High, Aeroplane Flies. "Senior Project Interview." Online interview. 10 Nov. 2014.

Blinda Butcher. Digital image. Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2014.

"Shoegaze." Explore:. AllMusic.com, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

Shoegaze is a genre of late '80s and early '90s British indie rock, named after the bands' motionless
performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at the floor while they played. But shoegaze
wasn't about visuals -- it was about pure sound. The sound of the music was overwhelmingly loud, with
long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies disappeared
into the walls of guitars, creating a wash of sound where no instrument was distinguishable from the
other. Most shoegaze groups worked off the template My Bloody Valentine established with their early
EPs and their first full-length album, Isn't Anything, but Dinosaur Jr., the Jesus & Mary Chain, and the
Cocteau Twins were also major influences. Bands that followed -- most notably Ride, Lush,
Chapterhouse, and the Boo Radleys -- added their own stylistic flourishes. Ride veered close to '60s
psychedelia, while Lush alternated between straight pop and the dream pop of the Cocteau Twins.
Almost none of the shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviews, which prevented
them from breaking through into the crucial U.S. market. In 1992 -- after the groups had dominated
the British music press and indie charts for about three years -- the shoegaze groups were swept aside
by the twin tides of American grunge and Suede, the band to initiate the wave of Britpop that ruled
British music during the mid-'90s. Some shoegazers broke up within a few years (Chapterhouse, Ride),
while other groups -- such as the Boo Radleys and Lush -- evolved with the times and were able to
sustain careers into the late '90s.

Lindsay, Cam. "Sound of Confusion - How Shoegaze Defied Critics and Influenced A
Generation Research Exclaim.ca." Exclaim.ca. Exclaim.ca, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.
They call it the "holocaust section and it can last upwards of 25 minutes. For
almost 20 years give or take a 13-year hiatus its been anticipated and feared
at every My Bloody Valentine show, including a string of reunion gigs for the
recently resurrected band, to the excitement of deafened ears and nauseated
stomachs. Author Mike McGonigal, who wrote about the bands Loveless album for
the 33 1/3 book series, described it as "what it must be like to stick my head inside
a jet engine. After a reunion show in June, Bradford Cox (Deerhunter, Atlas Sound)
blogged that "it was the single loudest thing I have ever experienced. The sound
moved my face. My balls retracted. It was like standing in front of the mouth of
hell.
This powerful sonic blast is the middle segment of "You Made Me Realise, My
Bloody Valentines 20-year-old, four-minute single. Described to McGonigal by MBV
singer, guitarist and producer Kevin Shields as "such a huge noise with so much

texture to it, it allowed people to imagine anything, with this one song MBV started
a sonic revolution that has lasted two decades.Shields and MBV are revered for
their studio trickery and musical innovation, all the more so because their classic
1991 swansong, Loveless, will go down in history as one of the greatest albums
ever made. But MBVs longest-lasting achievement was popularising a short-lived
period of music built on introspective, often morose songs masked with
transmutation between noisy and serene soundscapes.
The press mostly called it "shoegazing, a term met with hesitation by those in the
scene and overwhelming praise from critics with something new to write about.
There were brief flirtations with chart success by innovators My Bloody Valentine
and pin-ups Ride, but the splash of Nirvanas Nevermind in 1991 brought the
advent of grunge. Unlike shoegazing a scene that never had a true figurehead,
arguably due to MBVs failure to complete a long sought-after Loveless follow-up
grunge swept the world. The more mainstream Britpop scene moved in on the
gazers territory in 1993 (even converting a few, like Ride and Lush, who swapped
distortion pedals for crisp jangle and straight-up hooks) to become a global
phenomenon. From there, it was only a matter of time before the introverted kids
that eschewed an image for the sake of the music would either fold or reinvent their
sound.
But a funny thing happened after those pioneering bands disassembled their pedal
boards. Their legacy continued not so much in the homeland of its birth, but
worldwide, particularly in North America. Labels like Darla, Clairecords and Morr
released new records that captured the eras spirit while evolving the sound of
swirling guitars. As Shields said, the moment in "You Made Me Realise that allowed
people to imagine anything started being heard in unimagined scenes: the
extended jams of post-rock, the chest-caving low end of drone and doom metal, the
tranquil fringes of electronica and the more obvious realms of pop and rock.
Like any genre, "shoegazing has many parents; most date the first traces back to
the drugged-out noise and motionless performances of the Velvet Underground.
More obviously, the groundwork was laid in early 80s Britain by the Cure albums
Faith and Pornography, by the swirling buzz-saw noise and anti-social behaviour of
the Jesus & Mary Chain, the ethereal textures of Cocteau Twins and the hypnotic
drones of Spacemen 3. Noisier sounds emanating from the U.S. Dinosaur Jr.,
Hsker D and Sonic Youth added another element.
"This is always a tricky question, according to Clairecords founder Dan Sostrom.
"Theres always a constant evolution of sound and its hard to pinpoint one specific
instance. A semi-recent discovery for me is Rhys Chatham. He was making

