From conquering international stages, an entrance in the Eurovision song competition and a #1 album, it’s safe to say that the past twelve months have been fruitful for Australia’s sleek-pop frontrunners Sheppard. Though the band were thriving, the past year has seen them approach the project with head-on introspection.
The band took some time off to recuperate in February after vocalist George Sheppard was diagnosed with a throat injury. After undergoing throat surgery, George undertook a two-week silent retreat in the mountains where he reflected on what kind of artist he wanted to be outside of the band.
This period of rumination birthed the band’s latest single, ‘Die Young.’
“We began to ask what we wanted next, for ourselves individually, for the band and for our fans,” George explains. “We wrote ‘Die Young’ as though it was a ‘final’ Sheppard song; a song about appreciating each day and living it as though it was your last.”
Through the process of creating ‘Die Young’, the band realised that Sheppard as a band was an imperative vessel for their creative pursuit.
“Sheppard as we’ve come to know it has changed, we’ve grown as artists and humans over the course of the last 8 years of playing and writing together.
“I’m sure we’ll keep changing and growing as the years go on, but it was nice to be reminded that the core members of this band aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. At the end of the day I realised it wasn’t the end of Sheppard, it was just a shift. I’m not sure what happens next, but I’m the most excited to get back”
You can listen to their triumphant new single below.
Watch: Sheppard – ‘Die Young’
Earlier this year, the band dropped their body positivity anthem ‘#KISSMYFATASS.’
“#KISSMYFATASS is a big STFU to the beauty standards many of us feel the pressure to live up to,” Amy Sheppard shared at the time. “It’s about desensitising everyone to normal features such as cellulite, rolls and scars.”
“It’s about celebrating how beautiful we all are in our own unique ways and most of all it’s about setting an example for women, men, girls and boys about what makes a person truly beautiful… and just a hint: it’s not what you see on the outside.”
