Shannon and the Clams is one of those rare groups that has really stuck to their own sound despite the vast changes that happen in music everyday. In the day and age of synthesizers and EDM music, it is refreshing to listen to a band like Shannon and the Clams who borrow influences from as early a 1950’s doo-wop and 1980s punk rock.
Since 2009, they have released 4 albums, all of which have been studio albums. Now, almost three years after their album Gone by the Dawn, Shannon and the Clams have announced on December 7th that they will be releasing their new album Onion on February 16th. The album will be released through Dan Auerbach’s record label Easy Eye Sound.
In support of their album, Shannon and the Clams have released a new video for their single “The Boy” via Vice’s Noisey. Check the video out below. Similar to their music in the past, the video clearly exhibits the sound that the Clams are known for: their beautiful swooning doo-wop with the playing styles of Buddy Holly, a truly beautiful song that allows the listener to feel the love and emotions of vocalist and guitarist Cody Blanchard. Towards the end, the band seems to briefly join the 1960s realm adding some badass old-school synthesizer like a 1960s garage band. Unlike the song, the video seems to go in a different direction, borrowing psych-pop video influences and using it as their own in a visually stunning and golden-boy-type-video. You can also get the download for “The Boy” if you pre-order the album here. Don’t forget to check out our review for their last studio album Gone by the Dawn.
Amazingly enough the album was only recorded over a ten day period in Dan Auerbach’s Nashville studio. Blanchard states that Auerbach’s recording process is very layered. Unlike some producers who will use one room and switch instruments in and out, Auerbach has all instruments hooked up at all times so as to add layers in a quicker fashion.
According to their press release, Oakland-band Shannon and the Clams began writing for Onion back in the Fall of 2016 just after their world shook due to the Oakland Ghost Ship Warehouse fire in December. If one listens to “The Boy” closely, there is an air of sadness in the love they sing about.
Shannon and the Clams will also be going on tour as openers for Dan Auerbach’s “Easy Eye Sound Revue Tour”. The Clams will be playing on the twenty-date tour, beginning in North America. Tickets are available now! Get them here.
The current lineup for Shannon and the Clams is Shannon Shaw (vocals, bass), Cody Blanchard (vocals, guitar), Nate Mahan (vocals, drums), and WIll Sprott (vocals, keyboards). Shaw and Blanchard met in school at the California College of the Arts and began performing together as a duo. However, by 2009 Shannon and Blanchard had a fully formed quartet under the name Shannon and the Clams. Soon after they released their first studio album I Wanna Go Home. Their newly released single “The Boy” has already has a large number of positive reception from the likes of Noisey, Rolling Stone, and Paste Magazine. Paste states that “The Boy” “deftly blends the joyful escape musically with the weighty emotional journey of the lyrics.”
Shannon Shaw also has some insights into the album: “It’s okay for people to interpret the songs,” Shannon Shaw says. “You can put your own story into it if that helps you heal. I just want people to feel something, whatever it is.”
Check out the tracklist for Onion below.
Onion Track Listing
- The Boy
- It’s Gonna Go Away
- Backstreets
- If You Could Know
- I Never Wanted Love
- Onion
- Did You Love Me
- Love Strike
- I Leave Again
- Tryin’
- Tell Me When You Leave
- Strange Wind
- Don’t Close Your Eyes
Photo credit to Marisa Rose Ficara
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