CVLT Nation
Interview with The Shame

Interview by Andy (Leffer) Lefton

The Shame play straight up, unapologetic, in your face anti-fascist Oi! with lyrics about BEER and FOOTBALL (the international kind). This record is filled with anthems that the whole scene can drink-a-long to. So grab a pint with your mates, turn on the game and play this record as loud as you can. After all “The World Is Ours!” This was the first release in the 2013 Profane Existence limited edition singles series.

Andy: Hey Guys, thanks for taking the time to chat. Just a quick run through on who’s who and when The Shame started. Also, can you elaborate on how long you’ve been around and what the future holds for the band?

Well, the Shame has been around for 2 years now, but really it took about a year of just meeting up at the bar and talking about how fun it would be to do a “football hooligan” Oi! band. Josh and I are old friends and were in a band together in 1986, and while I have been doing music wherever I could, he was into sports journalism and really hadn’t played much music since. Kevin and I played together in 1989 and he too, really hadn’t played much in about 20 years. So, it was kind of a plan of getting these two out of “musical retirement” for a good laugh, and now, we’re two years in, and we’re releasing our second record… so I’m pretty fucking happy about how it’s all turning out to be honest.

This next question is for the band, but mainly you Chad, since I know your entire musical career…HA! How would you explain The Shame and it’s energy as a whole? Chad, you’ve been in some damn fine bands like Brother Inferior, Assembly of God, Larkin, Bring Down the Hammer and more. Besides the Irish punk and folk bands you’ve done, most or all of the hardcore punk stuff you’ve done has been VERY heavy and borderline thrash. How has it been going from, let’s say, Bring Down the Hammer, which was like SEEIN’ RED type punk, to what you’re now doing with The Shame? Is there a big difference in this bands overall “outlook,” and is this somewhat of a separate entity from the previous political stuff?

First of all, thank you very much for the kind words! I really appreciate it. Well, I’ve just always like many different kinds of music. And really, most of them I find to be more similar than different really. The “energy” as you say, feels the same to me, just the way it’s executed is the difference. I guess I see music as just the emotion behind the context of whatever the lyrics are about. And as far as the Shame goes, this particular style has always sounded “fun” to me. I’ve always really liked Oi! and old school punk rock. Though, with the Tulsa scene as it was, I really didn’t care for the people who played it here back in the 80’s, as there was a lot of bullshit racism here back then.

As far as it being a “separate entity”… maybe. It kinda feels like when I was doing Brother Inferior or Bring Down the Hammer, that was my way of dealing with my feelings on politics and my thoughts on working class issues. Doing Larkin, is my chance to write more on the poetic personal and dare I even say, romantic side of my life, and now with the Shame, I wanted to just write about my day to day kinda shit… going to work, having a drink and watching a match (or once in a while, even playing one!).

The Shame is an Oi! Band. Does this attract a more….um….boneheaded audience (not that all Oi is affiliated with that mentality) or do you still find yourselves attracting the same loyal fans as you did in the previous projects? Personally, I have a dedicated place in my heart for Oi, but going to the shows at times can be a different story. I honestly don’t think PE has ever released an Oi record….but you do have a long history with Profane Existence.

Luckily, no. Our last show had a couple of fights, which is the first time that has happened actually, but they were just drunken stupidity. We have not seen any “bonehead” or racist activity at our shows at all. I think we’ve done a good job at making sure that we make our anti-racist feelings known, and while we may not be a “political” band in the Profane sense, we are very particular about that. As far as PE itself, well yeah… I still have the Nausea LP that Profane Released back in 1989 and was honored to have them put out one of our Brother Inferior records, and they also carry most of my releases in the distro, so there is a long history there. Not to mention, I consider Dan a good friend, and hope that he continues fighting the good fight as long as he can. And yeah, as far as I know, this is the first Oi! record on Profane, who the fuck ever thought that would happen!

Thanks for the taking the time to do this. Now for the quintessential sign off….any last comments or advice?

None really…just my hope that the old punks never give in, ’cause for us over 40-year-olds, what else have we got other than music, a couple of beers and a laugh? OK, maybe 3 points to the Arsenal this weekend would be nice, but that’s about fuckin’ it, innit? Cheers brother.. all the best. Next round is on me.

Check out www.profaneexistence.com for The Shame and more!