Formed from the remnants of recently deceased A Fight You Can't Win, Shudder are Connor Doherty and Stewart McLachan, a lo-fi dissonant duo from Edinburgh. Pulling forces with fellow capital dwellers Sectioned, the band have a new split CD out now, a track from which we played on the podcast a few weeks back. Telling us more about that, and the band, here's our interview with them.
Hello! How the devil are you?
Stewart: I'm melting.
Connor: I'm...not?
It's the question everyone hates, but could you illuminate our readers with a little bit about your music and your influences?
Stewart: Connor and I have been playing together since school, and Shudder is just the music that happens to occur when we're in a room together right now. Our only goal, the only thing we make a real effort to do, is to deliver it in the purest, most visceral, most emotionally engaged manner that we can. It's an obligation to the music and ourselves. We have never, ever, ever sat down and said "Shudder should sound like these guys" or any of that. We couldn't pull that off even if we wanted to.
What's your song-writing / creative process like?
Stewart: Organic, with minimal contrivance. Generally speaking, the songs find their shape through improvisation. All we really have to do is give each one the means to find its own natural conclusion. It's an unusual and refreshing relationship to have with your own music, a powerful process to be involved in.
What could we expect to see from a live show?
Connor: Our songs are recorded live, so I guess you could expect something similar to the record, only more unhinged.
Tell us about the new split release with Sectioned?
Stewart: We've known the guys from Sectioned for some time. They're easily the best metal act in Scotland, if not the UK, and I've been a massive massive fan since their 2012 release Monotonne, which was a total game-changer for me. They've consistently improved since then: the way they've progressively implemented noise-punk elements into their sound is ludicrous, totally refreshing. The split was actually the idea of their guitarist/producer Pedram, and it was too much of a weird pairing for us to turn down. I love mixed line-ups and unusual split releases. I love the idea of listeners from opposite ends of the musical spectrum going "what the fuck is this?" and ultimately discovering something they previously would never have been exposed to. We expect our tracks will largely be met with "Jesus Christ, this is boring" apathy, but that's fine with us.
What else have you got planned for 2014?
Connor: We're currently working on an album, which covers a lot more ground than the songs on the split. On the back of this we're hoping to do some gigs, in interesting venues.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Connor: I've been getting into Bonobo and Tycho, as well as Madvillain and Mos Def.
Stewart: I'm really into the new Death Grips and Fallujah right now.
Thanks for speaking with us, would you care to share a joke with us?
Stewart: What's orange and sounds like a parrot? An orange parrot.
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