed - we're in the market for a deal, so the album will follow.
Q9) Do you have a title for it yet ?
Tom: Yeah, it's gonna be called 'Live Nude Girls', purely for the LP cover possibilities...haha ! Seriously, yeah do know what it is but I'm not telling ! You'll have to wait and see ! In fact we know what the first 3 LPs are gonna be called - they're gonna be a trilogy...
Q10) Where does the name of the band originate from ?
Tom: Between boyhood and manhood, between hope and reality, between fake and real there is a Shadow Line.... some cross it, some can see it and some can barely perceive it. On one side are the passengers, on the other side anyone who ever had a dream or something to say and took action. We took the name from a book that summed up what we were about.
Q11) Do you solely write the lyrics, Tom ? Have the other members of the band contributed lyrically for these and the other album tracks ?
Tom: Yeah, I do, although I think the others contribute subconsciously as I nick lyrics from things they say....."The devil's in the detail" is something Dan is always saying.
Q12) What songs are likely to be the singles off the album ? Which do you consider the strongest ?
Tom: Not sure yet - I see 'Who Are You ?' as the first single - it's definitely the most obvious statement of intent - I like that Snoop Dogg's first single was 'What's my name ?' and it was kind of announcing himself to the world...we want that kind of feel.
Q13) Are the Swindon dates your first gigs ?
Tom: We've so far played four - all in Swindon as it's my hometown and we seem to be building a good following there. The one at Fusion was our first headline gig and was one we organised ourselves with a couple of other bands and a DJ - hired a room and the pa, stage etc...real DIY kinda thing and it went off really well, got about 150 people down there.
Q14) You will be gigging again soon, yeah ?
Tom: Yep - dates not confirmed yet, but we're lining up as many as possible - this end of the country will be Bath Moles, Bristol Louisiana, Firkin, Oxford Zodiac etc.... but we'll be all over the place.
Ed: The Swindon dates were just warm up gigs really. Personally, I never want to play there again. We are currently bombarding venues and promoters with our CD so hopefully we will have loads of gigs lined up all over the country in the next few months.
Q15) Do you have a website for the band under construction ?
Tom: Yep, one on the way as we speak... we'll keep you updated.
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