‘Shellout Sessions’ is a UK Garage collective based in York composed of DJ and producers PJ Statham and Harrison Reid along with Freddie Hoare, Lloyd Goddard, Peter Austin and Harry Gatens. Despite each of them being only twenty years old, they have been standing out in York’s small and quiet scene with UK G and Bass nights in BlueBox. Now expanding to other cities and exceeding even their own expectations of success from their first year, I’m exploring what they’ve accomplished over their time so far and how they’ve gone about such with an interview with PJ Statham.
by Blind in One Ear, Deaf in One Eye
‘It was the 14th of December last year when we decided to start Shellout Sessions’ PJ Statham told me. ‘The York scene for garage and house, electronic music generally, is pretty dead. The fact there was nothing in York frustrated us.’ he expressed. PJ and Harrison, already being DJs at the time, had tired of travelling to both be a part of the crowd and the lineups for the events they loved. PJ Statham, who has been producing music since he was fourteen, had DJ’d for a year before the idea sparked to start a collective of their own which could host events on their terms. When asked about the evolution of the idea he laughed, ‘We were all at Peter’s house having a drink and you’ve got to admit that Pink Panther is pretty sick. We just thought it’d make a good logo and that’s literally how it happened.’ The idea escalated from just a logo when PJ suggested using the term ‘Shellout’ paired with ‘Sessions’ for their name as a collective, based on both its play on a common complimentary phrase in the scene (‘shelling it’) and a little alliteration to add a ring to it too.
On the character that acts as their main mascot he told me ‘A lot of people say it looks like Harry [Gatens], they ask me if it was based on him. Originally we were going to do six characters with one being for each of us. Lloyd just drew him in the end.’ I asked Lloyd to confirm where the inspiration came from and he informed me, ‘he came from a love of watching cartoons when i was younger. Now I’m a bit older I’ve found a lot of influence from looking at old school graffiti too. My main focus was keeping him as simple as possible but distinct.’
Once the brand image of Shellout Sessions was completed it was time for them to host their first event. When asked about their experience doing so, PJ confessed ‘None of us truly knew what we were doing. We knew the basics like getting a poster and promoting but then there was doing the event.’ Despite this, what they had titled ‘Shellout Sessions VOLUME ONE’ did well as the group managed to sell near 90 tickets before the event on the 1st March. ‘I really thought it was going to flop. I thought the ticket sales were terrible but that’s actually pretty good before an event’ he voiced. Reflecting on the methods they used to try and ensure the success in spite of their doubt he admitted ‘We copied people. We spoke to people who run events which do a few free tickets which will sell out instantly. The idea is that people are already on the page so they’re more likely to buy a paid ticket after.’ Applying this method seemed successful and so the collective have offered a rare few tickets for free every time they have announced an event. ‘You just find things that other groups do and have success with, then you do the Shellout version of it’ he confirmed to me. On top of the Shellout members Harrison and PJ, the lineup for this event also consisted of ‘ALLJAM’ and ‘Al:tek, DJs PJ had met in Leeds through Venture Audio.
For ‘Shellout Sessions VOLUME 2’ which took place on the 26th April, they decided to book a headliner in the form of ‘The Phat Controlla’, as well as get a host for the evening in ‘Fraser’. PJ informed me this has been his favourite Shellout Sessions event to date based on these two guests. ‘Keep Hush and Kiwi Rekords did a colab event called Kiwi Hush’ he explained, ‘it was a daytime rave with lots of DJs playing and Phat Controlla was on that lineup. I used to watch it all the time and the fact we could book him for a set was sick. It was really good to meet him and Fraser.’ Acknowledging that these bookings came not only at the success of ‘Volume One’ but also due to his own producing too since he had personally interested the two with his music, PJ told me ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know in the scene.’ This event again was a success, especially as this was also the first appearance of Keldon who has since become a Shellout resident. PJ described him as having style, stating ‘we all play completely different stuff even though it’s garage. He plays organ and festival type.’
The third instalment came on the 30th August, this time being a resident night with an addition of ‘Laqai’. When I asked PJ what it took to get a residency with Shellout he told me ‘You have to be consistently good. Planning a set out is sick but we got Laqai because you might plan a set and then get to the club and it’s a different vibe. Some people would play the same set they’d planned but he’s good at changing to fit a crowd. He’s really adaptable.’ VOLUME 3 was their most successful yet in BlueBox, packing out the venue.
Shellouts Fourth and final volume of the year took place on the 15th November and continued the trend of accomplishments. This time featuring DJ Osc and opting for a PJ and Keldon back to back. On the fact that Shellout Sessions have managed to remain on this upward trajectory, PJ stated ‘Once people realise Shellout is sick, we get those people forever because it’s the only thing in York.’
Shellout Sessions have certainly proven that they’re not only supported in York however, having done events in Leeds too. Telling me about how they were able to flourish despite the change in city, PJ said ‘places like Leeds are great because everyones a DJ and everyone loves the music but it’s also like “Why would I go to your events when there’s twenty others the day after?” Because we’ve been able to make a name for ourselves in York we can get booked in Leeds and it be good.’
Events are not the only thing they’ve managed to build a reputation with too as they also act as label, releasing music through their SoundCloud. ‘Since I started music I’d always thought a label would be sick. It enabled us to grow quicker too because the SoundCloud is linked to our Instagram.’ Releasing free downloads may have helped them to grow but due to their stature achieved this year PJ told me ‘We’re gonna stop doing them. We have one with Scruz coming out to promo our next event but after that we’re gonna move to Bandcamp releases. These paid releases are gonna be top quality.’ The move to paid downloads via Bandcamp will allow for more revenue for the boys but also allows for them to deservedly platform music that they’re proud of with more exclusivity. ‘Me and Harrison are working on our first EP. Its a VA with five artists. There’s big names and it’ll be our first release on there.’
by Blind in One Ear, Deaf in One Eye
Expanding on what else is to come in the future, PJ was nonchalant as he pictured the big ideas that they’ve discussed. ‘Peter is massively into fashion and we’ve been talking about when we can make clothes. It won’t be like ‘Shellout merch’, we’re gonna do drops and make it a proper thing.’ Along with this, he aspired ‘The dream would be to go full time. Being able to put on events and make enough money to pay everything off and have enough profit to pay all the boys.’ For some this would feel unachievable but as their goals of reaching 1k on Instagram and SoundCloud in their first year have been exceeded, with their SoundCloud now having over double and the Instagram reaching the milestone a few months ago, perhaps it’s better for them not to put a limit on themselves.
One thing is for certain and that’s that expansion is on their minds going forward. ‘There’s only so much you can grow here. We’re gonna be doing an event with Profound Sound in Newcastle next year and we’ve got a colab event in February in Sheffield. We’ve got other ideas but we’re taking it as it goes, we’ll see what happens.’ he concluded. With so much to look forward to from the collective 2024 is likely going to be even bigger for Shellout Sessions as they continue to pave the way in York and excel in other cities.
Tickets to their next event can be found here, with their Instagram and SoundCloud also worth keeping an eye on.
Follow @deafinoneeyeblindinoneear on Instagram for updates and click here to read about Shellout Sessions member Harrison Reid in more detail.
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