Shame have discussed their new sonic identity on their second album, labelling the idea of staying the same “fucking boring”.

The band released ‘Drunk Tank Pink’, their follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed debut ‘Songs of Praise’, on Friday (January 15).

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Speaking in a new NME cover feature, the band say the new style put forward on the second record was a necessity rather than a choice.

“I don’t think it would’ve been possible to write the first album again,” frontman Charlie Steen told NME, with drummer Charlie Forbes concurring that the idea of writing ‘Songs Of Praise’ part two was “fucking boring” to the band.

“I don’t think we’ll ever write a tune and then think, ‘This is what the whole album is going to sound like’,” Forbes added.

“There are definitely bands that do that,” Steen continued. “I’m sure The Jesus and Mary Chain heard feedback once and were like, ‘OK, sweet!’”

‘Drunk Tank Pink’ was produced by Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford at La Frette Studios in Paris, and Forbes explained to NME how the band gave him a set of songs with disparate styles.

“We just come up with a mish-mash of different sounding songs and hand them over and say, ‘Please make this make sense,’” the drummer said. “There are some pretty different jumps around on this album.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Steen spoke of how mental health struggles on the band’s gruelling tour for their debut album affected ‘Drunk Tank Pink’.

“When you stop touring – and a lot of [‘Drunk Tank Pink’] is about that restless feeling, of wanting a cause for celebration all the time, and surrounding yourself with distractions – it’s learning that separation between the band and what you enjoy doing aside from that, because otherwise it’s going to become pretty hard to stay sane,” he said.

Giving ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ a five-star review, NME wrote: “This is massive leap on from ‘Songs Of Praise’ – ‘Drunk Tank Pink’ is more ambitious and more accomplished than its predecessor, showcasing a band brimming both with ideas and the confidence to pull them off.”