Shrag

Popklubb are delighted to be putting on Shrag's first gig ever in Newcastle, and given the brilliance of their new album 'Canines,' it should be well worth the wait. It's been garnering critical praise across the musical blog world, and with its all-killer, no filler muscularity and dark, lyrical approach, we reckon it's their best yet!!! And of course, then there-s past classics to draw upon too, the splendid likes of 'Rabbit Kids,' and 'Hopelessly Wasted.' Shrag draw upon a diverse range of influences, fr...om the girl-boy nuclear pop ripostes of the b-52s, to Britpop-era Lush, to the more caustic edge of the Fall, but there-s no mistaking their distinctive sound is very much their own!!!

Exciting support comes from Durham's MARTHA, (Discount horse records), bringing their lo-fi powerpop up the road, should make a fitting foil for Shrag! &more tbc

http://www.facebook.com/marthadiy
http://marthadiy.bandcamp.com/

Doors open 7.30pm. 50 early bird tickets are available now for the bargain price of £5 from wegottickets.
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/186040

£6 on the door on the night!

http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/albums/shrag-canines/
http://shrag.co.uk/

NME, 8/10 review for Canines:
Bucking the trend of many a fast-imploding lo-fi press darling, Shrag come out with fists swinging on their third LP. There’s some palpable songwriting muscle on show right from the off, with opener ‘Tears Of A Landlord’ delivering an unsettling, gothic footstomp underneath its disquieting refrain of “I think about death when you genuflect”. Beyond the album’s halfway mark, the one-two punch of ‘You’re The Shout’ and ‘That’s Static!’ have such direct, insistent hooks they could be mistaken for ’90s indie darlings Lush at their most buoyant. One thing’s for sure: Shrag may smile sweetly, but on ‘Canines’ they take no small pleasure in bearing their collective teeth.

(From Fortuna Pop)
Formed by five friends in Brighton back in 2004, Shrag have come a long way from their DIY roots to flourish into a proper indie pop band to be reckoned with. With an exhilarating blend of dirty, distorted post-punk guitars, shouty boy/girl vocals and fantastic pop songs, Shrag bring us a distinctively British experience, drawing inspiration from the likes of The Au Pairs, B-52s and Prolapse. Whilst their songs have a certain melodic bounce, this belies a darker underbelly, with a wry intelligence, and references to surrealist film, literature and pop culture.

Their debut self-titled debut album was released in 2009, a compilation of the five 7" singles they had so far released. Fresh from his success with Love Is All and Comet Gain, legendary producer (and Morrissey drummer) Woodie Taylor, offered to mix the bands recordings. The album, released in the UK and licensed to Japanese label Knew Noise Recordings, was met with critical acclaim from, amongst others, Uncut, Pitchfork, the Sunday Times, and Artrocker, who assserted the album demonstrated that "their fiery intelligence is uniquely threatening in a world dominated by dullsville NME bands; there's more of a sense of danger when Shrag go to the bathroom than there is in the entire mephitic stench of indie's decaying corpse."

Their second full-length Life! Death! Prizes! was released on the Where It's At Is Where You Are label in October 2010 and is considered by the band to be their first album proper, with a progression both musically and lyrically that brought their unconventional sounds to new receptive ears. The first single to be released from it, Rabbit Kids, received numerous plays on BBC 6Music, where the band have also played multiple live sessions with Marc Riley. The song was chosen by Stuart Maconie and Mark Radcliffe to compete as a Single of the Week on their BBC Radio 2 show, and also caught the attention of hugely influential US site Pitchfork, who described Shrag as "one of those bands whose tunes and natural charisma could easily endear them to a wider audience, but whom the vagaries of record release dates, hype cycles, and airline prices have so far conspired to keep a well-loved secret".