incredible guitar compositions in the 70s that to me are a great precursor to

the shoegaze movement. Nobody ever seems to name-check him though.
As a scene, shoegazing coalesced in London around the release of MBVs 1988
debut Isnt Anything, inspiring dozens of bands to build effects-laden guitar sounds,
playing loud, eddying melodies. The press caught on quickly, and independent
labels like Creation and 4AD did too. Most bands were British: Slowdive, Ride, Lush,
Moose, Pale Saints, Curve, the Telescopes, Seefeel, Revolver, Chapterhouse and
Secret Shine, but the U.S. spawned the Swirlies, Medicine, Drop Nineteens, Brian
Jonestown Massacre, Smashing Orange and Lilys. Even Canadians like An April
March and Gleet (later SIANspheric) got in on it.In its earliest days, terms like
"dream pop were thrown around by the UK music press; British journalist Steve
Sutherland even dubbed it "the scene that celebrates itself, a dig at the incestuous
tendency of bands to support their peers. But "shoegazing is the term that stuck,
to the chagrin of many participants.
"The difference between the UK and North America is that, over here, shoegazing
was derided so much, so vehemently, that it really was a dirty word for a long
time, explains Nathaniel Cramp, founder and promoter of Sonic Cathedral, a
travelling UK club night and budding record label devoted to shoegazing acts. "The
term was originally coined [by Andy Ross of Food Records] as a put-down [of
Moose] and I dont think it ever got past that. Elsewhere, shoegaze was merely an
adjective, a genre even, and so people approached it with a more open mind. Only
now are kids in the UK getting into bands such as Ride and Slowdive without all the
negative baggage associated with them at the time.
Los Angeles-based filmmaker Eric Green has spent the last four years making
Beautiful Noise, a forthcoming scene documentary that features interviews with
music makers like Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), Neil Halstead (Slowdive) and
Kevin Shields, and fans like Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Wayne Coyne
(Flaming Lips) and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails). "[Shoegazing] is not a word
were using in the movie, Green says. "Its just a press phrase, and most musicians
dont like press tags.
Swervedrivers Adam Franklin appears in Beautiful Noise, and the band was active
during the scenes heyday, but despite being on Creation and sharing a lot of
characteristic sounds, hes always argued the band werent shoegazers. As much as
he rejects the association, he admits it occasionally worked in their favour at
first. "In some ways it gained us exposure and then when the UK music papers
decided it wasn't hip anymore it was a pain in the ass, he says. "It all seems so
fleeting and puerile, these ludicrous supposed musical terms, and shoegazer was a
derogatory term at the time.

