Shatter / Tender

"Shatter / Tender" are two songs by the British rock band Feeder. They were released by the band as a double a-sided single in October 2005, reaching #11 in the UK Singles Chart, and did not appear on a regular studio album; it has since been included on the band's compilation album The Singles. The song is still performed live by the band at their shows, usually after "Feeling a Moment". The single is backed up with "Tender" from their current studio album Pushing the Senses, and appears alongside "Shatter" in the end credits of the English dub of the Russian film Night Watch (Russian: Ночной дозор, Nochnoy Dozor).

The track was released as a single after a petition of over 1,000 names was submitted to the bands label, and was a b-side on "Tumble and Fall" after appearing on the video game Gran Turismo 4. The names of the petition, appear on a scrolling list in movie credits style on the DVD format of the single, while "Tender" plays.

1 Style
2 Music video
3 Reception
4 References in popular culture
5 Track listing
- 5.1 CD
- 5.2 DVD
- 5.3 7"

[edit] Style

While "Tender" is a piano driven ballad, with guitar and bass effects driving the song along at the same time, and the drums acting as a backbone of the songs musical structure, "Shatter" is somewhat far removed from the latter.

"Shatter" is more akin to earlier Feeder, and that of the pop/rock styles visited on Echo Park. It uses loud guitars and drumfills throughout and breaks in the track, where ticking sounds can be heard after every verse is completed and before the chorus starts. The song wasn't seen as very radio friendly by radio stations, and was not played very often in the busiest hours of audience ratings, and charted at #57 on the top 100 UK airplay chart. "Tender" reached #55 but did not pick up as much audience figures, and was not given very much radio play due to "Shatter" being the main track to promote the release.

[edit] Music video

The music video for "Shatter", sees the band appearing in various scenes of the film Night Watch. The video can be seen as unique, as most music videos for singles related to soundtracks usually incorporate actual footage from the film into a band performance filming.

In the video the band are seen as drivers in the yellow van as seen in the film, and are involved in a 180 degree stunt as seen exactly in the film itself. Later the van arrives to a block of flats where the vortex from the film itself is seen, with frontman Grant Nicholas armed with a glowing tube that resembles a light saber, exploring the levels before forcing a locked door open and entering a flat. It isn't made clear what he was looking for, but once said you need to see the film to understand it. Footage of the band performing the track in a similar setting as seen in the film are added in between. The video made #1 on the 3 mobile video download chart in the UK.

The video for "Tender" is a band performance video, and first appeared on the "Depot sessions" section of the Pushing the Senses DVD bonus disc. The version used to promote "Tender", has an added effect of clouds, and a blue tint mixed into the film.

[edit] Reception

The single peaked at #11 during its brief stay in the top 40, making it Feeder's then 10th top 20 single of their career after previous single "Pushing the Senses" charted at #30 in July earlier in the year. The chart placing was seen as successful, due to being their 4th highest placed single from 22 releases at the time, and also all the singles in the top 10 receiving a lot more airplay and bigger radio audiences, all reaching the airplay top 10. It was also effectively a track being re-issued after reaching the top 5 as a b-side, which was at the time nine months prior. This caused some fans of the band to say that it wasn't worth releasing the track as a single, as the chart placing of "Tumble and Fall" would affect its chances, but many fans also wanted to see the track become a hit in its own right, regardless if it reached the top 10 or not and would enable the song to be exposed to the general public. A wide majority of consumers who bought the "Tumble and Fall" single, bought CD1 amongst the three formats (which had "Shatter" on), many of them preferred "Shatter" to the main track, therefore meaning the chart placing did not reflect the true popularity of the song. The video for "Shatter", reached #1 on the UK 3 Mobile download chart.

The single has a very dedicated fan following claiming it to be one of the bands best tracks, and is voted highly in fans polls reaching #4 in a 2005 vote on fansite "Feeder Fan Site" (the website that also started off the petition). Due to the small airplay audience figures it had very little awareness outside of their fanbase, with mainly fanbase sales getting its chart position in a busy week for single sales hence the drop to #32 the following week. Kerrang! magazine and Planet Sound both gave the single a review score of 4/5, after being critical of the band during the year up until that point. It has also been played at nearly every Feeder gig since its release as a single. The song has only been omitted from TV performances and the Leeds festival of 2006 due to frontman Grant Nicholas feeling that the band had to drop the song from the setlist, after having throat problems near the end of their set at the Reading festival the day before. The track later reached #2 in May 2006 as part of its inclusion on The Singles, an album which also went platinum in the UK, therefore meaning that the track was after all exposed to the general public.