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July 7th, 2008
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A good Shellacking

An analog band holds fast in a digital world
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April 30th, 2008 issue

By Patrick Sisson

COURTESY PHOTO
Albini has carved out a unique niche on both sides of the mic, as Shellac's frontman and an indie record producer.
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Shellac


When: Monday, May 5 at 7:30
Where: Palác Akropolis
Tickets: 510 Kč, available through Ticketpro and at the venue
For the Post
“Whenever I talk to a band about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking about them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about 4feet wide and 5 feet deep, maybe 60 yards long, filled with runny, decaying shit. I imagine these people … at one end of the trench.”
This infamous quote about the record industry, written by Shellac guitarist and front man Steve Albini in Baffler magazine in 1993, might lead one to conclude he’s bitter about music. Composed at the height of the music industry’s mid-’90s period of Roman splendor and decadence, before digital technology helped bring about its current fall, the statement still rings true.
But, while Albini may be notorious, cited in the past for being blunt and confrontational, he and his bandmates are certainly anything but bitter. An institution in American indie rock, the Chicago trio, which includes drummer Todd Trainer and bassist Bob Weston, plays blistering, punk-influenced riffs, often sounding abrasive and jagged, as if the notes were being cut from steel with a rusty hacksaw.
More importantly, Albini does it independently, with serious but not sanctimonious passion and a sense of humor, having carved outits own unique niche in the music world. In many senses more craftsmen than stars, Weston and Albini are both highly respected producers and recording engineers — Albini runs the Electrical Audio studio in Chicago — and analog believers in a digital world. Shellac’s vinyl releases, like last year’s Excellent Italian Greyhound (named after Trainer’s dog), come packaged with a CD, begging listeners to compare sound quality.
Seeing them on stage, bitter is the last thing that comes to mind. Albini shouts quirky and sarcastic lyrics into the mic with his guitar uniquely strapped around his waist. The lanky Trainer strikes and flails at his kit like he’s losing his grip on more than his drumsticks, and Weston chugs away on bass and deadpans with the audience between songs, all while the green lights of the group’s custom-made amps glow in the background.
Shellac formed in 1992, and ever since has been described as a part-time endeavor or even hobby by the members of the band. They tour and record sporadically (Excellent Italian Greyhound came out seven years after the previous album, 1000 Hurts) for the fiercely independent-minded label Touch & Go. Despite Shellac’s on-and-off again schedule, they make a point to stage very individual performances. The band once performed a series of 18-and-under concerts in Chicago and passed out Pop Tarts to the crowd. They dressed up like the Sex Pistols for a Halloween show, and played at the low-cost Independent Music Festival with Fugazi in Chicago in 1998.
If that doesn’t satisfy the standard definition of indie cred, the group’s two engineers also boast impressive recording résumés. Albini has worked on albums by groups ranging from The Pixies, Jesus Lizard, Nirvana and the recently reformed Stooges to iconoclast and harpist Joanna Newsom, while Weston became a member of the reformed Boston post-punk legends Mission of Burma when they reformed in 2002.
Ultimately, it’s Shellac’s serious/not-serious stance — eschewing the pomposity and industry trappings that grip many musicians, and instead making music at their own pace to satisfy personal passion — that has sustained the band for 15 years. Ironically, even as the move toward digital recording puts pressure on analog studios to make money, Albini maintains that it’s a great time to be in a band. Especially if you have the passion and conviction of Shellac.
Patrick Sisson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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