SHRUG

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Doggerland

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Released: Jan 1, 2008

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Doggerland
3:31
1,213 plays
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Magic Ket
4:37
802 plays
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Quango Fandango
5:11
868 plays
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Last Train From Station Town
3:26
832 plays
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Where’s Stevie Gone
2:23
863 plays

Total Plays: 17,405 / Plays Today: 1See All Featured ►

General Info

Genre: Alternative / Indie / Psychedelic
Location Middlesbrough, Northeast, UK
Profile Views: 35630
Last Login: 7/22/2011
Member Since 1/4/2006
Record Label Our Mam's Records
Bio
New split single with The Bent Moustache from Netherlands - 7" vinyl old school - Shrug's contribution is a brand new recording, "Hood Street Gyratory" - TBM is "Mind Your Language Cock" - .. Costs £4.99 from Rough Trade, Piccadilly Records and hopefully all Independent Record stores of which there aren't exactly hods left so best support them. .. .. .... ..ALSO you can buy from us .."Shrug In A Quango" OUT NOW............Tracklisting:....1.Doggerland (Thrilled Skinny)..2.Last Train From Station Town..3.Wheres Stevie Gone?..4.Magic Ket!..5.Quango Fandango....Buy now for £4 (inc P&P); .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Shrug were formed by Robert Nichols, Richard Pink and sometimes Robert March in the summer of 1985 or thereabouts. October 2005 was the 20th anniversary of our first ever gig, upstairs at The Albert, Middlesbrough. We celebrated that 20th birthday week with a support slot for The Fall (lifetime ambition) and a headline gig for John Peel Day in Stockton's Georgian Theatre. Some week. .. We started out with no drummers, then co-opted a drum machine which wouldn't keep time! We being Kev Wall, Richard and Rob Nichols. Sarah O'Brien soon played keyboards for us. Eventually we bit the bullet and brought in some percussion, double trouble, with future Space Raider Gary Bradford and Richie O'Brien. .. We released an EP Nevil Wanless in 1988 - and album Septober Octember Nowonder a year later, rushing it out for a German tour - which included a gig in East Berlin and featured 3 drummers, Weg Hornby at 6ft 7" the tallest of our drummers. Carl Sims and earlier Michael "Monk" Sanderson also plied the sticks. Carl sticking (bad joke!) around till 1999. .. It's as a live band that most people know us. Whether it was for the 3 drummers drumming. Or me haring around the stage in loads of stupid costumes and masks or just that dynamic orange 60s organ. Oh and there's always the horses head! .. There were several more singles, Beardo Weirdo, Building Society and (Return) Mission From Todd and tours abroad in Holland, France, Belgium. A high speed van crash. Not good. Tours with Sebadoh and The Ex. TV appearances, and all sorts of stuff. Richard left, replaced by Dale and then Nathan. And the drummers eventually worked their way back down to one. .. We gradually wound down and Kevin grew older. No I'm lying the rest of us grew older, Kevin has a picture in the attic. Then in 2005 we got invited back, Richard rejoined and now we're back with plans for gigs and who knows recordings etc. Should be fun. .. We are featured in a new book and Cd out on Cherry Red called DEATH TO TRAD ROCK. The book is by brother John Robb and talks about the post post punk scene of the mid-80s. The compilation includes Van With Square Wheels along with contributions by The Ex, Membranes, Dog Faced Hermans - many bands we used to play with or promote in Middlesbrough and some we didn't. .. You can see a couple of very old interviews with us and a couple of tv appearances from about 18 years ago!! Type in "Crackpan" and "Shrug" on Youtube .. ..Beardo Weirdo Live @ The Hat Factory, Luton 2007.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..Donna And The Daleks (Tyne Tees 1989).. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..Sir Walter Raleigh's Fast Food Takeover (BBC 1989).. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..Egg And Chips Promo Video.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..Through The Iron Curtain - Look North - Jan 1990.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...... .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Members
Rob Shrug - vocals .. Richard Pink - gtr .. Oli Heffernan - token youth gtr .. Kevin Wall - grumbling bass .. Richard O'Brien - drums .. Sarah O'Brien - keys .. (Nathan Stephenson - (in panto) .. (Ben Muriel - Occasional percussion - occasionally)
Influences
The Fall for me. But lots of punk and post punk bands. Super Furry Animals, Swell Maps, The Nightingales, Marc Riley (and the Creepers), Thrilled Skinny, Gang of Four, Punishment of Luxury, The Damned, Joy Divison/New Order, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Ajay - Donkey/Bent Moustache, The Flaps, The Three Johns, Junior Elvis, Velvet Underground, The Stranglers, Half Man Half Biscuit, No Means No, The Ex, Wat Tyler, Sebadoh, The Membranes, Alice Donut, Thatcher on Acid, Dan, Chumbawamba especially for their dancing! Wilko Johnson, Sensational Alex Harvey Band. To be honest you drink it all in and hopefully spill out something fairly original and suitably worthwhile.
Sounds Like
I don't know. Early Fall gone wrong. There's some Half Man Half Biscuit lunacy and word play in there as well. Inspiral carpet keyboard swirl. We take the anti love song and no guitar solo punk ethos and make a career out of it. We'd like to think people would SHRUG their shoulders here. But then again we would wouldn't we?