Keepin' It Simple, Keepin' It Fun

Keepin' It Simple, Keepin' It Fun

by Mick Emmett

At its core, rock 'n' roll is really about fun. And after five shows and a single band interview, one thing is abundantly clear to this writer: no band has more fun playing rock music than The Shods.

From their origins as a no-frills, blue collar rock band from Lowell in a decidedly un-rock 'n' roll time (the grunge-dominated early '90s) to their present day status as one of the area's premier live acts -- as the recent WFNX Best Music Poll award in this category will attest -- The Shods have done what many local bands have not. They've survived. And not only have they survived, they've kept their sense of humor intact. Way, way intact.

The band members talk about themselves the same way they play music: straightforward, no b.s., no pretentiousness, nobody taking themselves too seriously, and everybody having a good time.

The Band

Until recently, The Shods were a four-piece unit consisting of lead singer/ guitar player/ resident maniac Kevin Stevenson, lead guitarist Dave Aaronoff, drummer Scott Pittman, and bass player Dave "Manimal" Livingston (apparently when he drives the band to gigs he's "part man, part animal" behind the wheel). They just added keyboard player Jay Buckley to the mix as the band prepares for their upcoming tour in support of the new CD (out now), Thanks for Nuthin' (more on that later).

So what exactly is a "Shod" anyway? In a 1997 interview with Noise writer J. Lianna Ness, Kevin explained where the band's name came from. "When we first started, we were called The Shabs because we had a really rough edge and our guitars wouldn't stay in tune, but we were trying to be so poppy and I thought, `This sounds so shabby.' And Scott said, `Oh, let's call ourselves The Shabs.' That same night, we brought our practice tape to the singer for Out Cold, who were Lowell's only real punk rock band. The singer for that band was a good friend of ours and he listened to our tape and said, `You're way more shoddy than you are shabby! You should call yourselves The Shods!' I literally scratched the name off the tape and wrote 'The Shods.'"

IT DON'T COME EASY

Any Noise reader who is, or has been in a band knows that success don't come easy, if it comes at all. The Shods are certainly no exception.

According to Kevin, it was "horribly tough." He goes on to explain how success in a previous band doesn't mean squat in your new band. "The sad thing is, I had just gotten out of a very successful band called Only Living Witness. We had gotten great gigs in town. We played with everybody. All the promoters loved that band. But when I called them up when The Shods started and said, `Hey, you think you can book me a gig? I've got a new band,' now this is in the early '90s, remember, rock 'n' roll was out of style, they'd say, `What kind of music do you play?' I'd say, `We're a rock 'n' roll band.' From there they'd either hang up on me or they'd find a polite way to hang up the telephone." He added with a laugh, "And I'll tell you this much, none of those people are getting a piece of us now!"

"Yeah," says Dave, laughing, "We've got nothing but grudges."

Kevin wasn't done, though. "I would sneak onto different bills because I stayed friendly with a lot of people in bands. So if someone called me up and said, `Hey, so and so booked a gig at this bar, but it's a ska gig. You think you can figure out a way to play ska?' I'd say, `No, but I can tell him we're in a ska band.' And I'd call up the booker and say, "Yeah, we're a ska band. We're called The Shods.' Anyway, we'd get booked at all these gigs and the promoters would get mad as hell. They'd be in the audience flipping us off. But I feel like that helped us get our foot in the door."

THE BREAK (sort of)

Once they started making a name for themselves on the Boston rock scene, The Shods drew interest from Tim O'Heir of Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge. Fort Apache was putting together a label with the backing of MCA Records, and Tim was looking for local talent to sign. The Shods recorded a record entitled Stop Crying, but it never got released.

When asked for a quick summary of this lesson in the music business, Kevin replies, "It was a real tough situation for us because they had presented it as a family situation. We were all gonna stick together and help each other out. But when the shit went down, no one stuck by us. And that's all I have to say about that."

"Yeah," adds Dave, "a couple more grudges to add to the list."

The Shods may have been down, but they were far from out. "We learned that being on a big label isn't always the answer," says Kevin. "If you don't help yourself, nothing's going to happen for you. A band that's on the biggest label in the world but doesn't help themselves can still shit the bed."

Dave chimes in, "We were really bummed out when it happened, but we just decided to turn it into a good thing. We went out and recorded a record by ourselves (Bamboozled, Jilted, Hornswoggled & Hoodwinked) and put it out ourselves (Poorhouse Records). Rather than have it break us up, we were empowered by it."