So how did a scene that initially never caught on outside the UK, never produced a
runaway success or long-lasting career, and was rejected as a genre by the artists
involved manage to leave such a pretty corpse and make an indelible impression?
"Because its timeless, is Nathaniel Cramps answer. "Lovelessstill sounds alien and
otherworldly 17 years later. [Slowdives] Souvlaki sounds better now than it did in
1993. Perhaps because it was never particularly fashionable and focused upon, it
was allowed to develop and certainly after the attention shifted elsewhere
some incredibly challenging, experimental records were made, such as
Chapterhouses Blood Music and SlowdivesPygmalion.
Though Beautiful Noise is historically-oriented, Eric Greens film points to a new
generation of artists like Autolux, Ulrich Schnauss and Serena Maneesh who are
evolving the sound of textured guitars and cascading feedback. "I think the bands
that we have in our movie have a really mysterious sound, he says. "[They]
foreshadowed a lot of trends.The scenes sound has become subtly influential,
according to Cramp. "Im sure most Coldplay fans arent familiar with the sound,
he says, "but Im sure Coldplay are. There are a lot of references in their sound;
theres a track on the new album that sounds like Ulrich Schnauss crossed with
Moose. Slowdive and Chapterhouse went down the road of more minimal, electronic
dance-influenced music, so they inspired lots of the electronica artists, but at the
same time My Bloody Valentine made loud, avant-garde music and inspired those
kinds of artists. Theres something for everyone.
The gamut of shoegazes sound characteristics the sublime textures, unassuming
melodies and sonic depths have proven to be infinitely adaptable to other
sounds. Theyre everywhere, from mainstream acts like Coldplay and Interpol, to
indie favourites Deerhunter and No Age, to leftfield experimenters A Sunny Day in
Glasgow and A Place To Bury Strangers, to more indebted bands that were grouped
under the topical "nu-gaze umbrella, like the recently departed Engineers and Film
School.
"Those bands experimented with sonic textures and tones, which I loved, but most
importantly they were among the moodiest bands of their time, says Film School
front-man Greg Bertens. "You listen to albums like Loveless and Souvlaki and
simultaneously feel elation and sinking I think this is why I was and still am
drawn to them. The layered, washy guitars wouldn't mean as much without the
emotional intensity.
But Bertens feels that Film School arent just another homage. "Its easy for us to
be labelled shoegaze because of the sonic qualities to our music, but our music

can be more aggressive and energetic than the traditional blissed-out dream pop,
he says. "Also, we layer in electronic elements like rhythmic samples and
keyboards. I think people hear where were coming from when they listen to us, but
also hear the ways were moving things forward. We have our influences, but we
dont want to redo whats already been done.Some pop music has worn the
influence on its sleeves, but even more evident is the electronic music scene.
Artists like Seefeel, Chapterhouse, and particularly Slowdive used reverb, delay
pedals and drum loops staples in electronic music to evolve their sound, which
in turn initiated a new generation of admirers, many of whom appear on Morr
Musics Slowdive tribute album, Blue Skied An Clear. "I think Pygmalion had a big
impact over a period of time on some electronic-based artists, but it was probably
coming much more from that tradition than any of the other records were anyway,
says former Slowdive front-man Neil Halstead.
Though often categorized as electronic artists, acts like M83, Cut Copy and Ulrich
Schnauss are just as revered for their ability to combine pop song structures with
their laptop prowess. The Berlin-based Schnauss, who contributed a cover of "Crazy
For You to Blue Skied, encapsulates Slowdives breadth of sweeping arrangements.
"What I really liked about that time was that the line between electronic and indie
music was very recognisable there was a constant exchange of ideas that had an
anti-purist attitude, he explains. "It was melancholy escapism but at the same
time, it had a hopeful feeling.
Maps, essentially Northampton, UKs James Chapman, manages to coalesce
snapping programmed beats and woozy space pop that suggests he learned a thing
or two from shoegaze; his debut, We Can Create, earned a Mercury Prize
nomination last year. While Chapman is a fan, he feels similarities come more from
experimenting. "I guess there is a strong influence in Maps sound by that era, but
to be honest it wasnt really conscious. A key factor of the shoegazing movement
was escapism and that is a strong element of what I try to do with Maps mostly
through sounds and noises, rather than lyrics. I think the electronic part of Maps is
what separates it from the original shoegazing scene though.
That electronic-oriented artists could hear a future in shoegazing isnt all that
surprising; the scenes influence on metal and noise is. Or is it? Shoegazing often
featured moments of intense noise, heaving low-end and doomed expression.
MBVs "holocaust section sounds even more menacing and strident than Sunn
O)))s Flight of the Behemoth. That doomed blackness of Xasthur? Play Rides Smile
on vinyl at 78 rpm and youll have something akin to Defective Epitaph. More and
more doom, drone and black metal artists are adding "shoegaze to their list of
influences.

