PREMIERE: Shirehead Brave the Cold on “Zero Degrees”
Photo credit: Taylor Harvey
Montreal’s underground has a new name you’re going to want to remember: Shirehead.
Formed by Joni Butler after relocating from Nottingham to Montreal, the band channel post-punk urgency, Britpop melodicism, and early-2000s indie dance into something that feels both nostalgic and sharply current. And if you think they’re confined to post-punk, think again — their recent remix release of 97 PERCENT OF PEOPLE QUIT BEFORE THE JACKPOT transforms their tracks into techno and trance renditions that wouldn’t feel out of place at 2 a.m. in a packed basement party.
Their latest single, “Zero Degrees,” marks a turning point ahead of their debut LP Proud To Be (out March 6, 2026). Written during a period of isolation and later reshaped in Montreal’s unforgiving cold, the track finds Shirehead leaning into their sound that feels equal parts Nottingham grit and Montreal bite that it demands attention.
Today, REVERIE is proud to premiere the video for “Zero Degrees,” a blizzard-struck visual that captures the feeling of isolation and the redemptive pull of music at the heart of Shirehead’s rising momentum. Learn more about the formation of the band and what they’re currently listening to from Butler and key player Erik Kennedy down below.
Consider this your introduction.
REVERIE: What’s the story behind Shirehead? How did you form?
Joni: The origins of Shirehead come from the UK, but when I moved to Montreal, I gathered the members to form the group Shirehead. Over a period of 6 months, I found the members through the local skate park and Facebook musician pages. The band name came from the ‘Shires’, which is a region in the UK where I'm from. The ‘head’ is just another way to say ‘us’.
REVERIE: Can you talk a bit about your debut album? Are there any themes that run throughout?
Joni: Our debut album ‘Proud to Be’ is a dance-punk/britpop inspired by digital 2000s production. The album was engineered by Myself/ Erik & Jermey at Sub River Records with accompanying sessions tracked at a school in Laval. We recorded the album during the winter of late 2024 into early 2025. I mixed and mastered the album. Lyrically, the album is influenced by my upbringing in the U.K. Many of the stories that the lyrics reference are based on experiences from my childhood. The area where I grew up was surrounded by people with nationalist, patriotic views spewing hate. So a lot of the stories are small youth stories taken with a satirical, poetic twist.
REVERIE: I love the remix album you put out too! Can you talk a bit about why you decided to put this release out and the producers you got on board for it?
Erik: Both Joni (jonjoyano) and I (Some Luck) are influenced a lot by electronic music. Actually, one of the first times I met Joni, he told me I should remix my tracks, and I’d honestly never thought of that! But I feel like since we are both producers, it only made sense to remix our debut EP. And then we just started asking our friends to see if they wanted to do it too!
REVERIE: Were there any artistic influences that kept coming up as Shirehead formed? Or anything you can’t stop listening to?
Joni: In the beginning, Shirehead’s direction came from my solo material, which is heavily influenced by dark post-Punk and glitchy electronic drums. The album was more influenced by Britpop, Trip-Hop, Shoegaze, and early 2000s indie. This organically came from the additional members’ influence and the fact that the album had more live elements. Some of the bands that influenced the album: The Specials, New Order, The Clash, Bloc Party, High Viss, Kneecap, Sleeford Mods, Burial, Ultra Q, Home Front, Puffer, and Faze.
REVERIE: Can you share a bit about the track + video for “Zero Degrees”?
Joni: I wrote the track in 2022 during the pandemic. At the time, I was living in a van in Spain, it was winter there, and it felt really cold and isolating. We revisited the track once Shirehead had formed,and initially we didn’t think much of it. We just needed an extra track for the album, but we really liked how it turned out after it was recorded.
Erik: We recorded the video ourselves, and Joni edited it. Most of it was shot close to where Joni and I live, as well as in Parc Mont Royal. All of the band scenes were filmed at our rehearsal space.
REVERIE: Are there any live shows coming up or an album release party on the horizon?
Erik: Yes, we have our album launch at Casa Del Popolo on March 6th! We are also doing a secret listening party, but we don't want to share too many details about that yet!
