Shame gig is punctuated by an insistence that personal space is respected in the audience, and everyone takes care of each other in the often hectic melee in front of the stage - that means they’re really connecting beyond their roots. “Their attitude and energy is amazing,” one fan tells us, still sweating after the show, one of hordes of new converts or otherwise, itching to greet and congratulate any of the band. “It’s universal. In Catalonia especially, we’re really angry about everything right now,” she continues, “so the anger in their songs applies to us very well. They put everything into their show and that energy translates to any language. Also, sugar daddies are everywhere!” she chortles, referencing ‘Songs Of Praise’’s brilliantly seedy centrepiece ‘Gold Hole’. An encore of ‘Donk’ sees band and crowd expel any last drops of energy, and everything including the metaphorical kitchen sink is thrown at the performance. It’s attacked like
“WE HAVE A PORTUGUESE YOUTUBE FOLLOWING THAT ACTUALLY THINK WE’RE A CHRISTIAN ROCK BAND.” CHARLIE STEEN it could be their first show of the year, before t-shirts, records, ticket stubs and magazine covers are signed, selfies captured, and Barcelona can be considered well and truly conquered.
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he band - completed by guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith, bassist Josh Finerty and drummer Charlie Forbes - have an infectious, intuitive energy that runs between them, both on and off stage. “I think we’ve gone beyond friendship now,” the frontman explains later, “and I think that happened quite a while ago. We’ve experienced everything together.” As such, the van is a place where no-one’s safe from relentless japes, with any pisstaking one-upped by their effervescent (and very sweary) tour manager, a close friend of drummer Charlie’s dad and undoubted sixth member of the gang. As a result, tour life with Shame often feels like one long character-building and painfully funny holiday, if you ignore the punk shows that punctuate the end of each day. “There’s not much room for relationships [in my life], because I’m in a relationship with four other guys,” the frontman chuckles. “You have all the arguments, the makeups…”
“It’s got to the point where you don’t even need to speak to each other,” Sean continues. “You just know. You can happily sit there in silence and just know what would be said. You also know that if you’re sharing a room with Steen and he goes back early, you’ll get in and he’s gonna be naked and munching on a packet of peanut M&Ms disgustingly loudly with his headphones in.” When the band started, they were often tarnished with the same brush as their significantly looser South London forefathers - including notorious regular visitors Fat White Family - but over the 47