On Tuesday 20th of June, LA band The Shelters played their first ever Manchester gig at Soup Kitchen in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The band released their self titled debut album ‘The Shelters’ back in June 2016. The album was produced by the legend that is Tom Petty from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The Shelters have just finished touring with English rock duo Royal Blood around the US and are here in the UK for their first UK tour.
Before the gig started I had a quick chat with Chase Simpson one of the front men from the band, he gave me little bit of background on the band. Chase and Sebastion Harris the drummer from the band had played together in a band in high school, they met Josh Jove, the other lead man in The Shelters, through their old bass player. Once the old band had ran it’s course Chase rang up Josh with the idea of starting a new band, they got Sebastion to be their drummer and Jocob Pillot to be the bass player, and the rest, as they say, is ‘history’. Chase and Josh were persistent in writing demo’s sending one to Tom Petty who then started working with them on their music. Chase grew up with Tom’s step son in LA and would always pick his brain about music, Petty was very supportive of Chase and advised him to keep writing songs because ‘that is the most important thing’. The band say that Petty is their mentor, producer and their biggest fan, Chase told me that they have learnt a lot from him. They say their sound is pure rock ‘n’ roll that is inspired by the bands that they love. They like to take sounds and make them their own.
The Shelters were supported by two Greater Manchester bands Lyerr and Our Fold, both a perfect fit for the night. The Shelters graced the stage around 9pm. Starting with Birdwatching and Surely Burn, and going on to play Really Wanted You, Fortune Teller ,Liar ,Gold ,Never Look Behind Ya ,Rebel Heart then finishing with Down, The Ghost Is Gone and Lost Woman. I was completely blown away by this band and it wasn’t just me, the audience ranging from 19 years up were obviously immersed in and completely impressed by the music with one woman in front of me unable to hide her exuberance shouting, “WOW these are amazing!”, I couldn’t agree more with her. Songs like Surely Burn and Liar reminded me a lot of The Beatles and then Gold remind me a lot of bands like Tame Impala or MGMT. When I chatted to Chase earlier that night he had said that they were very much inspired by bands like The Beatles and The Kinks and it massively showed. However, they added their own twist to this sound making it their own. I have to say, I was smiling from start to finish, the passion and the energy from this band was just incredible I stood thinking to my self that this is what music is all about. More people need to get on board with this band especially in Manchester but also the rest of the UK, they have that British rock ‘n’ roll sound that we all love so much in this country, making The Shelters fit in perfectly with the music scene in Manchester. It would not surprise me if we see The Shelters back in Manchester playing at venues like the Academy or the Albert Hall in a couple of years time or seeing them at festivals such as Reading & Leeds or even Glastonbury! I definitely hope they come back to Manchester soon, let’s see if we can get a big buzz going for them in the UK!
The Shelters latest single is Gold. The video was directed by Mark Pelleington and stars actress Juno Temple. You can download their debut album The Shelters on itunes now.
