You’ve probably seen us posting a lot about pop-punk trio SHADED and with their debut EP A Familiar Love set for release on Friday it’s the perfect time for us to introduce you to them properly.
Friday (5th) sees the release of A Familiar Love through Common Ground Records. To warm fans up for the release of the EP; they have released the title track which gave fans a high energy dose of pop-punk with catchy lyrics to match. They have also released single Tell Me an upbeat, summery track singing of a breakdown in communication leading to over-thinking and feeling as if you’re to blame. We love SHADED’s down to earth and meaningful approach to songwriting, we can guarantee within one of their songs you’ll find something you can relate to which will strike a chord within.
Speaking about their EP release, frontman Matt East said, “The word ‘proud’ doesn’t even come close to describing how we all feel about finally being able to share this track and the new EP with the world. I know I speak on behalf of the whole band when I say that we are so excited for people to hear the record in its entirety.”. We’re excited to hear it in full too!
We caught up with SHADED frontman Matt East for five quick-fire questions…
Can you tell us more about your ‘A Familiar Love’ EP?
It’s an EP that we hope will introduce listeners and fans alike to a new direction that this band is taking. We’re keeping our ‘pop-punk’ roots but, with ‘A Familiar Love’, we’ve really experimented with writing music that appeals to us as, not just as writers and musicians, but as consumers. We’ve drawn a lot more from our influences outside of alternative music and have generally just written a record that we are really proud of and love dearly.
When you were growing up which artists did you listen to, do you feel they’ve influenced your sound at all?
Personally, Boyz II Men and Usher played a big part throughout my younger years when I was really starting to take singing more seriously. I’ve always been a huge fan of pop and R’n’B and will always pull influence from those late 90s and early 00s artists that helped me find my passion for what I do. Vocally and lyrically, I write what comes completely naturally and organically to me and I like to think that those kinds of artists have almost been imprinted in my writing style.
You’re heading out on a co-headline tour with Wolf Culture, what are you most looking forward to about the shows?
Playing these new songs for sure! Our live set is about to make a huge step-up now that we’ve got all the new songs in the set. We just can’t wait for people to hear them all!
Which of your own lyrics sums up your time in SHADED so far?
From the opening track on the EP, ‘Dream Girl’, I think the lyric “was I a fool for feeling something that just wasn’t real” really sums up where my head was at, not just with the band, but with my life in general throughout the writing process of this EP especially – for a little while, I let the emotion and negativity that I felt towards my previous relationship cloud my entire life and allowed it to affect the way I was applying myself to all aspects of my daily life. Looking back, I almost feel like an idiot for allowing myself to be sucked in to that way of thinking and for letting that happen.
What does the future hold for SHADED?
Other than the EP release and the co-headline tour, nothing we can publicly talk about JUST yet haha. You’ll have to wait and see…
If SHADED sound like your kind of band then be sure to catch them on their co-headlining tour with label mates Wolf Culture. Kicking off in Leeds on Friday the tour will also visit Wrexham, Birmingham and London before finisihing up at The Anvil in Bournemouth on 10th. For all the details and tickets head here.
Find out more about SHADED on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Keep your eyes on CelebMix for our review of A Familiar Love coming very very soon…