A Chat with Shaven Primates (22.01.25)
Traipsing through various flavours of rock music, UK-based Shaven Primates offer audiences a unique, eclectic, innovative sound that is Shaven Primates and no one else. We speak with the group about their new EP, Chasing The Dragon, what music means to them, future plans, and much more.
OSR: Rather cliché, but how did Shaven Primates come about? What drew you all to music?
Shaven Primates: This is quite a story, and starts with the making of ‘Child Of Dirt’ – brace yourselves! Mark had a dark history of traumatic events he had been through which started with having continuous access to adult videos as a 6-year-old child. He was also undiagnosed autistic and very quiet and obsessive, including art, insects, rocks, and, unfortunately, this material. He was ostracised in Catholic school by pupils and punished physically and mentally by teachers for being quiet and disconnected, and this led to a difficult time in his teenage years with bullying still ongoing. He didn’t spend much time at home and became addicted to the videos he found, and his only outlet was to write music which he did a lot of up until he was 17. He was very lost inside and would spend a lot of time away from home to drink or smoke and became very thin, and with a low immune system, he contracted meningitis and woke up in hospital having lost his memory. He didn’t know who his parents were, he couldn’t connect with his learned senses like smell or colour or other things of recognition, and over a few years, he tried to find his way back.
Mark didn’t reconnect with music again properly until he was 34, when he had already married, got a job and his second son was born, and he was still suffering with addiction to the adult material and alcohol. It was at this point he realised he needed help and looked to therapy while forcing himself to just write a few bulleted points of the events he wanted to work on, each becoming a song in the album Child Of Dirt.
The name “Shaven Primates” was derived from that history, the isolation and disconnection Mark felt around humanity and fitting in, and also our odd expectations to shave sounded cool to use alongside the obvious innuendo. He then looked for musicians to work on these songs, and eventually met Neil, the original keyboard player, and then Tom, Jarod, and finally Nick. We ended up spending too long working on Child Of Dirt thanks to COVID and a few other events, so we just gave one more push to get that finished and write something fresh. We decided to carry on with the concept of Shaven Primates, making all our songs on life experiences and wrote ‘Birds Aren’t Real’ on the concept of “alternative thinking”.
OSR: What inspires you to make music?
Shaven Primates: These days, it’s mainly things we see in the world that we care about or observe, and generally we try and find things that resonate with what we see in the world and with other people’s experiences. Mark finds that he has to be able to visualise the music and what it involves in order to want to do it, and often we see him moving around on stage to everything in order to connect with it. Connection with the meaning is really important to him and he tries to portray any ideas of that to the band. Having said that, we generally start an idea and Mark forms an image around it of how he could make that work, which somehow it often does.
OSR: You recently released your EP Chasing The Dragon. What can you tell us about it? Is there a backstory or theme?
Shaven Primates: The theme is desire, and each song has its own way of connecting with that.
‘Airwaves’ covers the ongoing desire to win at life, as humans are largely driven by dopamine and for many that somehow ties in with affirmation. This song aims to make it important to also connect with all those around us, as that’s the world and life we’re limited to, so at least in our view, kindness and generosity still needs to hold its place.
OSR: Did you face any challenges when creating Chasing The Dragon, and how did you overcome them?
Shaven Primates: The hardest thing was avoiding over-engineering everything, which is definitely something we’ve suffered from in the past. Another thing was satisfying the input of each member of the band, so we worked really hard to put in each person’s requirements. One thing was spending the time necessary to avoid using autotune to make the vocals sound authentic, and giving our guitarist time to flow through the parts he really wanted to add. It made the whole process very fulfilling, especially to have such interest.
OSR: In your press release you mention that you are “driven to redefine the boundaries of our genre”. So, if you had to describe Shaven Primates to a new listener, how would you describe the band?
Shaven Primates: It’s art-rock, which basically means to expect new art work per each release, like other art-rock artists have managed. Radiohead, David Bowie, Arcane Fire, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd – they basically do what they choose but you still know it’s them and their sound and performance.
OSR: If you had to introduce Shaven Primates to a new listener, which of your songs would you recommend?
Shaven Primates: Very good question! I think ‘Birds Aren’t Real’ is probably a good representation of ourselves, as it’s catchy and has all the elements of our work in. ‘I’ll Quit Tomorrow’ is definitely the most representative in general as it’s all of us as we currently stand.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
Shaven Primates: Music is art, expression, a means to connect with life, and a way to let go of it too. Mark says he’s tried doing without and doesn’t recommend it!
OSR: Do you have any advice for new artists?
Shaven Primates: We can only relay the advice given to us and our experience. We write music for ourselves and our own fulfilment first. As Bowie puts it, “Never play to the gallery”.
OSR: What can we expect from Shaven Primates in the future?
Shaven Primates: Another EP/album is in the works, so we plan to produce more music as soon as possible, and possibly start gigging in London and anywhere else outside of Oxfordshire.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
Shaven Primates: Watch the coming months for any new music. We promise there’ll be something new, and it certainly won’t be boring!
Many thanks to Shaven Primates for speaking with us! Find out more about Shaven Primates on their official website, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
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