Music Interview with Shaken
Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Music Artist/Band of The Week:
January 24, 2010 - January 30, 2010
By: Isaac Davis Jr., BGS, MBA
Our Webzine is enjoying the spiritual message that Shaken is giving to their fan especially showing others that the band has a strong faith, love, and devotion to our Lord. This is the driving force behind the band’s passion to minister to others through their music. One of the biggest appeals to the band's music is that Shaken takes Heavy Metal/Hard Rock to a new spiritual level without losing the hard edge of Heavy Metal that music fans will find refreshing. Here is what formulated from our online conversation with Shaken.
Isaac: What are you currently up to?
Shaken: We are currently playing as many spot shows as possible to support our new album "You and Yours," as well as writing new music, and general promo to get ourselves out there.
Isaac: When you compose a song where do you get your ideas from and how does a song evolve?
Shaken: Generally, our songs start out with a single riff that may have been influenced by something we heard or saw. We all listen to a very broad range of bands, so we have a wide variety of influences. The influence from a riff could come from anything from a pop song, to a heavy metal song, and when something catches our attention, the gears of our mind instantly begin working on writing a riff "Shaken Style." With that one riff written, we will sit down and tweak it, and begin adding on to it with a chorus, bridge etc, eventually structuring and producing it into a new song.
Isaac: What are the rewards and challenges about being in a band?
Shaken: One of the biggest challenges of being a band is the fact that you have to have five people from completely different backgrounds that live completely different lifestyles all on the same page with each other. This means that all of your schedules, goals, and commitment levels pretty much have to match up if it is going to work out. We are very fortunate in this area due to the fact that Shaken was our first band for the most part, and we have been in this band for nearly seven years now, so we are very comfortable with our roles in the band.
The Rewards of being a band are endless. Sure, it is a lot of hard work, but the fact that we are able to do something that we are all very passionate about together is rewarding enough. This is compounded when other people actually enjoy what we do, and also when something that we can say or do helps someone out. God has changed our lives through this band, and we pray that He can use it to change others lives just as it did ours.
Isaac: What tracks does the band most enjoy performing live and why?
Shaken: We enjoy playing our entire set live, but I think general consensus on favorite live songs would be Mirror Mirror and Ventrilofriend. These songs are very passionate and higher energy so it is easier to move around to them on stage.
Isaac: What do you think SHAKEN need to do to gain more exposure and fans? Has the Internet helped spread the word about the band and its music?
Shaken: As far as exposure, we should be taking any means necessary to put ourselves in front of people, and allow our music and live show to speak for itself. In order to do this, we must use all of the resources available for promo, both online, and face-to-face, which means having a strong Internet presence as well as playing live as often as possible.
Isaac: Could you take us through some highlights of the first studio EP, 'You and Yours'?
Shaken: You and Yours was a big transition for us. The first six years or so of our music career were spent touring and playing the underground metal/hardcore scene, which was a great learning experience, but now that we’ve grown older and more mature, we made the decision to go back to our roots and try something a little different. We wanted to write music influenced by the bands that made us want to be musicians in the first place, so that is what we did. Much of this record is very trial and error, but we are proud of the outcome. Some of our favorite tracks include Mirror Mirror, The Feeling, and Ventrilofriend, which are songs that were written toward the end of the process, and ones we feel best represent our new direction as a band. If you like what you hear on “You and Yours,” be sure to keep up with us, as we are currently working on tracking brand new material that you will surely enjoy as well!
Isaac: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Shaken: We are all pretty much best friends, so we enjoy much of the same interests. Some of these include video games, firearms, and movies. We just like to hang out and have some fun. Shaken is something that consumes much of our time, yet we all thoroughly enjoy the tasks that come along with it.
Isaac: Message to your fans?
Shaken: Thank all of you for sticking with us, and supporting us for however long you have known of us. We hope to continue giving you guys our best for years to come, and we hope to see you soon!
Isaac: Final Thoughts...
Shaken: Thank you Isaac for the interview, and we’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and be looking out for Shaken in 2010!
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