Austin – Shannon and the Clams emerged from Oakland in 2009. Their sound is not just nostalgic, it sounds like authentic music from the 50’s and 60’s. Front woman Shannon Shaw has a powerful rasp which vocalist/guitarist Cody Blanchard nearly matches, giving the sound of a doo-wop girl group. Though a bit of an odd line-up choice for Austin Psych Fest, I saw more fans come up to Shannon and the Clams than any other band at the festival. Two interrupted our interview to ask for a picture. Once they began to play it was clear they belonged at the festival no matter how loosely they cross the psychedelic threshold. I spoke with the band about staying their quirky selves and how Shannon packs her adorable outfits for tour.
Ilyse Kaplan: Psych Fest has been growing and stretching what the “psych” genre means and your band is one that might not have been included in the line up a few years ago. How do you feel like your band fits in now?
Shannon Shaw: I don’t know. It does, I just feel like psych is a whole new thing, it’s not necessarily psychedelic music but, things that are derivative of that and things that are more experimental, more creative.
Ian Amberson: Stretching in to broader worlds.
IK: I love that you’re a serious band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously. As you’re popularity grows, how do you make sure to keep all aspects of the band light?
SS: A big part of it is staying humble and excited, I feel so lucky everyday that I’m doing this and still feel utter disbelief that this is my job. As soon as it starts to feel like a chore or feel robotic then I try to think of it in a different way. I definitely don’t like the business aspect but it’s necessary.
IK: I understand you surround yourself with positive people within the industry, I’m sure that helps to keep it fun as well as being on a label like Hardly Art.
SS: That’s totally true. There are people that I can call up and ask a question or text when we’re on the road. I call up Sarah Moody who runs the label just to ask advice, even something that has nothing to do with music. She’s a friend and I really trust her. I think it’s important to keep people like that really close. It’s really weird, the few times people have asked to manage us, they come off really creepy, like straight out of TV or something. They e-mail us all businessy, like someone I’ve never met before; I would never work with someone like that. I prefer to keep things small.
IA: We prefer to have good friendships and relationships with people while on the road, it makes touring way more fun when you have friends and good people you know around the country.
IK: Have you ever run in to negativity within the industry? If so, how did you fend off the negativity?
SS: I just started being able to say no to stuff. We really try to stay conscious of what we’re doing and really try to say no to things that are wrong, even if you can’t explain why they feel wrong just say no. I’m a big pushover and I stretch myself way too thin.
IK: I’ve always been struck by how empowering your shows are for females, being in the audience at your shows I always feel very empowered. Is female empowerment a conscious thing within your music and live shows?
SS: I’m very glad that people feel that way.
IA: I would say, female energy has been so under represented in music for a long time that any chance that you get to make that a more balanced thing is an honor and a privilege. I think both me and Cody feel that.
Cody Blanchard: There’s so much masculine dude rock that’s lacking dimension. I think most of my favorite bands have at least one girl in there; otherwise it’s just unbalanced.
SS: I don’t think that matters or something is going to be better because there’s a girl in it.
CB: I just think it’s more dynamic with two genders in there.
IK: Part of what is so empowering is Shannon, you belt it out on stage and always look so put together, how do you pack for the road?
SS: I usually over pack and forget some really essential stuff. I never bring enough tights, ever. When we do winter or fall tours, I never bring enough warm clothes and I freeze my nuts off. I just make sure that I just have a couple skirts. I usually wear the same thing like every day, I changed my shirt last night but I’ve worn this outfit like 20 days. Just change the sweater, change the apron, change the hair, change the shoes.
CB: That’s a tour trick that usually people learn backwards, that you usually only wear one to three of the outfits that you packed.
IK: Psych fest is a great representation of our Austin music scene, how did you emerge out of Oakland and do you feel you added to the music scene there?
SS: I do, I feel pretty proud of that too. I’ve never said or thought this out loud before, but now that you ask it does make me think. I’m really proud to be a part of the Oakland music scene, it feels really good and I’m really proud.
CB: I think we started at a good time because there were other really good bands in Oakland that started right around the same time we were starting. We didn’t know anyone else, we were just playing with weird bands, whoever we could find. Then we found other people who were doing the same kind of stuff and we were just really lucky we all started at the same time.
Ilyse Kaplan
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