Formed from remnants of Brockley Haven

Shed Seven formed in 1990 from the remnants of Brockley Haven, a band featuring frontman Rick Witter , guitarist and songwriter Paul Banks , bassist Tom Gladwin (born Thomas Peter Gladwin, 11 January 1973), drummer Magnus Thompson and keyboardist John Leach, brother of Alan Leach (born Alan Steven Leach, 22 June 1970). Both Witter and Banks had also previously played together in a band named ENAM, performing to German exchange students in Banks’s front room. Prior to signing a six-album deal with Polydor Records in October 1993, guitarist Joe Johnson (born Joseph Johnson, 18 June 1972) left the line-up and was replaced by Paul Banks. The band twice entered the local Fibbers/ Evening Press Battle of the Bands competition, twice failing to win, whilst in September 1993, still unsigned, they were voted the third best live act at London’s Inner City Festival. The initial press attention enjoyed by the band came as a result of the positive reviews of their live shows, coupled with complimentary comparisons to The Smiths . In March 1994, an article by Dave Simpson of Melody Maker , charting the aspirations of “the UK’s brightest hopes”, stated that; “…Shed Seven’s beautifully posed, epic music is different. Not so much New Wave of New Wave as post-Smiths, they’re taking the insular bedsit angst of Morrissey’s early music and subverting it with a brash and insensitive sexual narcissism .”