by Sam Beresky
Daily Lobo
Being compared to timelessly amazing groups like Simon and Garfunkle and even the Beach Boys would probably throw any band into an ego-induced trip of rock-and-roll clichÇs like wild sex and drugs, but not local act The Shins.
The Shins have been compared to greats like Modest Mouse and Sunny Day Real Estate and it's probably pretty flattering. Remember though, when The Shins formed in 1992, nobody really cared.
Back then, the band was called Flake and soon after, Flakemusic. That magic rock-and-roll roller coaster began when band members changed instruments, attitudes and their name to The Shins in 1997.
Successful tours soon followed and eventually a record contract was signed with indie-giant Sub-Pop which is known as the record company that started grunge.
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Pop melodies mixed with indie-rock attitude were brought forth from the four-piece band. The current lineup is: James Mercer on vocals and guitar, Marty Crandall on keyboards, Jessie Sandoval on drums and Dave Hernandez on bass.
In 2001 The Shins released their first major album, Oh, Inverted World! and the hype began. The album made or topped virtually every top-10 list in music magazines and alternative papers around the country. Micheal Henningsen of the Weekly Alibi went as far as proclaiming The Shins were the band everyone had been waiting for.
Following the publicity of the first album, The Shins sold some music for a McDonald's commercial and were invited to play at huge music events like the annual Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle and The Siren Festival on Coney Island, NY.
Once the rise to fame began, The Shins took off. During the 2002 Fall Crawl, The Shins played in front of a very enthusiastic crowd of a few hundred on Fifth Street. One week later, 10,000 people were singing along with them in Seattle's Key Arena.
In our X-Box-attention-span lives, many could possibly ask, what happened to those guys? They were so good last year, what have they been up to lately? Well, quite a bit actually.
Besides selling music to McDonald's, they penned a song for a Gap commercial starring everyone's favorite pretty boy, Ashton Kutcher. Keyboardist Crandall managed to make it onto national television over the summer when he went to visit his girlfriend Elyse who was a contestant on UPN's "America's Next Top Model." She eventually got booted from the show, but not before wearing at least three Shins t-shirts.
There was a small profile of them in Rolling Stone in August and they even managed to get a "favorite recipe" spot in Jane. If they weren't busy enough, they also recorded a new album. Chutes Too Narrow was recorded partially in Mercer's basement and, to some extent, at Avast studios in Seattle with producer Phil Ek. The album will be released Oct. 21.
Can the hype and success continue for our hometown heroes? Sure it can. A full month before the release of Chutes Too Narrow and there is already great press surrounding it.
It seems hard work and persistence has paid off for The Shins and the band has put Albuquerque on the indie-rock map in a very positive way.
Not to worry though, it is still a band we can call our own. The Shins even played a show last night at the Launchpad with the Sweatband and local up-and-comers Oktober People. Look closely and you might see a Shins member at the Frontier some strange morning and not even realize there is a rock star drowning his breakfast burrito in green chile and complaining about the coffee.
