Meet Shelf Lives, the extroverted electro-punk duo we need right now

In partnership with BandLab

Shelf Lives’ latest single ‘Bite’ is a ferocious cut of electronic punk. As the track charges forward, the London-based duo fuse soaring guitars with wild beats, which are supported by powerhouse vocals. The band – made up of Toronto-born vocalist Sabrina Di Giulio and guitarist and producer Jonny Hillyard, who hails from Northampton – have called in from their home studio in London to discuss their stellar new track, which sees the duo explore themes of self-destruction.

“Our gut reaction is to come back angry at ourselves [when that happens].. so biting is the most primitive thing you can do when you’re scared,” Jonny tells NME of the lyrical content. ‘Bite’ is the latest in a string of high-octane belters from Shelf Lives that are designed to surprise their audience. Having met each other through working in the music industry (Jonny had previously been in other bands, and Sabrina worked in sync), they started making music as Shelf Lives in 2020.

Yet in their short time together as a band, Shelf Lives have ticked off many of their bucket list goals: they’ve performed at Glastonbury, supported Skunk Anansie on tour across Europe and released their debut mini-album, 2022’s ‘Yes, Offence’. They’ve also been chosen as the first selected artist for BandLab and NME present: Get Featured, a new music initiative through Opportunities via ReverbNation that gives emerging artists across the globe a chance to be heard by NME‘s global audience of music fans.

We caught up with Shelf Lives to discuss their experience of being selected for BandLab and NME present: Get Featured, their writing process and going on tour with Skunk Anansie.

The song you submitted for BandLab and NME Get Featured was ‘Skirts & Salads’. What made you choose it?

Sabrina: “By that point when I submitted it may have only been a month, or so old. So it was our new baby. So we just wanted to get it out as much as possible. I think that’s the biggest challenge with music is getting it in front of people’s faces and ears.”

How did the song come together? 

Jonny: “The first kernels of that song was just making the beat on this little drum machine you can get on the iPhone called a DM1, and it gives you access to every single drum machine ever made. I was playing around with sounds on that, and made the beat from there and over-distorted it, then put it into [production software] Logic. Then from there, I made the bassline, before the hook came. It’s really simple how we do things.”

The lyrics are both tongue-in-cheek and empowering. How have you found the reaction to it?

Sabrina: “I think people love yelling out [the lyrics]. The song’s only a few months old, and we’ve only been able to play it a handful of times; but a lot of people like yelling out, ‘I like my girls like that’, which I didn’t anticipate. I think people are really enjoying it.”

You mentioned performing live, which feels like the perfect setting for your music. Do you think about your live show when writing music?

Jonny: “We didn’t with the first set of songs – our mini-album ‘Yes, Offence’ – but from here on out we have been, because we never played live before releasing that. Now it definitely comes into play, especially with the next single ‘Bite’, which is definitely something that is suited to live shows.

Sabrina: “Before ‘Yes, Offence’ we actually had never played live, so that mini-album spawned from a studio session. It would make sense that after we’d done all these gigs and been on these tours that our next few tracks would keep live shows in mind.”

Your songs encompass a whole host of genres. Do you like surprising listeners by switching things up?

Jonny: “Yeah, I’d like people to think they don’t know what they’re gonna get next; but there’s only so much that you can do if you’re being yourself. As the writer, you think you’re being really different, but you are just still being yourself and it is difficult to get away from that. But I’d like to think we try and do that.”

Sabrina: “Yes, especially in a day and age where you literally know everything that’s coming before it comes. There’s no surprise, there’s no mystery. From something as trivial as knowing what someone’s going to wear before the event, because you would have seen it on their stories, [and] everything being teased [with] social media. So it’s important to have that control to be like, ‘Well, this is still Shelf Lives because we’ve made it.’”

When you’re in the studio, do you both work on everything together?

Jonny: “I’d say for sure I’m the producer, so a lot of stuff comes from me; but Sabrina is a filter for what is shit and what is not. So she’s definitely there 100 per cent of the time to filter through that. She has such a good ear, I’ve really respected her ear for a long time. And then we both work on the lyrics together.”

How would you describe Shelf Lives?

Jonny: “Definitely like all the worst parts of society with ice cream in one hand, and a gun in the other. You don’t have to reach far to find something hilariously wrong with society, we just say how it really is; and we’re definitely going to dive into that more lyrically.”

You’ve achieved so much over the past year – what ‘pinch me’ moments have you experienced?

Jonny: “Touring with Skunk Anansie for sure, as it didn’t feel like it was real. I didn’t even calculate it the whole time, I still haven’t really. It happened very quickly.”

Sabrina: “We found out we were going on tour with them in December 2021, and our first single was released October that year – when does that ever happen! We had all these ideas and expectations of timeline as we were both in the industry already in a different capacity, but I think what we learned and what we did was let all that shit go. If it’s meant to happen, it’ll happen; if something’s authentic, then all of this is going to happen quickly. There’s no right way and wrong way of doing things, so it was definitely a ‘pinch me’ moment when we got there, especially since I grew up listening to Skunk Anansie.

“I’d say Glastonbury, too. Right before I moved to the UK I had this DVD, and it was about Glastonbury, which I had never heard of when I was younger. This was probably 2008, 2009, and I picked it up in HMV and I was like ‘Woah, what the fuck! I definitely need to get over there and go to this festival’. So to have played Glastonbury over 10 years later was wild.”

What did you learn from the Skunk Anansie tour? Did the band offer you any advice?

Sabrina: “One piece of advice I got, which I think is great for all support bands out there is: ‘Stop mentioning the main band’s name over and over again throughout your set. Keep that to the end of your set and only say it once, as you want them to remember you as well.’ Skin actually said that to me after she watched our gig, she was like: ‘Thank you, but also, only mention us once and say it right at the end as you want the audience to remember you’”.

Shelf Lives have been chosen as the first selected act for BandLab and NME present: Get Featured, a new music initiative through Opportunities via ReverbNation. You can submit a track to be considered for the next round of Get Featured here.

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