Hillbilly punk rockers SHANGHAI TREASON have a couple of EP's out, with their debut full-length album out this summer! The band jumps right into discussion about this release and what they have in-store beyond it!
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Hi we’re Shanghai Treason, a hardy group of Yorkshiremen who play Celtic Punk inspired rock music. It’s fast, loud and comes served with a side of beer soaked banjo. Myself and the guys have all been in bands for years and have played just about every venue in Yorkshire between us. Not just punk bands either, all sorts, I think it’s given us a strong foundation, everyone of us though has always had a huge love for folk punk/celtic punk bands and it’s been a joy to come together and write loads of songs in this style.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Early on when we were throwing names around; one name was High Treason but we discovered there’s a shed load of bands called High Treason out there so we just flipped it and made it Shanghai Treason. I remember we had lots of names we were throwing around in the early days before we decided on Shanghai Treason, some of the main alternatives that I can remember were Drydock Rats, Dresden Saints and Oilfeather, I think we chose a good one in the end though, it’s stuck.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We’re based in Sheffield but also have strong ties to Barnsley, Rotherham and Huddersfield. Sheffield and the surrounding areas have always had a strong music scene but often play second fiddle to Leeds when it comes to music in Yorkshire. Every so often though Sheffield throws out mahoosive world conquering bands and the standard of music in the city is very high, which pushes you to be the best you can be.
4. How would you describe your style?
We’ve been described as Hillbilly Punk, Folk Punk, Banjo Punk (I like that one haha). I think ultimately we’re a very Yorkshire take on Celtic Punk.
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
We’ve released two E.P’s and a bunch of singles, have a look on YouTube or Spotify, you’ll find us. It’s punk with banjos, accordion, bouzouki maybe a spot of fiddle, it’s drinking music for sweaty gigs in dive bars or dancing in the mud in ya wellis at the festival.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
We’ve got our debut album on the way, we’re still working on the release and covid has complicated things but it’s 100% coming, we’ve recorded it all and we can’t wait for people to hear it, we have released two songs from it already, with a third due to be released this month.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
I can’t say to much about it but we’ve got a big tour support tour coming for Jan/Feb 2022, we’re coming to see ya, it covers most of the UK, keep any eye out for it, we’re supporting an amazing band.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
We want to be an album band, just to be able to go out and do a big tour once a year in the UK and play all our songs with people who dig ‘em would be amazing, we’d love to get all over the grassroots festival circuit as well, it will happen slowly, get onboard and enjoy the journey with us.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Spotify is the big one for us, all our main releases are on there, if music videos are more your bag you’ll find them on YouTube and our Facebook page. Our bandcamp is currently where you can grab our merch, we’ll be doing a big restock for our tour and album launch soon so keep an eye out for all the new album goodies coming your way.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
I think what I’d like people to take away from hearing our stuff at this early point is, ‘ I’d love to see this band live’ , if we’ve done that then we’ve done our job and hey if they keep coming back to listen again and that’s a bonus. Cheers for having us Natz.
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