Best of 2015 Class Of grad Shura looks back on 2015

From her own take on piggate, to top tips avoiding koala-bourne chlamydia, Shu’s got it all covered.

Words: El Hunt
20th December 2015

Since rocking up at DIY’s Class of 2015 photoshoot last year with a can of spray-paint, Shura’s perhaps-fictional band tips (Chicken Lizard and the Antlered Creatures, anyone?) and relentless SOAK rumour-mongering in the run-up to Latitude have been a regular fixture. This year she might’ve racked up a tidy 20 million plays for the smooch-filled ‘Touch’ video, but Shura’s content with not riding the hype-wave. While loads of last year’s Class Of have released their debuts already, she’s doing it her own pace, and playing the long game. Instead, Shura’s spent the year touring, well, pretty much everywhere in the world.

We rang Shura up for a quick natter about her 2015. We ended up talking about STD-bearing marsupials, and David Cameron’s porky press scandal instead.

We’ve been really impressed with your affinity for puns this year, Shura. Your recent ‘Shu-K Tour‘ is just one example. How do you stay inspired?

It’s really easy, unfortunately. It’s harder not to pun. I should really stop, because it’s more of a skill to not pun, with my name.

You’ve been touring a lot this year - have you learned the all-important trick of sleeping on a tour bus?

I’m really good at sleeping. I’m like a koala, so I have no issue finding positions to get a cricked neck in. We’re quite a sleepy band, actually. I was looking at pictures of Hinds on tour - they’re in Asia at the moment - and they’re all awake! I’m like, shit, they’re so much more rock n’ roll. We need to be more like them.

You’ve been taking your time when it comes to your debut, and a while back you set up a website - Has Shura Finished Her Album Yet? Were you a bit pissed off when Rihanna set up ANTIdiaRy? It trumps your effort by a long way.

I haven’t seen it, but what a bitch! Nah, I’m not angry at all, Rihanna’s got eight albums. I’ve not even got one yet. Maybe when I have eight, I can be more ambitious. But at this stage, I just had to persuade Polydor to spend £6 on a url for me. That was hard enough. Actually, they were well up for it, to be honest.

Have you noticed that your hair has become a meme among your fans? How do you deal with that?

Yeah, I have noticed. I embrace it, and I encourage it. All these people are like, ‘she needs a hair tie’. Doing a gig with my hair scraped back as if I’m about to play football, I don’t think that would go down very well. I’m just really surprised that I can see anything. I must have an inbuilt sat-nav for the buttons, because, literally, I cannot see a fucking thing. On Jool Holland as well, I watched it back, and I was like, ‘where is my face?’ I’m not even doing a Sia, with a wig on purpose. My hair is a feature. It’s a thing. Everyone has a thing, right?.

"I watched Jools Holland back, and I was like, ‘where is my face?'"

What would you most like to see happen, in 2016?

The downfall of David Cameron. Political beliefs aside, I’d also like to release an album, and go to some really awesome places. I’m obsessed with the idea of eventually getting to Australia and meeting a koala.

Would you not be concerned about catching chlamydia off the koala, like poor Harry and Liam from One Direction?

That’s what happens if you snog them. Just don’t snog them.

If you could hijack the Queen’s Speech this Christmas, and psychically influence her so that she discussed one topic of your choice, what would it be?

Maybe just a montage of pigs, and the queen talking about David Cameron, and how he allegedly inserted his penis into the mouth of a dead pig. I’d like her to talk about piggate, because I feel like, if she did, Cameron would actually have to acknowledge it. He’s ignoring it! I got so excited about the fact David Cameron was going to have to do a press release about not fucking a pig. The next day? Nothing. How dare he. Oh please.

And finally, what’s your most iconic Shura moment of the year?

In terms of classic me, it has to be a gig at SXSW. I kept saying it felt a lot like The Hunger Games there, so at this gig I decided to flip three fingers for Katniss Everdeen. My manager was stood next to two girls at the back, and apparently they thought I was doing a Nazi salute. In terms of being misunderstood, and trying to do something cute, and it being misconstrued because I’m lame… Yep. That.

Shura is currently working on her debut album - if you like, you can manically refresh Has Shura Finished Her Album Yet? for regular progress reports.

Tags: Shura, Best of 2015, Features