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Simple, heavy and melodic... Throughout these three words its possible to define
with precision the type of sounds produced by the quartet SHED.
It all started in January 1997 when Zeek (vocalist, guitarrist), Gabriel (bass)
and his adolescent friend Hugo (drums) decided to form a band. At the time their
main influecences came from bands that were present in the scene known as the
Californian Melodic Hardcore (No Fun At All, Pennywise
and etc...), style that at the time was mainstream in the whole world. Through
a constant process os changes Fernando (guitarrist, vocals), joined the band.
The groups compositions started to show an extreme meaning and evolution. From
there and on, the four members started to focus in the ojective of something
that every band is working hard for or at least should be. Zeek explains; SHED
gets a lot of influences from various bands in various styles. And we try to
use that to create our own original music, or as original as possible.
When the subject is about influences each member quotes a variety of names that
goes from Husker Dü to Foo Fighters going
to Jawbox, Fu Manchu, Queens of the
Stone Age, Helmet and Local H. However,
the trio grunge-punk Nirvana (the main responsible for the
heating of the underground music in the 90s), is constantly pointed as a huge
source of inspiration because of their ideas and mainly the way they executed
and wrote their songs.
With this mentality and influences SHED registered their first
CD intilted Were The Dogs, released independently
in 1998. The album was recorded in a month by all the actual members. Only Fernando
(guitarrist) didnt record the album but before releasing the it, he became part
of the group. Adding a second guitar player was fundamental to give more volume
and body to the compositions, especially in live presentantions.
Were the Dogs, didnt show a lot of the originality
that SHED has now, however, it did help the band to break the
walls of unknowability and took then to participate of a special program recorded
by MTV Brazil called Lado B (B Side) introducing
the tune Routine (track present in Now
Available In Stereo) and also sharing the stage with important
bands like Garage Fuzz, Cpm 22, Dead
Fish, Madeixas, Pin Ups and Dog
School, besides of having the oportunity of opening for international
bands like Shelter, Nebula, Superchunk
and the Backyard Babies.
In 2000, the quartet received the offer to release their second album, this
time for the main distributor of S.P. HIGHLIGHT SOUNDS. The
offer was taken right away, and more precisely in october of 2000, Zeek, Hugo,
Gabriel and Fernando found themselves recording the album in 2 months at a studio
called Da Tribo registering the tracks of what turn out to be the 2nd album
Now Available In Stereo. Producing the record was
Ciero e Tchello (also responsible for producing death metal bands like Krisiun
and alternative bands like the first album of Echoplex).
SHED recorded 14 tracks but only 12 entered the album that
was masterized in Washington DC by Ken Olden (Battery,
Worlds Collide, Damnation AD & Better
Than A Thousand) in Monster Island studios. The album
was released oficially on october 8th 2001 when the band was more than ready
to start playing more and more shows. A few weeks later, they shot their 1st
video, made for the song Its Today, present in Now
Available in Stereo. The director was George Queiroz, who also
did videos for Dead Fish, Flatcat (Belgium),
Diagonal, Reffer, and etc. The video has played
on MTV in a program called RIFF and on the station TV Cultura in the program
called Alto falante.
The band also recorded a live presentation at Programa Hangar for Canal São
Paulo and has a brand new album to be released soon.
Links:
Fotolog: www.fotolog.com/shedrock
My Space: www.myspace.com/shedbrazil
Trama Virtual: www.tramavirtual.com.br/artista.jsp?id=6990
SHED no Bahia Rock: www.bahiarock.com.br/bandas/shed.htm
HIGHLIGHT SOUNDS: www.highlightsounds.com
HIGHLIGHT SOUNDS My Space: www.myspace.com/highlightsounds1997
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