How have shows been for you so far this year? Is there any one that stood out to you?
Shows have been really good, you know like we did that tour with Inner Wave and Michael Seyer so there’s, like, really banger shows- sold out stuff, but last night (Santa Ana, The Observatory 12/20) was really good too like it was amazing…crowds always super cool and nice…
With these big shows, do you ever get performance anxiety?
Yeah, yeah! It’s not really like nervousness I think like performance anxiety is a better word because…I’m not really nervous, but I’m anxious like I’m ready to do it now…and then they just make you wait [backstage] for like hours. You’re just sitting in this backroom, but yeah it’s better than it used to be…with time you…get better at it.
Is there any way, specifically, that you’ve learned to deal with that?
I think just trying to relax. Y’know relax, have a drink, and…chill out, talk with your friends kind of like forget that you’re gonna do a show kind of thing, and then once it’s time it’s like, “oh shit, let’s go do it.”
Has music always been your career plan or did you ever try for or want to do something else?
It’s never that I like really wanted to do anything else, it’s just cause I couldn’t support myself from doing music. I didn’t really think that…it was something that I could do for a living. I had like a lot of really shitty jobs…I did a car wash, a chocolate factory, UPS…but yeah dude, it’s been really cool to be able to do it for a living…
Was there like a “holy shit” moment where you realized, oh shit, my music is actually taking off?
Yeah, there’s been a few of them! Y’know like I still have those moments, but I think it was probably one of the first checks I got like from Spotify…I showed my mom, and she was like, “holy shit,” so it was kind of like a shared holy shit moment, but I still have those moments all the time.
Is there any way that makes you feel, specifically, or any way that you channel that, “holy shit”?
It just makes me super excited…I’m super excited that like it hasn’t fizzled out yet, that people still care (laughs).
What’s your writing process like? Like some people like to do substances before they write, some people like to write only if it comes naturally, others like to treat it like work (they have to write) —so what’s yours like?
It’s mostly when…I’m either bored or upset. That’s at least what triggers me to want to go and write something, but yeah…it mostly comes from like pain or anger…or happiness or sadness…whenever I’m feeling like that, but also there’s a lot of other stuff to get distracted by…if I’m at a… playing Call of Duty II, but…music is definitely much more rewarding…
Is there anything you can tell us about new songs coming up or another album in the works?
I’m definitely working on stuff, and there’s a good amount…hopefully 2019…probably announce something.
At this point I explain to Shane that the questions will take a short curve from his music career into socially-directed questions, and he accepts.
How many tattoos do you have, and what is their significance to you?
You want me to count ‘em?
Sure.
Alright…I gotta take off my pants.
Oh, you’re fine, you don’t have to do that-
I don’t know, I have a bunch, man…I have like a lot down my leg…
Shane shares his tattoos ranging from a world, spilled milk, his first guitar, and an array of family-inspired ink.
Is there a dream artist you’d like to collab with?
Shane: I got asked this and I said D’Angelo but I gotta spice it up cause there are more than one…D’Angelo would be sick but…John Mayer would be cool. Would be cool to do something with John Mayer, or like Thundercat.
I saw you performing “Unfucktheworld” by [Angel Olsen], how would you feel about doing a collab with her?
It’d be cool, it’d be super cool. I love that song.
Do you have any strange tour stories or weird shit that’s happened to you while on tour?
I told this guy to “beat it,” because he was…it was just this guy who was on drugs and he was just not part of the show or anything, and we were all already in the van about to leave the show that we had just played, and there were these two girls who were sitting by themselves who looked pretty innocent, and this guy was like…fucking with them.
I was like sitting in the van watching it happen, and…for some reason I had the courage to open the fucking van door and just go like, “Hey, beat it!” laughs…and he just walked away, and everyone on tour made a joke out of it like, “Remember when Shane fought off those ninjas…That was a funny one…I got puked on in the van by Jason who plays sax in Michael Seyer’s band. I was pretty pissed… A lot of shit happened on tour, man, with everybody…
Do you ever plan on pressing your music on vinyl?
Yeah, I would love to. I think in the future yeah, that would be sick.
Colored Vinyl?
Shane: Yeah! Maybe pink.
Do you have any advice for musicians that want to make it in the music industry/have that dream to become a musician?
Yeah, have fun…and keep it real…don’t let someone tell you that your music is bad even if it is bad…don’t let them crush your dreams cause there’re plenty of people that want to put you down. Keep it real and just own your craft and work on it.
Ghost Alley Magazine 