There are a number of bands under the name The Shades, one being a punk band from Texas (?) who released a 12" EP in 1980 called Ward & June Never Understood.

Another band under the name The Shades were concieved in the creative breeding ground of Walter Jeffermenko’s Stiener Primary School class. Piecing together the thick organ sounds of the enlightened despot and the genius of the caveman; the band played its first decent show in 2003 at St. Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel. The heavily 70s influenced tunes were recorded the following year on Sole Believer, the Shades’ first Compact Disc. Other shows have included Federation Square, Vodaphone Arena and The Cornish Arms.

Following a fraternal feud the band morphed into a less heavily structured conglomerate, tracks such as ‘Everything was pink’ emerging from incubations in the Teskey sweat-box. They recently finished recording our EP @ Basin Studios which should be released by the end of March 2007.

Influences include Traffic, Pink Floyd, Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper, Pavement, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, The Shins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Shostakovitch, Jimi Hendrix, Micheal Franti and Spearhead.

The Shades consists of:
sam lawrence-singer, keyboards
sam teskey- lead guitar
henry bear- rhythm guitar
vinny ward- bass
nick lawrence- drums

www.myspace.com/thebandtheshades