Drunk Tank Pink, all about isolation and internal conflict. And then COVID happened.
Charlie Steen remembers it well. He and his bandmates were in the luxe surroundings of La Frette Studios, a 19th Century mansion-turned-recording facility outside of Paris, ten days into recording their second album, alongside prolific producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Simian Mobile Disco). “I remember [guitarist] Sean [Coyle-Smith] looking at the news on his phone,” Steen recalls. “It was talking about this coronavirus in China. And we didn’t really even think about it at the time.”
Like everyone else, Shame had to grapple with plans upended and an uncertain future. Once restrictions lifted, they created a string of imaginative music videos, released monthly throughout autumn; showcased many of the new songs in a live performance shot at London’s Brixton Electric; and played a secret, socially-distanced gig to support their home base, Brixton’s The Windmill.
âThis is gonna be another great year,â Shameâs Charlie Steen thought to himself at the end of January 2020, as he left the legendary La Frette Studios on the outskirts of Paris, the bandâs second album âDrunk Tank Pinkâ done and dusted.
Three weeks earlier, the south London five-piece had been in Chicago playing a New Yearâs Eve show with the cityâs indie rockers Twin Peaks, when they got the call that famed Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford, who defined a specific era of British guitar music in the early 2000s, had a last-minute cancellation at La Frette and wanted the band there in four days. Hurriedly, they rehearsed the new album by playing it in full at the boozy New Yearâs Eve show, and then took their weary heads on the plane to France.