Before long, The Shods were touring with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ("one of the only bands that really helped us," says Dave) and making a name for themselves with their incendiary live show and straightforward rock 'n' roll recordings.

THE MUSIC

If you've seen, heard or even read about The Shods, then names like The Who, The Clash, The Jam, and The Kinks, among many others, rattle around your head to a pounding rock 'n' roll beat. One of the reasons the band is so tight is their mutual love of the same musical influences.

According to Kevin, the band members "all kind of had the same influences, whether they're new or old." In addition to the aforementioned rock legends, the guys cite contemporary acts like Supergrass, Rocket from the Crypt, and "any band from Lookout Records." In fact, after mentioning Lookout Records (a San Francisco-based label) about fourteen times during the course of the interview, Kevin convinced me that he has a future career as a label salesman.

One of The Shods' musical trademarks is four-part (now five) harmonies. "They started filtering in around the time of the Fort Apache sessions," according to Kevin. And we eventually decided to make that our trademark. I've always loved harmonies, so we all learned to sing -- and sing together -- which is the hardest part. We make it a point to work on those harmonies every time we rehearse."

As for the songs themselves, Kevin and Dave do the songwriting. Kevin talks about how "When I have the total idea of a song and I record it on my 4-track, by the time I bring it to the band and we start recording it, other guys might accent different parts. Dave might start playing a riff out of nowhere, or Scott might throw in some different drum parts, or the guys will start singing harmonies where I didn't have any..."

"And then Kevin will shoot that down and go right back to what he came in with," says Dave to raucous laughter from the rest of the band.

Kevin laughs the hardest. "I'll say `Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. That sounds good. Maybe we'll try that.' Maybe for me actually means, `Yes, I appreciate the constructive criticism, however, it's not going to happen that way."

The band speaks with the most passion when discussing their approach to songwriting. "Otis Redding used to say `You have to write what you know.' That's the way we write," explains Kevin.

"And we don't know much. That's why our lyrics are so limited," says Dave to much band laughter.

THE LIVE SHOW

Kevin expands on the "write what you know" theme when asked about the band's now legendary live shows. "When I'm singing one of our songs to the crowd, I'm singing something that means a lot to me. Something that moves me. I get so... crazy on stage. I'm not even myself. And I think that's part of the energy that people like when they see us play. We go absolutely nuts 'cause we're singing about something that's so close to us that it feels like we have to unleash it on the crowd. We go absolutely apeshit -- and it's fun."

"We try to make it exciting for them and for us," adds Dave.

"Yeah," says Kevin, "and if the crowd is standing there bored, I smash things (everyone laughs). The soundman gets mad and we get an invoice, but it works. One show we were playing on a Bosstones' tour was getting really exciting, and nothing felt more right to me at that moment than taking the mike stand and smashing my guitar with it. And this was a great guitar, a '62 Jazzmaster, a perfect rock guitar. I ended up breaking the mike stand, denting the guitar and breaking the monitor."

Even if you don't see Kevin smash things, you are guaranteed to have a good time at a Shods show. The band rocks hard, the crowd gets fired up, and you have fun no matter what kind of mood you're in when you enter the club. Even if you missed the two CD release shows at T.T. the Bear's on October 22nd and 23rd, you shouldn't have look too hard for The Shods in clubland -- they plan on playing as much as possible.

THE NEW CD

Thanks for Nuthin' was recently released on October 26 (it's not hard to figure out where the title comes from).

"There's all kinds of stuff on this record," according to Kevin. "Bubblegum pop, '60s-style pop, a Real Kids cover ("All Kinds of Girls"). It's really diverse. And a lot of fun."

"There's one song that sounds like a Herman's Hermits song; something totally out of left field, but we all liked it," says Dave. "It worked, so it went on the record."

"It's actually one of my favorites," adds Kevin.

Scott follows with, "We steal from all the best bands."

Fans of The Shods' live show will be happy to see that standouts like "Eddie Cross," "Faster Faster" and "Scorpion Bowl" are on the disc.

THE FUTURE

When asked what the future holds for The Shods, Dave explains, "We're just trying to take it one day at a time. We're like a bunch of alcoholics."

After another burst of laughter, the band goes back to what they do best -- having fun.

Do yourself a favor and see The Shods live. For show info, go to www.shods.com