A band that convincingly combines the tradition of British guitar bands with the most authentic punk sensibility – that’s London’s Shame in a nutshell.
Shame consists of vocalist Charlie Steen, guitarists Sean Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green, bassist Josh Finerty and drummer Charlie Forbes. The gents got together recently in South London and now have a reputation as one of the most authentic and fresh bands in Britain. Authentic experience, strong emotions and a total commitment to the music and the audience are the simple reasons that have led to their busy touring schedule and packed houses, including a sold out London Scala. Their sincerity and genuine social conscience caught the attention of Billy Bragg, who invited them to play his Left Field stage at the legendary Glastonbury Festival this year. With their debut album, Songs of Praise, due out next January, and an energetic live set, this hope of new British guitar punk will be stopping by Prague in November.
Everybody predicts a great future for the band called Shame (a word meaning shame in English and related verb forms) and it certainly doesn’t bring shame to the British musical tradition. Only nineteen years old, the charismatic singer Charlie Steen and his bandmates have already managed to impress not only in the UK, but also in France, Germany and also in the USA, where they are now on their first regular tour after their premiere at the prestigious Texas SXSW Music Festival.The enthusiastic editor of NPR, America’s largest public radio station, wrote: “Of the 70 bands I saw at SXSW this year, Shame were probably the most authentic of them all.This UK guitar band was firing it angrily at people while the singer ripped off almost all of his clothes, climbed a vending machine from which he flew nastily into people without dropping a single roll, phrase or intonation the entire time.It was amazing.”