Shemboid began as a rebirth.
At the turn of the millennium, after stepping away from smoking and drugs, a different kind of hunger arrived for Shem Sharples… Sharper, clearer, and pointed straight at sound.
Music opened up like a map with no borders: modern classical, free improvisation, jazz, global traditions, experimental noise, anything that lived on the fringes.
The stranger it was, the more it seemed to speak.
Leeds became the crucible.
The city’s underground was alive with possibility…Vibracathedral Orchestra, prpGroup, Ashtray Navigations, the Termite Club and its nights of raw, unrepeatable energy.
Those rooms shaped the early Shemboid instinct: sound as exploration, sound as ritual, sound as something you step into rather than simply listen to.
By 2002, the first fragments appeared in ‘Thread of the Soundworm’. Two years later, ‘I’m Invisible Now, Only You Can See Me’ marked the true emergence. Leeds was thriving then… Noise gigs in back rooms, DIY record shops, artists who didn’t care about polish as long as the work felt honest.
Neil at ‘Merrion Music’ stocked the early CDs and hosted a debut live set in 2004.
It was improvised, intimate, recorded on the spot and sold in the same breath.
A small moment, but a defining one.
From there, Shemboid became a world unto itself. Field recordings, loops, synths, guitars, percussion, harmonicas, contact mics, samplers… Anything that made a sound was welcomed in.
Between 2004 and 2015, around sixteen albums took shape. Some rough, some radiant, all part of the long arc. The ones that still hold their weight; ‘House Full of Shadows’, ‘The Sun Sets’, ‘Inside Out of Mind’, ‘Open Says Me’, ‘In the Clouds’, ‘Dissonant Dissident’… All form the spine of that first life.
Phil and Mel from Ashtray Navigations were steady supporters, offering stages and encouragement. Their 21st Anniversary show at Hyde Park Picture House in 2015 became a turning point: a Shemboid performance paired with a 38‑minute film created specifically for the night. Sound and moving image fused into one piece, opening a door that would stay open.
Then came the pause.
Returning to Chester in early 2016 shifted the focus toward singer‑songwriter work as Shem Sharples, and Shemboid went quiet. Eight years of silence, but not an ending… More like a long inhale.
In 2024, the spark returned. Encouraged by Morgan Grace, livestreaming on Twitch became a new space to play. Between songs, improvisation crept back in, small at first, then unmistakable.
On the 12th of December 2024, a full Shemboid set streamed live… Raw, instinctive, and alive. That performance became ‘The Place’, the first chapter of Shemboid’s second life.
Now, the project is widening again… Folding film, video, sound and performance into a single current.
The tools have changed, the city has changed, the collaborators have changed, but the impulse remains the same: stay curious, stay open, keep searching.
Shemboid was never a closed story.
It’s a long conversation with sound, still unfolding, still restless, still very much alive in Chester.
Shemboid’s path crossed with myself (Dan Schott) collaboratively in November 2025, at a moment when the project was already stretching into new shapes.
What began as a few shared conversations about sound, process and the strange comfort of experimentation soon shifted into something more hands‑on.
I brought a curator’s ear and a documentarian’s instinct to the table… A way of catching the threads that might otherwise slip past… While Shemboid carried the long history of improvisation and sonic drift.
Our collaboration didn’t arrive with fanfare; it settled in quietly, like two frequencies finding the same wavelength, opening the door to a new phase of the project’s second life.
As Shem explains:
It’s been a pleasure working with Dan on the Shemboid project. Just making a regular Tuesday commitment to work on it means we’ve recorded loads of stuff already since we started in November 2025. I wouldn’t have got round to doing that much work if not for that regular showing up and getting down to business.
I love doing the Shemboid work more than anything else I do, so I want to really go full on into this year creating a new wave of Shemboid-isms.
I have a few film projects planned that are related to the Shemboid vibe. The first one is ‘Is There a World Outside?’ which is about halfway through now. A lot of work to do there still, but it’s taking shape nicely.
I think the Shemboid work will benefit immensely from working with visuals as well. The music is a fit for film soundtracks. I’m excited by working with film and video production and going deep into sound design. I’m both a sound artist and a visual artist anyway, and it’s the perfect combination working in film art, which is relatively new to me. I love taking on new challenges and growing in my creative work. This will take Shemboid to the next level.
Thanks Dan, for energising me to make a solid commitment to the Shemboid work and it’s created a vehicle to express myself in sound and vision and expanding my work.
It’s great working with you, as you’re a fellow creative soul with loads of ideas and positive energy around everything you do. Thank you.
Here’s an exclusive first listen to one of our forthcoming tracks ‘Tension Room’ which will be released in 2026:
Shemboid’s return feels less like a comeback and more like a continuation… A thread picked up after years of quiet, still carrying the charge of where it began.
Leeds shaped the first life, Chester is shaping the second, and the work sits between them like a long, evolving signal.
The tools change, the surroundings shift, but the instinct remains the same: follow the sound wherever it leads.
If this is the start of a new chapter, it’s one written in real time; live, improvised, open to chance.
A reminder that some projects don’t end; they simply wait for the right moment to breathe again.
Have a good week.
Dan.
FOLLOW SHEMBOID:
