An ode to The Shamen, dance rock pioneers who never got their due

Posted on February 7, 2024 by C C

Words & Photo by Ben Cardew

For underground musicians, chart success can be a double-edged sword, which brings in money and fame as it destroys your experimental credentials. Few bands know this as much as The Shamen, the Scottish psychedelic indie band turned rave pop stars, who are best known these days as the jokers who smuggled a pro-ecstasy song to the top of the UK charts via the leaden punning of Ebeneezer Goode.

There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. There was undoubtedly something subversive in what The Shamen achieved with Ebeneezer Goode and when people think of the band it is generally with a wry smile and a warm heart.

But this rampant chart success – and The Shamen were genuinely massive in the 90s – means that the group’s background as psychedelic warriors and dance rock crossover pioneers gets lost under a litany of naughty-naughty camera winks and nostalgic delights. Because way back before the Happy Mondays dropped the W.F.L. dance-floor mixes and The Stone Roses released Fools Gold, The Shamen were mixing up electronic sounds with guitars, rock vocals and political intent, making them a genuinely revolutionary band. As their pivotal album, In Gorbachev We Trust, turns 35, what better time to celebrate them?

“The Shamen started out as a guitar band, gorging on fungal fruits and tuning into psychedelia,” the band’s guitarist, vocalist and leader Colin Angus told The Guardian in 2012. You can hear this on their 1987 debut album, Drop, a work of elegant psychedelic rock, which suggests 60s acid trips, more than 90s acid house. “As the personnel changed,” Angus continued, “we played around Scotland and picked up a few tricks with sequencers, samplers and drum machines.”

shamen : will sin

Posted on May 25, 2021 by C C

shamen : on spotify

Posted on June 9, 2020 by C C

you can follow the shamen on spotify here…

Here’s a wee Shamen intro playlist for you: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3UYALt0TrMTBsk9Jmo4Ij4?si=E8zP5Ki4QACJ6J-Ms1O2AQ

the shamen : boss drum revisited

Posted on September 27, 2017 by C C

it’s been 25 years since the release of the shamen’s “boss drum” album, which won them a highly coveted ivor novello award for songwriters of the year, went double platinum album and of course spawned the sometimes controversial no1 Single for four ( yes count them) weeks “ebeneezer goode” alongside the hit singles “lsi”, “boss drum”, “phorever people”, ‘re-evolution’ and “comin; On” , some rather fine mixes & more….. which seems like a good reason to mention it.

you can hear it here

or here

Follow The Shamen on Spotify

the shamen : 25 years after ‘ebeenezer goode’

Posted on September 25, 2017 by C C

25 years after the shamen’s single release “ebeneezer goode” was banned, then sent scurrying up the charts to no1 where it remained for 4 weeks until we deleted it. here’s some more palaver on how it came to be, in case anyone missed it last time:

how we made … ebeneezer goode by the shamen

with some more gratuitous rug references.. especially for anyone that hated it 😉

listen links here

more carry on at the shamen’s facebook page.

Heres some of the flava it came in

ebeneezer goode – beat edit : the shamen

ebeneezer goode – south of detroit vocal : the shamen

ebeneezer goode – shamen dub : the shamen

follow the shamen on spotify

joi soundsystem : haroon shamsher from joi: honoured with a blue plaque in brick lane

Posted on June 14, 2017 by C C

haroon shamsher from joi: honoured with a blue plaque in brick lane

David Bowie, John Peel, Factory Records and Haroon Shamsher from Joi are among the music legends honoured by BBC as official Blue Plaques are unveiled on BBC Music Day.

BBC Local Radio, the BBC Asian Network and the British Plaque Trust will tomorrow (Thursday 15 June) unveil new blue plaques to commemorate people or places that have influenced the musical landscape across the country with innovation and success.

The Shamsher family and BBC Asian Network are delighted to invite you to honour the memory of pioneering musician Haroon Shamsher, founder of Joi.

A special Blue Plaque will be unveiled in East London. We would like you to join us at 10am sharp on Thursday 15th June outside 55 Brick Lane, London E1 (formerly Ambala Sweets).Haroon’s brother Farook will unveil the plaque, outside the building that the young Shamsher brothers moved into in Brick Lane, where their father ran a traditional music shop, and recording studio.

Haroon’s brother Farook Shamsher (Joi Soundsytem) will talk to Bobby Friction on his BBC Asian Network Show about Haroon on 15th June. @ 20.00

There will be a Haroon Shamsher Joi tribute anniversary event on Saturday evening 8 July 18.00 in the Kobi Nazrul Centre. E1

Quotes

I’m flattered awed and humbled that Haroon is being recognised by his peers and the wider music community, and know he would be proud of this acknowledgment with love Farook Shamsher

Haroon was a pioneer. A pioneer of sound, a pioneer of social conscience and awareness and a pioneer of Asian street credibility in Britain. He and his brother Farooq inspired myself and many others, including Talvin Singh, to search further and harder for new sounds to express a dispossessed generation of British Asians Nitwin Sawhney

Haroon was a fine and collegiate fellow to be with aboard the tour bus,as well as an attractive and charismatic presence on stage with Joi.
Haroon was also blessed with an impish sense of humour, his inflight attire including t shirt bearing the legend “don’t panic, i’m islamic”Colin Angus (The Shamen)

BBC Asian Network and BBC Music, with the British Plaque Trust, are really proud to honour music icons with the first Blue Plaques for artists from South-Asian heritage.

Haroon Shamsher continues to be an inspiration. The group changed the British music landscape and his cultural impact lives on today.” Mark Strippel, Head of BBC Radio 1Xtra / Asian Network

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