KRAAK FEST 25 HIGHLIGHTS: The Shadow Ring

After all these years, what was it like to reunite and play these shows again?

It felt very familiar and natural. Although we hadn’t made any music together in 24 years we'd never lost touch socially, and saw each other all the time. Putting the Shadow Ring box/book project together brought everything we’d done back to the front of our minds, and in a way, it felt like we were returning to work after a short pause . That said, The Shadow Ring hasn’t reformed. The shows we’ve played over the last year have been to promote the box set and celebrate the past, but delivered with a fresh perspective on the old material.

It's funny how TSR is an incredibly influential band but also totally unknown to many people, especially younger audiences. What reactions have you had from those who have just become familiar with the music?

I’m not really in touch with anyone who wouldn’t have been there the first time around, so I’m not sure what younger audiences make of it. The recent shows have been well attended - compared to the ones in the 90’s - so I suppose new people are curious and coming closer.

The material you have released and performed has varied widely and continues to evolve. Is there some particular era or (material) that resonates with you more than others in this particular moment in time?

It’s been fun revisiting and performing the material from the Swill Radio trilogy: Lighthouse/Lindus/I’m Some Songs, because we’d stopped playing live by that point, and those records were never taken onto the stage.

You announced KRAAK Fest as the last show on your final tour. Just to be clear, this was a definitive statement?

Maybe. We intended the tour to end last year with the weekend double bill of Folkestone/London shows, but then KRAAK got in touch and here we are. There’s nothing planned beyond this but never say never.

What’s in store for you after this, together and/or on your separate paths?

Tim is just finishing up a new solo album, provisionally called The Clown, I’m working on a book of stories written during the last eight years whilst living in London, and Darren is busy perfecting being Darren.

Postscript by Darren:

We have remained friends for all of these years, so we never really had some big moment of us meeting up again after a long passage of time. But for a while ( a couple of years actually) The Shadow Ring were at the forefront of a lot of conversations between us because Graham and Lawrence were putting the box set together. Things kind of happened slowly from there.

I think the slow way it all happened suited me, I hadn't done anything since we recorded the last album and being put into a straight " Are you gonna perform live again?" Yes or no situation might have seemed like alot of pressure.

But at the same time saying no was never really an option, I realised that as the box set started to take shape. I'm proud of being a part of The Shadow ring and would of hated myself for turning it down.

It was good to have an edge of business to our relationship again, I didn't realise how much I had missed that. It's always good meeting up but a sense of purpose is nice, something a bit more than just juggling beer cans and joints.