Mississauga-based label Profound Lore boasts quite a few such acts, although the
labels most obvious gazer, Frances Alcest, isnt one. "Actually none of the
shoegazing stuff had any influence on him when he made the album, claims label
owner Chris Bruni. "He hadnt heard of any of the shoegazing bands let alone the
term itself when he completed the album. It wasn't until after [Souvenirs D'Un
Autre Monde] was done that a friend of his showed him bands like My Bloody
Valentine and Slowdive, and told Neige that these were the bands everyone was
comparing Alcest to.
On the other hand, Caina, aka Hampshire, UKs Andrew Curtis-Brignell, is
unabashed about the influence. Though his roots are in black metal, Caina
incorporates a range of sounds from folk and prog to doom and shoegaze. "Theres
definitely a conscious shoegaze influence on my sound, no doubt about it, and I
think its creeping in more and more as I get older, Curtis-Brignell says. "That
distinctive 4AD sound is something Ive been obsessed with for a long time. When
I first bought a My Bloody Valentine album about eight or nine years ago, it was the
most bizarre and extreme thing Id ever heard, but also so very, very fragile and
beautiful. It fired my imagination extraordinarily.
"Until recently the shoegaze tag was a bit of an embarrassing term it always
had a hint of the pejorative about it but I dont think that admiration for the
bands themselves ever went away. I hear hints of shoegaze not only in the more
obvious bands such as Alcest, but in the underlying drones and lowlights of bands
as diverse as Nortt, Xasthur, Boris and Esoteric. A lot of black metal, particularly the
harsh and primitive stuff, has a number of textural similarities to shoegaze, such as
the sense of repetition and subtle changes in tone being tools to create an
atmosphere. I think that the correlation is there, but whether its an influence those
people want to admit to is another thing.
Aidan Baker, one-half of Nadja and Caina label-mate, is known for building walls of
noise that are both beautiful and extremely punishing. He sees a parallel between
the whiplash noise and weighted textures of a band like My Bloody Valentine and
Nadjas approach. "With MBV, there was a certain sense of immersion to their
music, which we similarly strive for. A sort of sonic obliteration, if you will, but done
prettily. The main difference may be the influence of artists like Swans or Godflesh,
who similarly strived for sonic obliteration, but did it in darker and heavier way
with Nadja we attempt to combine the darkness of industrial metal with the pretty
swirliness of shoegazing. [Those] elements do seem to be gaining popularity with
heavier bands, but I think that has more to do with the evolution of metal itself and
artists like Jesu or the Angelic Process, who are expanding the boundaries of metal,
combining it with elements of electronic and pop music.Baker hits the nail on the
head: whether they know it or not, many bands owe a great deal to the shoegazers

for forging those initial trails. It may not always get the credit it deserves, but it has
longevity on its side and has outlasted more fashionable genres, like grunge and
trip-hop, that were watered down by those it influenced.
Or you could just recreate it. Last year, Athens, GA instrumental band Japancakes
covered Loveless in its entirety. According to drummer Brant Rackley, "There are all
these stories about how maddening it was for My Bloody Valentine to record the
album sleep deprivation, labels folding, recording when your brain, eyes, and
ears have reached their limit. I can see how and why after just trying to reconstruct
our own versions. It didn't take months or years to do ours, but in the time we
spent recording, we were getting to point of insanity from time to time.
Sisson, Patrick. "Vapour Trails: Revisiting Shoegaze." XLR8R. XLR8R, 01 June 2009. Web. 04
Nov. 2014.
Its known as the Holocaust, but its greeted like the rapture. A sound engineer says it sounds
pretty similar to a jet taking off, and it has the decibel readings to prove it (roughly 130). The
sound moved my face, blogged Deerhunters Bradford Cox. My balls retracted.
That sound is the live rendition of You Made Me Realise, the signature track with which My
Bloody Valentine, reformed after 13 years of silence, has been ending each of its reunion-tour
setsa cacophonous, hypnotic, fill-the-void version built from a multi-octave sea of bent tones.
Its interesting and fun, in a cruel way, watching the audience react as the song progresses,
says Ger Colclough, a monitor engineer on the tour. You can see the different emotions and
feelings they go through as the song reaches its peak, from the fascinated look, disbelief look,
shocked look, and back to the final look of amazement.
This sonic gut-check has become part of the mythology of My Bloody Valentine, and of the
shoegaze sound itself. Once dubbed the scene that celebrates itself, the term shoegaze was
christened in late-80s England to describe a group of bands who combined ethereal, swirling
vocals and layer upon layer of distorted, bent, and flanged guitar. Ultimately, it referred more to
these floppy-haired bands lack of rock n roll antics on-stagetheir habit of gazing downward at
their myriad guitar pedalsthan their music. While hazy and narcotic-sounding, the bands that
fell under this banner were far from homogenous. If anything, their common link was expanding
the sonic vocabulary (if not always at MBVs deafening levels).
With modern acts like Ulrich Schnauss and Asobi Seksu heavily inspired by the shoegaze
sound, the recent release from Spiritualized (an offshoot of the even gazy-er Spacemen 3), and
reunions of seminal bands like My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver, we decided to track
down members of Slowdive, Lush, Ride, Chapterhouse, and more to talk about the glory days
and the genres continued relevance.
Shoe-Ins
Miki Berenyi (Lush singer/guitarist)
Shoegazing was originally a slag-off term. My partner [K.J. Moose McKillop], who was the
guitarist in Moose, claims that it was originally leveled at his band. Apparently the journo was
referring to the bank of effects pedals he had strewn across the stage that he had to keep

staring at in order to operate. And then it just became a generic term for all those bands that had
a big, sweeping, effects-laden sound, but all stood resolutely still on stage.
Andy Sherriff (Chapterhouse singer/guitarist)
For us, it had quite a lot to do with the fact that we werent too good at singing and playing at
the same time, so we had to look down at the guitar all the time to see. We played a lot of barre
chords, chords that go up and down the guitar neck, so you were kind of looking where you
were going.
Adam Franklin (Swervedriver singer guitarist)
Shoegaze wasnt a favorable term when it first appeared. Partly, you think about the bands
having sloppy fringes, stripy shirts, and Chelsea boots.
Brad Laner (Medicine singer/guitarist)
It never had any resonance for me. If you see any footage of us, we were jumping around and
being spazzy all the time. We rocked out. I dont think youll find any band of that period that
would identify itself as a shoegaze band, and any band that identifies itself as that now is
probably not worth listening to.
Miki Berenyi (Lush)
Funnily enough, [the tagline] the scene that celebrates itself was actually the invention of
Steve Sutherland, then editor of the Melody Maker, and was originally meant as a compliment! It
referred to the fact that, as a movement, we were actually all very friendly and supportive of
each other, rather than backbiting and sniping, which was supposedly the norm. It was actually
pretty annoying getting lumped in with bands we didnt think we sounded anything like,
particularly because such comparisons were more often used against us.
Andy Sherriff (Chapterhouse)
Now the term has been appropriated by fans, the way a lot of insults are. And people use it in a
way thats totally non-derogatory.
Under the Influence
The typically cited sonic blueprint for shoegazes ebb and squall is a holy trinity of 80s U.K.
bands: Cocteau Twins, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine. But common
musical threads between the different bands include garage rock, 60s psych, and American
indie bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.
Stephen Patman (Chapterhouse singer/guitarist)
It was a dark period for music in the 80s. The mainstream was absolutely dire. It was
impossible to get heard on the radio if you were a guitar band... I think there was a real
counterculture. Whenever there is a counterculture, I think thats healthy for the music because
its something to fight against, something to prove.
Eric Green (director, Beautiful Noise)
Even though the 80s were rocky musical years, that DIY/punk mentality resounded, not only
through musicians, but labels as well. People starting labels, from Mute to Rough Trade to 4AD
to Creation, were fairly unconventional label heads who said, Fuck it, I like this group, or, This
is intriguing, not thinking about [how it would] sell.
Neil Halstead (Slowdive singer/guitarist)
We were huge My Bloody Valentine fans. Christian [Savill, Slowdive guitarist] used to run an
MBV fanzine, and we used to go up and see them when they were signed to Cherry Red, when

they were a really jangly indie band. The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Smiths also had this
huge impact. Lots of 16-year-olds heard those records for the first time, and it was like, This is
real, not shiny. I think its kind of the way we thought about music and the music we wanted to
make.
Stephen Patman (Chapterhouse)
There was a big 60s garage band revival [through the] Nuggets compilations. Listening to
those psych bands was definitely an influence. We were trying to make psychedelic in a
contemporary way.
Ulrich Schnauss (electronic producer)
Things werent going well for a lot of people, after 10 years of the Thatcher government in
England. People basically just wanted to escape, whether it was with their eyes closed at a
Slowdive gig or raving all weekend on Ecstasy. I think the reason why [this kind of music] is
happening at the moment [is that] a lot of people once again have that same sort of desire to
escape.
Young Lords
Unlike the concurrent Madchester scene, the shoegaze sound wasnt identified with one city.
Chapterhouse and Slowdive were from Reading, Ride and Swervedriver came from Oxford, and
Lush from London.
Neil Halstead (Slowdive)
Rachel [Goswell, Slowdive vocalist] and I were at primary school together. Weve known each
other since we were five or six. When we were in secondary school, we had a band called the
Pumpkin Fairies. When we formed Slowdive, we advertised for a female guitarist. [Christian]
was the only applicant and offered to wear a dress, and that was it.
Mark Gardener (Ride singer/guitarist)
We were art-school boys. I think we were doing a project about painting movement, so we were
into that whole thing of movement, and ride cymbalsand we all thought Ride could be a name
for this band. It was all part of the journey, and it had a good sexual connotation as well, which
is always good for a band name.
Miki Berenyi (Lush)
I met Emma Anderson [Lush guitarist/singer] at age 13 and we became part of a group of
friends who got very into music. London is a great place for that. By the time we were 15 we
were going to see bands play as often as possible, sometimes five times a week! Gigs were
cheap back then, and we didnt drink, so it was affordable even for a 15-year-old. But we were
terribly young and shy, and didnt know anyone, so we started a fanzine called Alphabet Soup.
The theory was that it would give us a legit reason to talk to bands and a way of getting to know
people. The reality was that we were absolutely awful at interviews and the zine was completely
juvenile and silly and full of smutty jokes and toilet humor, which we thought was absolutely
hilarious.
Sturm Und Drone
Aside from being incredibly loud, shoegaze bands experimented with ways to use guitars and
effects; vocals were often treated as another instrument. Some have said that the incorporation
of electronic dance elements into certain albumsSlowdive toyed with ambient effects on their

home-recorded Pygmalion, bands like Chapterhouse, James, and Seefeel was repeatedly
remixed by electronic artistspresaged later developments in post-rock and electronica.
Eric Green (Beautiful Noise)
There was a vibe, an air of mystery. [It was] beautiful music that was somewhat abrasive. I like
the way a lot of the groups juxtaposed that abrasiveness with beauty.
Miki Berenyi (Lush)
Probably what was more of an influence was the fact that we couldnt really play or sing and
were limited in what we could achieve musically! Hence the loud guitars and wan vocals.
Nothing plannedwe were just making virtue out of necessity!
Neil Halstead (Slowdive)
[The noise] was a problem before we had a record deal, because every club we ever played in
Reading wouldnt let us back. They would hear us play once and say, Dont worry about coming
back.
Brad Laner (Medicine)
At the time, it was really funnyeveryone was comparing notes about their pedal boards. I
thought it was kind of dumb, like a bunch of Guitar Center employees at lunch. We were never a
gear band. I went out of my way to say I played through a tape deck. The end result is the
mystery. If you know how you got there, its not as mysterious.
Andy Sherriff (Chapterhouse)
It was less about the guitarmanship. It wasnt about riffing away, it was about creating a sort of
atmosphere with droning and chords.
Stephen Patman (Chapterhouse)
We were almost anti- that kind of musicianship. For us, that was masturbation. We hated that
foot-on-the-monitor kind of rock heroics. Im a firm believer that it shouldnt matter how you got a
sound. Its the sound that matters. A lot of people said, All you have to do is play a chord, with
all the effects youre using. But thats not the point. The whole point was that we were choosing
to play one chord for a specific effect.
Brad Laner (Medicine)
Most of these bands couldnt really sing. If you hear live recordings, all of these bands are
falling all over themselves. Its all about the recordings Its all about studio craft, in the same
way that The Beatles didnt play their psychedelic material live. What makes those albums great
is they were made without regard to playing live. Perhaps it was in anticipation of the electronica
stuffrock bands getting tired of the old vocabulary, and trying out new sounds. Maybe
[shoegaze] anticipated that.
Creationism
Many shoegaze acts, including Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, were signed to Creation, the
label founded in 1982 by charismatic Scottish manager and mogul Alan McGee. Famous as the
home of Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain, the label almost went out of business
during the protracted, expensive recording of MBVs Loveless, but was saved by signing Oasis
in 1994.
Neil Halstead (Slowdive)
We were 16, 17 when [Alan McGee] signed us. He was just kind of as we imagined. He was
this dude in sunglasses, very Scottish; he was charismatic and we all liked him off the bat. I

think their strength as a label was just putting bands in a studio and putting out records based
on the idea that they liked a song or a particular thing. They were quite willing to see what would
occur. Sometimes it did cost them too much money The first recording session we did,
McGee scrapped it all. We had never gone into a studio with a producer, so we did what we felt
like doing.
Brad Laner (Medicine)
I thought he was this out-of-control party animal. I could barely understand him with that
Scottish accent
Mark Gardener (Ride)
I think there was sort of a stand-up quality of bands and the label at the timeand, just like
Factory was in the early days, it was sort of a totally rock n roll label. Youd go to meetings on
Friday and leave on Monday, that sort of thing. [The Creation office] was a complete madhouse,
really. It didnt have anything together or organized. It was a load of people running on speed
pills and diet pills and bugged up. I know there were a lot of bouncing checks going on when
studios were coming to get paid, and you sort of become aware that your manager was dealing
with irate studio owners because the third check has bounced from Creation.
Neil Halstead (Slowdive)
I remember that [McGee] wanted me to wear leather trousers. The thing with McGee was, he
wanted to be the puppet master. I think that kind of Malcolm McLaren role was how he saw
himself. He wasnt manipulative, just enthusiastic and charismatic. I never wore the leather
pants. McGee was always about image. His thing about videos was it would make girls want to
fuck you and boys want to be you. He was quite 60s in his attitude. Oasis was his dream band,
the dream ticket. He always wanted to make classic pop records, not art records.
End of an Era
Just about the only thing happening in British indie music last year was a rash of blurry, neopsychedelic bands, wrote Simon Reynolds in The Observer in February of 1992. But just as
quickly, shoegaze fell out of favor, derided for being wimpy, fey, and pass. By the mid-90s,
many of the bands had broken up.
Stephen Patman (Chapterhouse)
There were a lot of professional journalists looking for the new big thing all the time and
desperately putting their money on things, and if it didnt pay off (i.e. going to the charts), they
dropped it like a hot coal. A lot of those comments about class were coming from posh
journalists that went to private school. And the idea that good music only comes from workingclass people is absolute bollocks.
Miki Berenyi (Lush)
Shoegazing was generally seen as introverted, sensitive, and possibly a bit intellectual.
Virtually every band had a woman in it who wasnt required to get her tits out. This does not sit
particularly well with the music press, which is mostly run by men who actually are rather weedy
and un-masculine, but who like to imagine themselves as rebellious bad boys who do nothing
but drink, take drugs, and fuck beautiful, vacuous girls. Shoegazing didnt really fulfill that
particular fantasy!
Neil Halstead (Slowdive)

When Nirvana came along and grunge came over, it kind of kicked shoegaze out of the water.
Oddly enough, a lot of the bands had similar roots to bands we were into.
Back for More
With overt shoegaze influences showing up in the work of popular acts like Serena-Maneesh,
M83, and Ulrich Schnauss, some proclaim a revival is occurring. Two current club nights in
England, Club AC30 and Sonic Cathedral, focus on shoegaze and have even spun off tours and
record labels.
Ulrich Schnauss
Its not a completely revivalist sort of thing. Its people who grew up with that music, but also a
lot of other things, and theyre trying to mix these types of music together into something
interesting and new.
Yuki Chikudate (Asobi Seksu singer)
Honestly, we really werent aware of this [new shoegaze scene] until other journalists brought
this up to us. We were in such a bubble in NYC. When we started, in 2003, nobody was
interestedit was pass. We were sort of ignored for a while and were surprised a few years
ago when people were saying its not just us [carrying the shoegaze torch].
Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury Strangers singer/guitarist)
That wall of sound is what made me excited to play electric guitar. You can plug it in and crank
it up and theres almost this chaos where, with the sounds coming out of the amp, its a mystery,
something thats beautiful.
Nathaniel Cramp (founder and promoter, Sonic Cathedral)
I think its exciting to see [classic shoegaze] records passing to a place where theyre accepted
as good records. Its sort of a vindication after defending it for years.
Andy Sherriff (Chapterhouse)
In a way, [shoegaze] seems to have more interest than Brit-pop. It seems to have a longevity to
it. Its sort of the revenge of the shoegazers, isnt it?