6/13/2023 0 Comments Sham 69 hitsDo you think that tension and conflict has been the spark to your creativity? Jimmy has been fired, has rejoined and has left again over the years. Like most bands, over the years there’s been friction. There’s a certain connection that was right and worked then and to still be playing with the same people is something that feels so right. I’ve had a few friends die over the years and you can make new friends but it’s never quite the same as the old friends from the early days and it’s the same with a band. It’s great playing with different people but there’s something really special about playing with Jimmy and Dave. How important was it for you be playing on this tour with Jimmy Pursey and Dave Tregunna again from the classic 1977 line-up The old crowd is still there which is great as they’ve always supported us but there’s a lot more ladies and young people now which is great to see. If we were there playing and it was just the old crowd then I don’t think we’d carry on doing it. We get a real mix of all sorts of people these days and thank goodness those days of the violence at shows is long gone. What sort of people do you get coming to your shows these days? Not to get spiritual or anything but it’s those moments when the band and audience almost become one that is a real buzz. It’s about getting a connection with the audience and that’s where we get the buzz even now after all these years. People ask if we get bored playing the same songs but we only play them 12 or 13 times a year and when you’re up on stage every audience is slightly different and the connection with that audience and the way you play the song and the way they are received is all a new chemistry at each show. Going back to not overplaying, there’s just nothing like it. Do you still get that buzz from your live shows that you got when you first started? You’ve been on the road now for nearly four decades. The worst thing that can happen when you play a new song is the crowd just stands there with their mouths open but fortunately it didn’t happen to us. At the Rebellion Festival a few weeks ago, which we headlined, we added in a song we’d only just written which was crazy as by the time we got to the end of the song people were singing along to it. We’ll also do a couple of recent songs or maybe a new one. 90% of what we are playing people will know and will hear what they want to hear. There was a time where we’d get a bit high and mighty and just play a couple of old songs and too much of the show was new stuff. What sort of show do you have lined up for this tour? It means that we have the energy to perform how we want to and how the fans want to see us and that way everybody enjoys it and that also means we look forward to playing again very much. We are fortunate that we’re in a position where we can do that. If you have so much time between your gigs you can give it everything you’ve got and it also means that you’re still hungry for it and really looking forward to every gig you play. If you did that every night there’s no way you could perform like that. When people come to see you they still expect you to perform like you did as a 17-year-old. We tend to play on average 12 to 13 gigs a year. If we ended up playing at the rate that some bands do, especially at our age, it would end up feeling like a 9 to 5 job. One of the reasons I went into the music business is that I didn’t want a job that was like a 9 to 5 one. What we do is a little different to other bands who tend to play all of the time. Are you looking forward to hitting the road again? Mick Burgess caught up with guitarist DAVE PARSONS to talk about life on the road, his thoughts on the fake band using their name and the prospects of a new record and how they ended up working with Velvet Underground legend, John Cale on their first single. Now they are back with original members Jimmy Pursey, Dave Parsons and Dave Tregunna and are about to hit the road. Punk legends SHAM 69, scored a run of Top 20 singles and albums throughout the late ’70s with their brand of foot-stomping, football terrace chant-a-long anthems for the disaffected youth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |