EP Focus: The Shops

Guitarist and singer Sean Gorman talks to us ahead of the launch of The Shops’ EP launch at Mojos on Sunday, August 2, with support from Leah Miche, Arlo|Esnat, Wuyong The Wizard, When Autumn Leaves and MC Strongo Bongo.

Who are The Shops? 

The Shops formed after I discovered Louis Inglis (drums & vocals) on Myspace (we are getting old) and made him an international star. We toured together in states as morose navel gazing singer songwriters and then on our return I asked Louis if he knew anyone who might want to play with me because I was sick of myself.  Louis then enlisted his friend Cameron Hanush (bass & vocals) who had nothing better to do.  

What’s your sound? 

We joked ages ago that if someone asked us that our response would be semi lo-fi alt folk rock, but it’s more jangly-posty-punky poppy now.
You’ve kept up a steady stream of updates in terms of the design and packaging of the EP. How important is that in terms of marketing yourself these days?

Time will tell. It’s more about revealing the inner workings of the band. We are working on a television series based on our band meetings - stay tuned.

How did production go?

We recorded at Sumo in Osborne Park with Laurie McCallum but we didn’t have enough cash to mix it there properly at the time and then arrogantly tried to mix it ourselves, going round in circles and arguing about many things until we luckily met Nik Thompson from Arlo|Esnat, who has mixed it for us.  We then got Al Smith from Begerk to master it.

What have you got coming up?

We will probably go back to our day jobs immediately after the EP Launch and start saving for the next recording as we’ve got a stack of songs ready to record.

Anything left to say?

I want to say that I love you Louis and Cam. You’re the best.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine