Living with Shake Shake Go
Victoria Gottschalk attempts to suppress her inner fangirl:
When two members of the band supporting James Blunt on the UK leg of his tour move into your downstairs bedroom, there’s a certain type of etiquette that comes with socialising with them:
1) Don’t tell them you’ve spent half a day stalking them – it’ll just freak them out.
2) It’s probably best if you don’t play their music, full volume, on a Saturday morning.
3) When you have friends visiting, don’t introduce your new housemates as their band name. They are still individual people (who are about to play the Royal Albert Hall, but whatevs).
Unfortunately, I didn’t follow the above three pointers and ended up identifying myself as a bit of a fangirl.
That sort of thing is okay if you’re never going to see the band again, but when you’re sharing meals and getting drunk with them, it makes things a little awkward.
Still though, four months after they moved in, I can safely say all levels of awkwardness have vanished; we’ve seen each other drunk, throwing up in a bucket and yet still managed to survive (barely) a hangover together the next day. I’ve learnt to only play their music when they’re not in the house. My friends know them by their individual names and only our 71-year-old neighbour can get away with playing their CD on a Saturday morning. We’re getting there…
But in all seriousness, it’s really handy sharing a house with members of a band you actually like. Shake Shake Go (named by a fan) are made up of five members: Poppy, Kilian, Marc, Toby and Virgile. Their pop-folk songs are catchy, anthemic and soon to be taking the music charts by storm. And I’m not just saying that because Poppy makes an excellent cup of tea…
Not only have they supported James Blunt on the UK leg of his ‘Moon Landing’ tour, but they’ve busked across the UK too.
Deciding they needed to do something to get themselves out of the studio, a busking tour was the perfect adventure. So they took to Birmingham, London, Manchester and many other cities to play their music. They received positive attention by the shed load, and their YouTube videos have since been watched by thousands of people.
Watching their music evolve and seeing how they’re making their own unique mark on the music industry is a view I’m very happy to have; two weekends ago, we were sat around our kitchen table, listening to their song ‘All In Time’ play out on BBC Introducing. In two months, they’re playing Osfest with the likes of Conor Maynard and Nina Nesbitt. And in two years time, here’s to their music being at number one and my two housemates funding my alcoholic lifestyle through the sales of their album.
p.s Poppy/Kilian – I’ve stolen your milk…
Words by Victoria Gottschalk. Follow Shake Shake Go on Facebook.
