““No Question one of my ultimate favourites right here, out of 36,000 tunes in the Trilakes database” DJ Beast, Trilakes Radio, Colorado, USA – On “Curses”” - DJ Beast
— Trilakes Radio, Colorado, USA – On “Curses”
BIOGRAPHY
Shop Front Heroes are a five piece, original rock band from Mid-Wales. Taking influences from a vast range of artists and songwriters (including Queen, Bowie, The Killers, Arcade Fire, Leonard Cohen, Simon Garfunkel, Pixies, Foo Fighters), their style smacks you with rock, pop, classic rock and alternative. It can be fast or slow, tender or nasty- but always has a penchant for the epic and grandiose.
In The Beginning
Former member of Bristol band Halo and founder member of Shop Front Heroes Stevie Yeomans (lead vocals, acoustic guitar and piano) had found a muse and an outlet for the weird couple of years he had just gone through. The muse keeps changing, but the outlet was always songwriting. A lot of songwriting.
After both being bored of not being in a band anymore, he and drummer Matt Whitehouse proceeded to drink heavily one night and make plans to play all these songs in a new project. A listen back to a muffled phone recording of the pair during their debauched evening revealed the name "Shop Front Heroes" and a heartfelt plan to make good out of what was once bad.
The next stage was obvious. It had to be Jake. Sitting at the bar in a Bristol pub after gig in their long defunct covers band, Stevie asked Jake Owen (lead guitar) to get on board. Jake was, as expected, extremely keen. Then, on returning to Wales, Stevie persuaded one of his oldest friends and influences from teenage days in the school music room, Stuart Hill, to take on bass duties. The final piece of the puzzle was to get another guitar player. That guitar player need to have an incredible voice and after years of hearing Tom Jaques sing harmonies and play guitar with his sister, he was propositioned to join Shop Front Heroes at an open mic, in the toilets, at the urinal. Tom was in.
Rising Up
“One of the best 2020 tracks we’ve air-played” – Radio KC, Paris, France – On “Kicking In (Jonny)”
Things then moved quickly for Shop Front Heroes. Their first gig was a headline slot at a local festival and soon after, they recorded their first release in 2019: The Vices EP.
Then followed some incredible gigs and fantastic early support slots (The Weeks, Blue Aeroplanes), helping Shop Front Heroes build a solid and excitable fan base from those who saw their live shows.
2019 also saw the band release their debut single and video "Kicking In (Jonny)" with tremendous success and airplay all over the world, including regular plays on BBC Introducing.
Further singles "Curses" and "You Can't Decide Who Makes Your Heart Beat Faster" followed suit and were released in Spring and Autumn 2020 respectively to critical acclaim.
Recent success includes a headline show at Lakefest 2019 and Camper Calling 2021, as well as packed out shows at Wychwood Festival and Camper Jam in 2022 on the BBC Introducing stage, receiving great reviews:
"Band Of The Stage. A class act. Go watch 'em!!" - Festivals For All
"Great entertainment. One of the best bands we saw all weekend" - Slap Magazine
Lockdown
Shop Front Heroes used the time in lockdown wisely. The songwriting bug had returned to Yeomans, who penned another batch of songs, all stylistically different and challenging, exploring themes of youth, hope, dread, nostalgia, family, friendship and uncertainty. Towards the latter stages of the pandemic's prison, when the band could be together again, they worked hard collectively with the writing and arranging, and sculpted the basis of what was to become their debut album. Stuart Hill left the band to focus on other things in Winter 2021, so Stevie and Jake made the decision to share the bass playing on the recording.
"Just so, so good.” - Michaela Wylde - BBC Introducing Shropshire
The Future
After recording in the legendary Rockfield Studios, Shop Front Heroes are due to release their debut album 'SuperPowers' in 2023. The album was mixed by the incredible talent of Stew Jackson (Massive Attack, Emily Breeze, Marc Ford) and was then mastered at Abbey Road Studios by Sean Magee (Beatles, Queen, Rush).
In Summer 2022 Alex Middleton joined the band full time, bringing fantastic energy and good times, taking over bass duties from Stu.
Shop Front Heroes will be releasing three singles in early 2023 before the album debut and will be touring and showcasing 'SuperPowers' at various gigs and UK festivals over the the course of the year.
Please contact the band at shopfrontheroes@gmail.com for bookings and enquiries.
Quotes And Reviews
- “One of the best 2020 tracks we’ve airplayed” – Radio KC, Paris, France – On “Kicking In (Jonny)”
- “Band of the week” – Rikki Roxx – RadioRox100, Detroit, USA
- “No Question one of my ultimate favourites right here out of 36,000 tunes in the Trilakes database” – DJ Beast, Trilakes Radio, Colorado, USA – On “Curses”
- We need to speak about Shop Front Heroes. I love playing these guys on my show. A great five piece from Wales. A must listen but so much more… so go see them live too” – DJ Terrier – Rock Radio UK
- “Shop Front Heroes played the festival set of the weekend. They absolutely smashed it with a raw energy that left the audience transfixed” – Andrew Marston, BBC Introducing – Hopfest 2018
- “An intelligent bombardment” – Adam Walton, BBC Wales
- Review of Lakefest 2019 from Slap Magazine
- “Taking shelter once again in the BBC marquee, we were entertained by one of the best bands we saw all weekend in the shape of Shop Front Heroes who gave us an eclectic mix of original numbers. The multi-talented front man played keyboards and guitar; sometimes at the same time. The genre of music was difficult to categorize but it was good original music and a power outage did not put them off as they simply went acoustic. Great entertainment and I will definitely seek them out again.”
- Review of Lakefest 2019 from FestivalsForAll
- “We drifted in and out of reality, oh sorry, the BBC Introducing Stage, throughout the weekend, and band of the stage for FFA were the excellent Shop Front Heroes. Difficult to define – as the best band’s should be, there is a commendable multi-layered talent and professionalism to these guys. So it proved when they suffered a power outage mid set. Displaying composure the envy of many a headliner, singer and multi-instrumentalist Stevie Yeomans simply picked up an acoustic guitar and delivered a blistering bluesy ballad ‘Come Find Me’ on the fly. A bit of a class act these guys. Go watch ‘em.”
- BBC Introducing Shropshire – On “You Can’t Decide”
- S – “I love that, it’s slow tempoed but you just get absorbed by it. Shop Front Heroes. If you are liking what you hear, they also do some heavier and upbeat tracks – it just shows the range that they can perform.”
- M – “Do you know what I’m loving about that so much? The first time I listened to it, it just hugs you with the sound of the harmonies, they’re just so so good.”
- S – “It just shows you how good performers they are, because that is quite a stripped back production, and it leaves everything open for criticism – if there’s anything slightly wrong, you’ll be able to pick up on it. But there’s nothing, there’s absolutely nothing, it’s beautiful.”
- Simon Berry - BBC Shropshire on “Budokan (The Lesson)”
- “Honestly this song’s brilliant. I’m gonna as far as saying this is the best Shop Front Heroes song. Which is a difficult thing to say.”
- “How brilliant is that? That is one of my favourite songs from Shop Front Heroes. Just brilliant. You know when this comes out you’ll be getting absolute quality. That blows my mind. Fantastic.”
- BBC Introducing Shropshire – Budokan (The Lesson)
- “This track has stuck with me since I pressed play on it”
- “What a tune that is”
- “Absolutely stuck in my head”
“We need to speak about Shop Front Heroes. I love playing these guys! A great five piece from Wales. A must listen but so much more. So go see them live too” - DJ Terrier
— Rock Radio UK