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I have been nestl’d in the Central Belt of Scotland for nigh on two decades now, during which passage of years & gigs & surfing a very fine festival scene, I have witnessd a great number of the favorite bands from my younger years, whom I never quite caught first time round. The Charlatans at the Glasgow O2 Academy, for example, & James at Electric Fields. But there was always that one band that eluded me – Shed Seven.

For boys from York, they didn’t do too badly at all, creating the perfect Britpop album in ‘A Maximum High’, whose singles dripp’d down from the shelves like almond honey into our pop-rocky & receptive ears. The massive sing-a-longs that escorted Shed Seven thro’ those particular numbers last night in the Glasgow Barrowlands is testament to the infectious quality of the albums beats & uber-hooks. At one moment ‘Going For Gold’ segued into & out of Elvis’s Suspicious Minds,’ which was a bit weird, like, but nobody seem’d to mind, while in one corner of the venue there was a posse clearly on ecstasy raving away like at the Hacienda early 1988, literally screaming out the lyrics. A funny watch when you’re queing up for the beers (£6 each).

Rick Witter, the lanky leprachaun of a front man, is a top singer, like, his lyrics & melodies are brilliant! Rick is actually the only surviving member of the original line-up, tho guitarist Paul Banks has been there since the early days. Shed Seven Mark 2023 has new band members Tim Wills (keyboards and guitar) and Rob Maxfield (drums), plus a youthful brass section, all recreating the old hits, & blasting out stuff from the new album, ‘A Matter of Time’, releas’d next January. I am very much looking forwards to it actually, what I did hear of it sounded eclectic & catchy & well, Shed Seveney, whatever that this. You have to certainly feel the band to know what that is, but they do have the ability to make you do that, & feel them with abundance. That’s their beauty, they speak the universal language, & everybody can’t help but appreaciate the beauty about themselves & life upon hearing Shed Seven in their performing pomp.

Their gig at the Barrowlands was sold-out, & full of serene buzziness, & seeing Rick Witter perform for the first time was a blast. He’s a bit of a comedian really, & full of warmth, including reading shout-outs to folk, during which segment the entire gaggle of Weegies sang happy birthday to Paul Bank’s son, Harrisson, on his 19th birthday, over the phone. Nice touch! Then Witter went, ‘that’s enough of that, let’s play some tunes,’ & they slickly moved straight into Dolphin. Now then, that was the first tune I ever heard of Shed Seven, way back in Carlisle 1995, when my band’s drummer play’d me the tune on CD. A Maximum High came out the next year, I’ve been a fan ever since, & my pilgrimage to my very own Witter-Mecca was well worth the wait. A Matter of Time, indeed!

Damian Bullen