The Shills formed a band because it seemed the only thing to do under the circumstances. "We don't listen to the radio anymore. We don't read music magazines anymore. We have yet to fall in love with a band formed this millennium. Contemporary music is moderate; we want to put some intelligence and fervour back into rock'n'roll. The bands we love, and will always love, have all been urgent, ardent, and crucial, crucial to the lives of their members, even if they haven't been crucial to anybody else. The bands and artists we love are as follows; The Smiths, The Manics, Bowie, Springsteen, The Libertines, Queen, Pulp, and The Clash. We wear our influences on our sleeve and we make no apologies for that fact. As with the bands we love our lives are inextricably intertwined, they have been so since we were children. Every member of our band is as important as the last. Every facet of our band is as important as the last. Our band is a gang and that's exactly how all bands should be. We realise that to become crucial to anybody outside of The Shills then we will have to endure privations and humiliations, and perpetuate contradictions and myths. This is not a prospect that excites us, but it is unavoidable. We have no ideology or manifesto, we have no specific aims and we want to make a living from music. For this reason we can say in all sincerity we are shills. We do not stand for anything but that does not mean we do not stand against anything. We despise artists bereft of any humour, style, or vigour. We hate the insipid music that is the soundtrack to modern life. We stand against the evil that is banality. Without our band we lack any kind of purpose or focus, without our band we have no means of expressing our frustration. We use our band to convey this emotion; we use our band as vehicle to escape our otherwise overwhelming state of inertia. Music will always give us this release; we want our music to give others the same release."