"We live in an age of many stimulations", declares Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth in the introduction to their new video 'Shut Up'. "If you are distracted, you are available… and yet if the world would shut up even for a while, perhaps we will start hearing the distinct rhythm of an angry young tune."
Today Dazed premieres 'Shut Up', the thrilling and eviscerating opening track from Savages' debut album Silence Yourself. With a snarling vocal from Beth, the monochrome clip harks back to the initial video that put the band on the radar in early 2012 - 'City's Full', filmed at The Shaklewell Arms in London in February 2012.
The lyrics of the song were inspired by the band's early negative experiences with industry "money-makers", as Jehnny told Dazed in the following previously-unpublished excerpt from our feature with the band in the May issue:
Jehnny Beth: "'Shut Up' is self-affirming. It was (written) in a time where as a band we were fighting to get the money-makers out, and trying to make sure that we were surrounded by the right people. You know this idea of the music industry having a crisis? We can't really relate to what bands did ten years ago, because ten years ago bands used to sell records. And suddenly I had this feeling that that's perfect for the money-makers, because they can tell these young bands 'if you don't do this interview, if you don't do this photoshoot, if you don't do that TV, if you don't win that award then you're not gonna sell records.' So they made this made this new generation very polite and fearful. But the older generation doesn't know more than we do."
Read the full Savages feature in the May issue of Dazed & Confused, on sale now. The band have just announced a collaborative performance, entitled Words To The Blind, with Bo Ningen at Red Gallery on May 29.
