SHREDS. - Until It Breaks ! (England - HardCore - Interview with Jim & Dan).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music? 
Jim: I’ve always loved music ever since I was very young, everything changed when I was 12 and started skateboarding and heard more aggressive hard edge music!
Dan: I grew up on metal really, and then progressed to hardcore and punk! So I've always gravitated to the fast and aggressive stuff.  
Jim: Shreds. got together when Dan (guitar) and Trevor (bass) wanted to do something more hardcore than what they were playing in their previous band. They enlisted Bart on the drums who I’d known for years and we’d already talked about doing something together, when I heard about SHREDS. I wanted to play bass but they didn’t have a vocalist so I went for that job hahaha! (looks like you're qualified enough ha ! Ed.)

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
Dan: Why this band? Well, Shreds. from the start was always about taking our cues from the origins of hardcore and thinking about what made that tick and getting back to basic core values. So taking influence from early black flag, uniform choice, minor threat, 7 seconds, negative approach,   SSD, Jerrys kids.. I could go on!!
Jim:  Yeah, we’re kinda 80s throwbacks hardcore youth crew even though we’re far from youths !! (Hmmm.. do you mean you're "old" people ? Let's just say “Experienced people”—that works for me too ;-) Ed.)
 
Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
Dan: I’d describe our sound as a fast, aggressive uncomplicated barrage of energy! When we play live we tend to play 20 songs in a half hour set with no breaks and we run each song into the next so that it’s completely relentless. That’s the only way to play! We only stop if we break something!

 
 
Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ?
Jim:  My lyrics are a mix of social and personal issues, imagine William D fens in the movie “falling down”, just pissed off with society hahah and of course political issues that we all face from our wonderful non corrupt politicians!! 
Three bands , Motörhead Ramones SNFU, they’re the big three for me ! (Oh YEAH ! Ed.)
Dan: Influences for me are probably the ones mentioned before, but also stuff like Sabbath and 80s thrash as well! (Oh YEAH again ! Ed.)

About the band's discography... Imagine someone who doesn't know your band at all and wants to get interested in.. Which release would you recommend to start with, and why?
Dan: We formed in September 2022 and then released our first EP “the first 12 months” in October 2023. We then followed up with our full length debut album “Step Back” in April 2024 That then led on to our latest release to come out very soon... 


 
About your latest release ? 
Jim: We’re very near to releasing our second album “Floorshow", it’s all recorded and all and virtually ready for release!! We recorded the drums at "Playing Aloud" in Lincoln and everything else recorded and produced at The Stationhouse in Leeds, James Atkinson there is an amazing producer and really pushed us to get the best out of us , and he’s a wonderful human too !!
Dan: Yeah James works with a lot of hardcore bands and so that's why we wanted to record there! We’re really proud of it and we all worked out asses off getting it sounding just right! With "Floorshow" we wanted to try and capture some of that chaos of our live shows, and I think we did that!

Future plans ? 
Jim:  Future plans?? We have gigs lined up with some awesome bands , play some awesome gigs and just keep the ball rolling , play some more places in Europe !  
Dan: Yeah! Apart from the album coming out, maybe another euro tour? We did a few dates in Belgium last year with our mates King of Pigs. It was a great experience and the Belgians welcomed us with open arms, so maybe we could do a few dates next time with one show in each country!!   

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
Dan: Well we’ve already made some of those dreams happen! We’ve played with Negative Approach, Agnostic Front and we’re playing with DRI this year so not too shabby!! Biohazard would be cool!
Jim: Wildest dreams , to be able to do shreds. full time and tour all over the place , it might happen hahaha! 
   
Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
Jim: As for best and worst gigs , I don’t really know tbh , playing with Negative Approach and Agnostic Front were awesome. We’ve played some gigs to at you’re basically playing to the other bands , but they don’t happen very often fortunately!
Dan: Yeah we've all been there playing to an empty room! Its part of being a DIY band really. Everyone has to do it sometime! But its all good. It doesn't really bother us. We once had someone break a leg in the pit so we sent him a t-shirt in Hospital. (Nice gesture guys ! Ed.) Its crazy that we've played with a lot of bands that we grew up listening to. eg Subhumans, Agnostic front, Negative Approach. So thats cool!

Next live-appearance(s) ?
Dan: There's a lot! check out our gig listings Shreds. (UK) Full Tour Schedule 2026 & 2027, Tour Dates & Concerts ! Later on in the year we're playing with D.R.I, Discharge, GBH and Subhumans!! Its gonna be busy...

Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ?
Jim: We don’t really have a local scene as such because we’re all from different towns but I live in Scunthorpe, there isn’t really a heavy scene here at the moment, acoustic indie folky bullshit or even worse dog shit cover bands !! But the scene that we’re playing on we’ve made some amazing friends in amazing bands , King Of Pigs from Notts are wonderful . This is not a drill from Sheffield but they’re winding things up unfortunately! Grail Guard from Coventry are kicking everyone’s ass right now !!     
The UK DIY scene is healthy right now! Alongside the bands Jim mentioned, shout out to Healer Of Bastards, Dosed, Reason To Leave. Yeah we are sort of based around Sheffield in the north of England, and we put shows on ourselves around there also, so we're heavily invested in that scene!
 
What’s the question you’ve always dreamed of answering but have never been asked? Just a heads-up: I’m also waiting for the answer that goes with it...
Jim:  I don’t know what question I haven’t been asked but wish I was asked ??? I’ll get back to you on that hahahha ... (ha, not fair ! Ed)
Dan: Can you land a kickflip? Definitely not…. (Try HARDER Dan ;-) Ed)
 
Last word is yours..
Come check us out at a live show, and look out for our new album "FLOORSHOW" !! Out very soon on digital platforms, CD and Vinyl!! If you want us to come play a show, get in touch!!