Shannon on the origins of 30STM
Musichead podcast (Australian). Interview with Shannon from 11/xx/2006. Shannon is calling in from Florida. Midst of the "Welcome the Universe" tour.
Hand transcribed quotes. This is not the complete interview, just what I wanted to capture. Thanks to sacrament666 who posted the mp3. Let me know if I can upload it for anyone. [Note: Explanation for the red near the end of the post.]
Lots of stuff on the history of 30STM from it's origins to getting signed with Virgin. I love hearing stories about the boys when they were young.
We grew up with instruments all over the house. My mom subjected us to different types of music, as well. ... We grew up going to different shows, all of these festivals. It was just this natural progression that happened. Jared and I picked up instruments at a very young age and we learned to express ourselves through those things. ... We wanted to share the experience with other people so we played out. We got other people to play with us and we played out. Then we did what ever other normal band tries to do; we set out to get a record deal. And we got a record deal, and the rest is history.
Q: Did you realize there could be a future banging pots and pans? (paraphrased)
You know what, I never thought that. For some reason. I knew I did it. I knew I liked to do it. I knew I felt amazing doing it. I knew it was a very powerful thing for me to do it. For me, and what it did to me. But, I didn't know I was going to actually do it, if that makes any sense. ... I didn't even think about being in a band, being in a band like that.
*smirk* Take that middle part out of context, and it's very naughty.
About the family friend that was an artist.... ie: Larry Slezak....
He helped us think out of the norm. He helped us think outside of the box. We grew up without tv. We grew up without all the typical stuff kids grow up with, like dolls, like GI Joe dolls. Stuff like that. ... We had our imagination. He introduced us to art, to painting. We made our own canvases and painted on them. We made our Halloween clothes. And we were really poor as well. So, we didn't really have a choice, but we didn't know that. ... But to a kid, I was like "yeah, I'm going to paint, this is amazing, this is beautiful". So, he helped us learn to express ourselves through the arts. And that's carried on to this present day.
Awwwwww. *pictures the boys painting, clothes all covered with paint*
Early efforts at writing music....
We didn't know we were writing, though. We were just putting down ideas, on a tape recorder. That's what we were doing. "Oh, that's sounds cool, let's get that down." We didn't really know what we were going to do with that. I think we did know deep down. But we didn't really know, we didn't know on top of it.
Q: What attracted you to this kind of music? (paraphrased)
I have no idea, man. I really ... Seriously, I don't know. We do what we do. We like what we like. We write what we write. We just kinda do what we.... We don't really think about what's going to be on the radio, what we should write on the radio, or what video we should make so people with watch it, or Mtv as a thing, or wtf. We don't really fucking really deal with that.
Jared's celebrity status and getting signed....
Well, this is the deal. We were signed and no one knew who Jared was when we were signed. Umm, we didn't tell them. They just listened to our music and they saw us live. And they were like, "wait a minute, this guy looks familiar, blah blah blah". But still didn't get it. We met with everybody, then they figured it out. But it wasn't about that. And it's never been about that. Our first album, we toured our ass off in front of anybody. We toured with anybody. Whenever. Just whenever, however, whatever. We just did it. We wanted the music to speak for itself. So we made a video, supporting that. We weren't really in the video. It was conceptual. We didn't do that much press. We wanted to let the music to speak for itself. And we accomplished that goal. We definitely accomplished it. This isn't a hobby for my brother. He's an artist. ... He's a true artist. This is just another way for him to express himself. And that's it. That's really... And whether you like the music or not. You come see our show. Ok, you may not be into it, whatever. But you'll leave going like, "wow, there's something going on though".
That's cool that they even got signed independent of Jared's celebrity status.
Is this the video with Jared's dog in it? Where you saw their tattoos and Shannon's face at the end?
Songwriting...
It could start with a drum beat. It could start with guitar melody. It could start with lyrics. It could start with a melody ... Jared's voice. It could start from whatever. And then it happens. Jared writes all the songs. I play all the drums. And whoever has an idea brings it to the table. If it works, great. If it doesn't, we move on. ... Jared's highly highly passionate about music, so he's always writing.
On the first album being "wrapped around the head" vs ABL being "wrapped around the heart", as Jared would say....
I mean our first record. For me it was an organic process. The first record was everything that I'd experienced in my whole life up to that point. It was heady; it was cerebral. The first record. There was a lot going on. Many layers. So that was everything that I went through in my whole life. I expressed it through that album. It was a natural thing. There's no more... There is a three year difference, as opposed to many more years, many years making the first one. So I only had three years of experience up to that point. So things were more spread out for me in my life. And things were more raw, more stripped down, more to the point.
Fascinating. Story of their lives, quite literally.
Not the original point of typing all this up, but I found myself concentrating on Shannon's voice. Not his voice itself, but how he expresses himself. That voice. *g* It's rare that we get to hear so much from him without baby brother interrupting. *g*
I love hearing Shannon's voice. He's less polished than Jared. More raw. More pauses, more "umms", and things of that sort. But he also has this great rhythm in his speech. He repeats things in a very rhythmic way. See the red highlighting. He also throws emphasis on key words in the middle of sentences. Fascinating to listen to.
There really is something yin-yang about Jared and Shannon. But I guess things would never work if you had two Jareds, perish the thought. *g* It's just fascinating to me that the older brother is the follower.
P.S. http://www.mediafire.com/?mrhf56axs16yet6