IT'S A LAD, LAD, LAD, LAD WORLD

Dismissed as purveyors of blokeish mediocrity, Shed Seven were one of the most critically derided bands of the Britpop era. Yet the York fourpiece have outlasted their peers: rousing new album A Matter Of Time marked their 30th anniversary with a No 1 chart placing, the first of their career. Singer Rick Witter tells John Earls why he's able to laugh off "meat and potatoes" insults.

- John Earls

Indie music might have turned out differently had it not been for Rick Witter’s biology teacher. Aged 11 in 1984, the shy youngster’s family had moved from Stockport to York. Due to an admin error, Witter was placed in the second year at Huntington Secondary School, a year ahead of where he should have been for the new intake. During a lesson on birth in nature, Witter’s teacher asked six children for their DOBs. When Witter rattled off 23 November 1972, the confusion led him to be belatedly dropped back down to the correct school year.

“I’d just begun to make friends in York with my classmates,” Witter recalls. “Maybe I’d have seen out my schooldays in the wrong year if it wasn’t for that science lesson. I’d like to thank that biology teacher. Because in the year below, I met Paul Banks and Tom Gladwin.”

Initially forming a school band called Brockley Haven (“A terrible name, but so is Shed Seven,” he laughs) the three classmates are still good friends. They’re also still together in Shed Seven, who are this year celebrating the 30th anniversary since their debut single and album, with their sixth album, the stirring A Matter Of Time. When it went straight in at No 1 in January 2024, it made them the rock artist(s) with the longest gap (over 29 years) between their debut LP release and their first chart-topper.

Speaking to RC via Zoom from his front room in York, a decent size vinyl collection in the background stored in Ikea Kallaxes, Witter is comfortable talking about his band’s place in the scheme of things. At 51, he can afford to be. In addition to their first new album in seven years, Witter, guitarist Banks and bassist Gladwin have seen Shed Seven rise above the mockery to regularly headline the arenas that eluded them during the Britpop years.