Shame On The Pubs, Punks And Nonsense Behind Debut Album 'Songs Of Praise'

Reality is weird — a series of events that connect from birth to death. Shame's singer, Charlie Steen, doesn't claim wisdom of the process, he's just pulling hot embers from this unruly fire, singing in a hoarse scrawl: "My nails ain't manicured / My voice ain't the best you've heard / And you can choose to hate my words / But do I give a f***."

Shame, a five-piece post-punk band, came up in south London's squat scene through a few square-eyed singles and a love for bands that rewired punk like , and Television Personalities. , the band's debut album, is punk synthesis at its prettiest and its ugliest; bowing to forebears with gobs of spit, but confident enough to expose a nerve with certain grace and wide-eyed wonder. It's a record that lurches like a vampire bat ("Dust On Trial" and the stomp of "Gold Hole") and kicks grinning teeth ("Concrete," "Tasteless," "Lampoon"), but also contains a tenderness that has its roots in hopelessness, like the jangly "One Rizla" or the touching