The Shi are back! Having blasted into 2008 with their UK debut, “HLLYH’, The Mae Shi return with their first live shows on these shores in 2009. Prepare to be mesmerized as they bring their perfect mish-mash of pretty much the whole spectrum of music, which have seen the band compared to “an early, lysergic- splashed Flaming Lips”.

Have a read through their Myspace bio...

"Currently, there are six members of the Mae Shi: Brad Breeck, Jeff Byron, Tim Byron, Bill Gray, Jon Gray and Jacob Cooper. You are likely to only see four of us on stage at any given time, but the rest of us are lurking in the shadows. We've been told that "mae shi" means "business card" in Japanese. This is fitting, because the band is our business card. The band is our self-help vehicle, and as our personal goals change, our roles within the band change.

Amidst all of this change, some things are constants. What's been done has been done, and it's of little interest to us unless we can repackage it in a new and exciting way. The only option is to forge ahead, to try new things, to test out bad ideas, to all try to sing and work together and hope the road we're on leads somewhere. It's about the journey and the destination. This all sounds immensely airy but we believe it -- at its core the rock and roll band is a surrogate family for our culturally extended childhood, it's our self-help group, it's our soap box, it's a way to see what we're really capable of. Growing up is tough. This is our attempt to grow up."