Feature, Jan 07
Having built up solid support on the Cambridge music scene over the past year, The Shivers are aiming to make their big break in 2007.
Currently one of the few local bands who can guarantee a healthy turnout every time they play, the band have found their niche with a mix of country, blues and acoustic rock and roll delivered with an indie ethic and a healthy dash of slide guitar.
2006 saw them play the Cambridge Folk Festival for the first time, signing up a bassist to give them a meatier sound and adopting an onstage uniform of dark suits.
"That's a bit of a team building exercise," explains guitar maestro Gaz Palmer. "It feels like were stepping out together like brothers because we're all wearing the same thing."
The new album It Ain't Easy Being in the Shiversis launched at a free gig in the Portland Arms next Friday night. For a band with a reputation for incendiary live performances, trying to capture that in the studio isn't easy.
"We had written everything before we went in as we wanted to spend as little time in the studio as possible, some of the band don't like recording," says Gaz. "It's always been about playing live for us and we always thought when we record it didn't sound like we do on stage but I think we've managed it with this one. It was mostly done live in the studio with a minimum of overdubbing."
The band have never fitted in easily with the NME-sponsored indie scene explains Gaz: "We do fit into the kind of lo-fi alt.country thing that The Broken Family Band and Smog are doing but also we seem to fit in with the country and western scene. We've played a few country and western nights and we seem to go down well, I think it's because (lead singer) Rich's voice has that twang to it and it's all quite upbeat."
Shivers on myspace