Feature: Waxy Shellac And The Tasteless Apples Decodes ‘Shelf Life’
How does 'Shelf Life' reflect your musical journey and growth as an artist?
I have been writing for 40 years, and while some of these songs were written in the past 6 months (“Hard to Love” and “The Aryan” Song), others were written in the mid 80's. Back then, I wrote some silly songs, and some more straightforward rock songs. For this record, on at least 3 songs (“I'm Not Sure,” “Change of Plans,” and “Thousand Things”) I added instrumental intros. We also tried our best to put a unique intro on each song so it would not sound like such a homogeneous album, and the listener would be more willing to be surprised every 5 minutes! I played 75% of the guitar, 95% of the bass, all the drums and keyboards and lead vocals, and brought in 2 lead guitarists to shred, 3 backing vocalists and a sax player. All parts were played in real-time on real instruments by real people. No sequences or “beats”. Those things are very important to me.
Was there any challenge that you encountered while making 'Shelf Life?'
Beyond scheduling supporting artists to come in, and the delays that brought, and substituting our producer for another guitarist who had family challenges, the recording went smoothly. One challenge was that there were 2 drum sessions for the 13 songs, just 2 days apart, and I felt I may have played some similar drum fills on a few different songs, whereas if I'd have had time to let the parts marinate a bit, I would have come back a few weeks later with some more unique ideas. But I'm nitpicking-it was pretty smooth!
What has been one of your most favorite memories along the path to making 'Shelf Life?'
When I laid down the scratch guitar and vocal tracks, my producer Joe Clapp, who had recorded me playing drums and percussion for 5 different artists in his studio for the prior year, and who had heard me play keys and guitar for our Stevie Nicks tribute on his soundstage, and recorded audio and video of our Jimi Hendrix tribute for which I played drums as well, had no idea what my original music sounded like. We rolled tape and I saw his eyes light up as he got more excited about the music and lyrics, and volunteered to play a few parts if I needed them. That was a special and validating moment!
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Take the music seriously, don't take yourself too seriously. If you're pissed off about something try and turn it into a humorous and more universal take if you can. “I'm On The Bench” is actually about politics, not baseball, if you listen closely. I wrote a punky song called “The Date Song” several years ago (not on this album), which was about having a dictator for a bandleader, but I turned it into a bad date song because it was more relatable. For more listeners—not all of us play in bands! Also, I try not to force the material-there's enough to write about If I allow myself to feel things.
Can you share a standout moment from one of your live performances that you'll never forget?
My prior band Free Range, which was a 4 piece that played my originals for several years, did a live recording in Feb 2020 called “HULLO! Live at the C Note”. It's on YouTube under “Free Range Selfie 2020”. We got 4 good tracks mixed out of the 13 we played that night, and I'm still working on a good mix of about 5 others. But for some reason, my band started out with a country-tinged song (called “The Country Song”) with a swing rhythm rather than a straight-ahead rock beat as I had written and as we had rehearsed it. I fought them with my playing and my body language for the entire first verse, and finally gave in and played the rest of the song with the swing rhythm on my guitar. That was the song that the MOST people danced to all night! So sometimes you just never know, and you need to go with the flow!
