Shooter were formed by guitarist Pete Moore and the former vocalist
for The Sweetest Ache, Simon Court in the summer of 2000. Drawing on influences ranging
from The Stooges, MC5, and an array of obscure sixties garage bands, to the more
contemporary sounds of My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3 and Primal Scream, Pete took up
his guitar, got to work, and eventually confronted Simon with a batch of half realised
song ideas. Given Simon's previous musical background, and having released numerous
singles, and an album previously with (the now defuct) Sarah Records and Vinyl Japan,
Simon saw the potential in these embryonic noodlings and began to pen some lyrics,
hum some tunes, and dust off his microphone.
After some months and a couple of dodgy attempts at recording with
an old four-track, Pete finally got around to acquiring some software to multilayer the
tracks onto a pc, which gave him more freedom and ease with which to experiment with
melodies and song structures.
It was decided early on to include a keyboard player, and for this
role they approached Ian Saberton, a highly sought after keyboardist who also played
for The Sweetest Ache, and was at the time involved with various other projects in
Swansea. When Ian heard the ideas Pete and Simon had thrown together, he was
immediately in.
The first few shambolic practices would see Dave Jones providing the
bass rumbles (he also wrote and played the bassline on the early Daylight demo). Dave
subsequently turned his attention more and more towards latest acquisition the saxophone,
so a new bassist, Steve Bugden came on board and would stay for a couple of years during
which time the band played extensively, recorded their BBC live sessions, as well as the
studio versions of Celebrate Your Time and Light My Way. Steve would eventually leave the
band to concentrate on a blues-funk outfit he was interested in. At this point, Dave was
persuaded to set his sax aside and re-join on the band on bass.
The drummer issue posed a problem since they are a rare commodity in
Swansea, and what drummers there were, were not remotely interested in the newly emerging
Shooter soundscape, preferring as they did, straight laced rock. After a long, frustrating
search, a good friend of Simon and Pete, Andy Kersey declared during one hazy evening that
he used to drum with a few bands before moving to Swansea a few years previously.
Problem solved.
An additional guitarist was then sought, and Mark Royston fitted the bill.
Mark had been given a copy of an early demo cd by Pete some time before, was duly impressed
and therefore took little persuasion to join.
The band took to rehearsing with gusto, but it wasn't until they were
contacted by BBC Radio to attend a studio to record their live sessions that Simon and
Pete decided to contact former chief songwriter from The Sweetest Ache, Stuart Vincent
to provide the additional guitar to fully realise the multiple guitar layers and textures
Pete had been working on. Stu would stay with the band for three years, but living and
working in Bristol when the rest of the band resided in Swansea meant it became increasingly
difficult for him to give time as an active member of the band. Stu officially departed in
2004, but would still be involved with the band and would continue to collaborate with both
Simon and Pete on his various other side projects including the Mumbles singles released on
US label Sunday Records.
Despite various temporary setbacks, Shooter have continued to make their
presence felt on the live circuit and constantly strive to develop new and innovative sounds.
