London, UK · post-punk

Shame

2 festivals played ↓

South London post-punk's sweatiest live act — communion by mosh, shirtless and crowd-borne by mid-set, 'One Rizla' to now, all sweat.

Shame trace their beginnings to the Queen's Head pub in Brixton, where they met as teenagers still in secondary school; drummer Charlie Forbes' father coined the band's name. They put out an early EP, Gone Fisting, in 2014, and formed part of the same Windmill venue circuit as Black Midi and Squid, alongside Fat White Family. The five-piece settled as Charlie Steen on vocals, Eddie Green and Sean Coyle-Smith on guitars, Josh Finerty on bass and Charlie Forbes on drums.

Fronted by Steen, the band plays a wiry, aggressive strain of post-punk built on interlocking guitars and shouted, sardonic vocals, a sound that has drawn frequent comparison to the wider South London scene they emerged from.

Songs of Praise, released through Dead Oceans in January 2018, included "One Rizla" and "Concrete" and reached number 32 on the UK Albums Chart. Drunk Tank Pink followed in January 2021 and went top ten, debuting at number eight, before Food for Worms arrived in 2023 and Cutthroat in September 2025.

Each record has pushed the sound in denser, more angular directions than the last. Shame's reputation still rests heavily on their live shows, which remain physical and confrontational rather than settling into a fixed formula.

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post-punk