“Whilst out on our first American tour earlier this year, we found a lot of radio station/ media outlets were asking us to come and do some acoustic sessions. Naturally, we’d never contemplated the idea, considering the sound & atmosphere of our live shows is the antithesis of a chilled, acoustic performance. Nonetheless we decided to give it a go. We sent out a message on social media to see if any fans had a battered/ unused acoustic guitar they didn’t mind lending to the cause. Thankfully a very kind lady in Chicago did just that. Youssef & Ryan set about transcribing a few select SHVPES songs, taking a more flamenco inspired approach. Approximately 24 hours before our first scheduled acoustic performance, the SHVPES team assembled in a toilet somewhere in Tennessee & ran through the set a few times, ironing out any creases. The following day, we (unknowingly) broadcast it to 25,000 people. Thankfully, upon review, it sounded a lot better than expected.
We were all so pleased with the result & saw a lot of opportunities for further improvements/ inflections within the music. We continued doing these acoustic performances as and when they came, each time adding some new degree of flare to the songs. By the end we’d completely reinvented the feel of them, to the point we felt we (and as the listeners had pointed out) should be recording these so and giving them the attention they deserve.
So around the time we were recording One Man Army, we did just that. This time taking an even more outrageous approach, to truly transform these songs and squeeze as much of our outside influences into these songs.
Here is Undertones, Renegades & Afterlife, reimagined.” –SHVPES FRONTMAN,GRIFFIN DICKINSON
Additional global tour dates are in the planning stages but US fans can catch Shvpes at Ship Rocked Festival 2020; a 5-day, rock-fuelled cruise between New Orleans and Mexico. 2020’s line-up includes Halestorm, Alter Bridge and Asking Alexandria.
1 – 6 Feb 2020: ShipRocked 202, New Orleans, LA, US