Shiner formed in 1992 and soon found themselves signed to DeSoto
Records, (owned by Jawbox’s Kim Coletta and Bill Barbot). The band
began a creative high and a busy touring schedule that endured for
years, with their final album in 2001 The Egg a critical success.
Pitchfork said, “Shiner's six-string bloodletting beats the crap out
of anything you'll hear on commercial FM these days" and All Music
noted, "The songs themselves bask in an epic splendor, replete with
the kind of arrangements that reward repeat listenings" Along the way
countless tours of the US, Europe and Japan, and 4 full-length albums
gave them a fiercely loyal set of diehards. Comparisons with their
contemporaries of HUM, Jawbox, Failure, and Swervedriver were
unavoidable, but Shiner carved a path of their own with a dedication
to song-craft and musicianship wrapped in darkly sugared hooks. Shiner
broke up in 2002 but 10-years later re-released The Egg on vinyl and
played sold-out shows in New York, LA, KC and Chicago. Those were some
of their biggest shows ever and many in the audience were new to the
Shiner fanclub. In 2018 the 4 of them - drummer Jason Gerken, bass
player Paul Malinowski and guitarists Allen Epley and Josh Newton
decided they were not quite finished, there was another life for
Shiner they could not ignore. After a few recording sessions that took
place over a year and a half, the band have emerged with 8 solid songs
that make up Schadenfreude. The LP was self-produced, engineered, and
mixed at Malinowski’ own Massive Sound studio in Shawnee, KS.
“We've always been extremely hands-on, even when working with
someone else technically ‘producing,’” says Newton, “with The
Egg we ended up remixing and adding things to almost half the record
on our own. At this stage in our existence, we know what we should
sound like.” Despite the hiatus, Shiner have not missed a beat
Gerken is still a drummer's drummer and his heavy right foot is tied
to Malinowski's distorted-symphony bass. Epley and Newton hew left and
right in the mix and worked in lockstep counterpoint throughout the
proceedings and leave room for the vocals to enter the mix without
overtaking, and instead working as a whole within the strings and
skins. The songs on Schadenfreude are not so much an answer to The Egg
as some properly timed follow up might, but instead stand on their
own. It’s the sound of a 4 piece band with each player finding his
place in a book as though he just left the room an hour earlier and
picked up on the next paragraph upon return. Epley says, “a lot of
themes on the album are pretty dark but always with a silver lining
around the edges. The title itself is a commentary on the most common
human trait of enjoying your rivals' demise. Or your apparent
enemies.” After their extended break from the studio and life on the
road Shiner is once again looking forward with the May 8 release of
Schadenfreude and a North American tour planned for 2020.
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28/05/2020 Last update