Shanghai Treason Get a Little Rowdy in Their “Can’t Even Hang A Man Right” Video [Premiere]

You know those rowdy bar songs where the whole shop breaks into a singalong like suddenly you’re all great friends even though you’ve never before met? Yes? Well, we’re about to give you one of those… with no bar that’s actually open right now. So get ready to sing along with your cat to Shanghai Treason’s new music video for “Can’t Even Hang A Man Right,” a nice slice of Celtic punk rock that’ll make you crave a pint. The band comes very much in the mould of The Pogues, playing emotional, fast-paced songs that’ll leave you feeling happy and probably exhausted from hopping up and down on your feet. It’s the type of music where, if you don’t leave their gig feeling exhausted, then you didn’t have a good time.

Despite its intensity and the fact that everyone, including the group, is all smiles and having a grand ol’ time in the video, “Can’t Even Hang A Man Right” actually comes from more of a serious place than you’d think. Lead singer Sam Christie explains that it’s actually somewhat of a political track and how we have to take everything we hear with a grain of salt. “It’s an anthem of dissent, a song about distrust, released at a time where we need to be careful what we buy into and what we are fed by major news media outlets, we can’t trust everything we are told, especially by government bodies, those lot couldn’t even hang a man right.”

Shanghai Treason was very much motivated to write “Can’t Even Hang A Man Right” from their experiences digesting the fallout of Brexit. It’s ironic that it’s now being released at the height of the coronavirus pandemic when after many years of bitterness and political head games, the UK is finally rallying together over a common cause. The band is hopeful that it’s the sign of positive change to come, but they’re not exactly a group of guys that are easily duped.

Here with a few words about “Can’t Even Hang A Man Right,” lead singer Sam Christie talks about the song, the music video, and playing with The Buzzcocks.

Upcoming Show Date:

09/12 – Rockin’ The Bowl @ Don Valley Grass Bowl – Sheffield, UK

I really like the name of your new song “Can’t Even Hang a Man Right.” It’s the type of song title that gives you a bit of a chuckle when you read it. How did you think of or at least come up with the song title specifically?

Sam Christie: “The song is kind of a statement about the haphazard way we are governed. Specifically, at the time the song was written, I was thinking a lot of Brexit. Back then it felt like as time went on, the idea of leaving the EU made less and less sense economically… and yet politicians seemed to have backed themselves into a corner where they had little option but to push forward regardless, making a right pigs ear of it in the process, the analogy developed in my head of a hangman constantly failing to execute a prisoner; which felt quite fitting to me (laughs).

I kind of forgot about that but I’d written the phrase ‘Can’t Even Hang a Man Right’ in my phone notes and one day during practice the band was jamming around with this verse-chorus structure and I needed something to sing, I stumbled across that old note and the lyrics just poured from me, we wrote the whole thing in around an hour and the lyrics pretty much remained the same as what I improvised in that first session as did much of the song structure, it’s a favourite of ours to play live, really kick starts the party at our shows.”

Artwork for “Can’t Even Hang A Man Right” by Shanghai Treason

Where did you shoot the music video and how did that whole process come together?

“With Shanghai Treason we’ve been trying to keep things simple and be true to ourselves. I don’t see the need to gloss things up and make things look to snazzy or big budget so it’s just a dead-simple documentation of the last Sheffield gig we got to play before the COVID-19 lockdown was put in place. As such it features lots of our friends and family who are in the crowd which I think is cool because we’re trying to cultivate a real community around the band, which is working really well and it makes it all the more fun to be a part of.

I’m finding that whilst the project is still in its infancy there’s a real joy that comes from being in a small band, who are pushing forward against the odds, that only a few people know about and the video reflects all that well. Hopefully, we’ll be able to look back at these early small venue shows with great fondness in the not so distant future.”

Judging by the subject matter of some of your songs, you don’t seem afraid to make political and social statements with your music. Is Shanghai Treason a, dare we say, political band? Or just a band who has no fear of saying what’s on their mind?

“Folk music has a rich history of being the people’s music, it was the prototype for punk in many ways and punk was never afraid to speak its mind. As a Celtic punk-inspired band it all comes quite naturally, it’s expected even. We’re from industrial market towns and cities in the North of England; need we say more (laughs).”

You probably get asked this all the time, but I must ask about you playing your first gig as support for The Buzzcocks. Usually a band’s first gig is played in front of ten people. Tell us about how this all came together.

“We’d spent a year behind the scenes just writing and recording ideas, we’d circulated some of those recordings around friends and industry contacts via e-mail before we had even launched the band. One of those tracks made it to the ears of the folk booking that show and when we were offered the gig it kind of forced us out of hiding early as we didn’t have any presence online as of yet. I’m glad we did it though as it gave us a great springboard from which to launch the band and it was one hell of a night!”

What’s it like incorporating a banjo with such a fast-paced, aggressive kind of sound? Does it present any challenges in terms of songwriting and incorporating it in with the guitars and drums?

“It feels great to play live and it sits really well sonically in the space that a lead guitar would usually occupy so banjo causes little issue really. Our banjo player, Tom, is a multi-instrumentalist, he’s a humble soul and although he’d be the first to say he can’t actually play a lot of the instruments very well the truth is he’s pretty damn quick to pick new things up! We’ve got a number of tracks with banjo on and often perform accordion tracks live, recently we have been experimenting whilst song writing with tenor banjo, mandolin and bouzouki. He’ll need a tour van of his own to carry all his instruments one day at this rate (laughs).”