Shake Rag
From Monday 13th January onwards, band of the week on Tameside Radio's Local Music Spotlight feature are Shake Rag. The four-piece band formed in 2021, and consist of lead singer and guitarist Richard Moses, lead guitarist Garry Parvin, bass player Heath Evdemon, and drummer Archi Bremna. After forming, the band started playing old blues and rockabilly classics but quickly started to write their own songs. They named themselves Shake Rag after the community in Tupelo where Elvis Presley lived as a young boy, and where so much great blues music came from. The place itself got its name from the fact that the railroad went through it but there was no station, so if you wanted to stop the train you had to shake a rag. The idea of having your say with whatever is to hand is fundamental to Shake Rag's music, and the blues and punk acts that influence them. Along with the likes of Joe Strummer, Mark E. Smith, Iggy and The Stooges, Joy Division, The Doors and The Stranglers, key influences to the band also include blues music, particularly hill country blues musicians such as R L Burnside, along with Rockabilly music from Sun Studios to The Cramps, UK Pub Rockers such as Dr Feelgood and Micky Jupp, plus Punk Blues outfits such as Jesus and Mary Chain, John Spencer Blues Explosion and Screaming Blue Messiahs. The Shake Rag sound itself doesn’t sit neatly in any particular genre category, but ‘punk blues’ is what seems most apt, with rockabilly undertones. Shake Rag are also an amazing live band, who have already played over fifty gigs since forming, with 80% of their set always original material. They played their first gig at Glossop Labour Club on 4th September 2022. Since then, they’ve played in and around Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire as well as several gigs in Chelmsford, Essex. Last year, Shake Rag spent time at Stockport’s South City Studios recording their music. So far, they have the single 'Who Do You Voodoo?' and a four track EP 'Telesales Pharoah and his Pyramid Scheme' released and available on all streaming platforms. They plan on releasing their debut album early this year.
