SHELF LIVES punch OUT debut mini-album + EU/UK TOUR DATES

South London duo SHELF LIVES today release their debut mini-album ‘Yes, offence’ via Not Sorry Mom Records. Shelf Lives will also support Skunk Anansie on their upcoming UK/EU tour – commencing on 2nd May April in Poland, with stops in Slovakia, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia and Germany, and culminating with shows in Oxford and Southampton in June.

Originating from Toronto, Canada and Northampton in the UK respectively, Shelf Lives consist of vocalist Sabrina and guitarist/producer Jonny – who now both reside in Streatham Hill, South London.

Bringing to mind the acerbic art-rock of Le Tigre and the gritty garage-rock inspired electro bombast of Peaches, Shelf Lives’ debut mini-album ‘Yes, offence’ is an enthralling, genre-bending debut body of work.

The project emerges from the pair’s ongoing creative collaboration with producer Space (IDLES, Do Nothing), and provides a captivating example of the band’s unique electronic trash-pop / post-punk amalgam.

Examining themes such as social expectations, personal authenticity and social expression; across Yes, offence’s 8 tracks, caustic guitars grapple with driving percussion as Sabrina expertly navigates around raucous instrumentation with her acute social-commentary style lyricism.

Speaking on the release, the band said:

Yes, offence is a reflection of a broken society verging on the edge of cultureless, all while wearing a party hat. It’s a representation of the worst but most liberating and the most egotistic yet most aspiring and inspiring versions of ourselves. While that’s going on there are moments of being unapologetically cliché because sometimes, it’s just not that deep.

The band’s self-titled debut single “Shelf Live” opens proceedings; a sassy 2 minute electronic-post-punk assault, which according to the band is about the “chaos, beauty and brutality” of everyday life.

Live favourite “Shock Horror” is an homage’s to the pair’s “worst nightmare of a human”…with them going on to say:

Everyone has met one or has even been one at some point in their lives. The catch is that this type of person is annoyingly frustrating in that you can’t help yourself but feel a little bit sorry for them. They’re lost, probably lonely, and super cliché which makes them harmless and so easy to dislike.

“Mark Twain” is a biting commentary on self-expression, employing flailing electronic breakbeats, glitched-out synths and churning distorted guitars – with vocalist Sabrina commenting:

We’re in an age of self-expression which comes hand-in-hand with opinion. We’re being told by each other who we can and can’t be, what we can and can’t feel and how to express it. Mark Twain is a, sort of, commentary on the confusion and complexity this behaviour creates of something meant to be genuine and authentic. It becomes safer to be emotionless, or at least perceived as, but as we waste these moments of vulnerability and expression a resentment and sadness build. This inevitably leads to the disassociation with these “new norms” and potentially social isolation.

Speaking on the beating heart of the mini-album “I Don’t Think I’ll Go Out Today”, Sabrina said:

The last couple years have been a bit of a Pandora’s box for most people. We all learned a thing or two about the World and how we live in it but with that comes judgement and sometimes even self-righteousness. We wanted to convey not only a mental health issue but also its corresponding social issue that may seem trivial on the surface but in actuality is usually just scratching the surface. We kept it building to an intensity and release in an attempt to emulate the actual thought pattern of someone in that situation but we kept it simple. Everyone ‘deals’ differently, therefore everyone will individually pick up exactly what they need from the track.

With press support coming in thick and fast from The Line Of Best Fit, Dork Magazine, The Independent, Gigwise, and London In Stereo, radio plays on BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing and being the coverstars of Spotify’s Fresh Finds UK playlist, Shelf Lives are bringing punk back to the house party just in time.

LIVE DATES

2nd May – Gdansk Stary Maneż, POLAND (supporting Skunk Anansie)

3rd May – Łódź Wytwórnia, POLAND (supporting Skunk Anansie)

5th May – Krakow Klub Studio, POLAND (supporting Skunk Anansie)

6th May – Warsaw Progresja Music Zone, POLAND (supporting Skunk Anansie)

8th May – Wroclaw CK A2, SLOVAKIA (supporting Skunk Anansie)

9th May – Trnava Trnava Amphitheater, GERMANY (supporting Skunk Anansie)

10th May – Munich Neue Theaterfabrik, GERMANY (supporting Skunk Anansie)

11th May – Lausanne Les Docks, SWITZERLAND (supporting Skunk Anansie)

13th May – Zagreb Dom Sportova, CROATIA (supporting Skunk Anansie)

14th May – Milan Alcatraz, ITALY (supporting Skunk Anansie)

15th May – Wiesbaden Schlachthof, GERMANY (supporting Skunk Anansie)