Pap Shirock
If you are looking for a new band to get into this autumn, then look no further than Shirock, as they are set to release their new single I’ll Take The Rain as well as their debut album.
I caught up with Pap to chat about the upcoming UK releases as well as what lies ahead for the rest of the year.
- - I'll Take The Rain is your upcoming singe and will be released here in the UK in October so what can fans expect from this new track?
I’ll Take The Rain is one of the tracks where I sing the female lead on; on a lot of our other songs, Chuck sings leads, or we do a co-lead.
So this is a song that I started writing and Chuck came in and helped me finish it off; some of the songs were he sings more of the lead, he started writing, and I came in and help him.
It is a song that I wrote on the piano, and so it is a piano based, female vocal type song. It is a love song - it is a little bit of a different love song because it is talking about the hard times in a relationship rather than talking about the wonderful first phase (laughs).
- You released Still Young earlier this summer, and this is the follow up so how are you finding the UK response to your music so far?
It has been really great, actually. We got to come over last fall and go to some of the radio stations that were picking up the single. It was really cool to see that there were some radio stations really getting into the music and supporting us.
More recently with Still Young we had some placements at some of the football stadiums where the music was being played during games. It has also been picked up by quite a few different stores such as Foot Locker. So it has been a really positive response.
We had a lot of fun when we were over there playing some acoustic shows and visiting some of those stations. It has been good.
- This is the second track to be lifted off your debut UK album so how do these tracks introduce us to the rest of this record?
I think it rounds it our really nicely because the other tracks that we have released are a little more rocky - I wouldn’t say heavier necessarily but more guitar driven.
The whole album is a really nice balance of guitar driven, keyboard driven tracks, there are some a bit more male vocal led, and others more female vocal led.
I think I’ll Take The Rain rounds out the first two singles well as is more keyboard driven and there are more of my vocals in there and there is more of a sensitive side in this next record.
So I think when you have heard these three tracks you will get a picture of what the rest of the record is going to be like; it is a mix of songs like all of those three.
- Well, that does lead me into my next question. UK audiences will be coming to your music for the first time with this album so how would you describe your sound - it is not the type of sound that you expect from a band based Nashville?
It is true. Chuck and I have been in Nashville for a while now, but we are not from Nashville. Neither of us grew up with the more country, bluegrass or folky sound; we both actually grew up all over the place.
Our music is more of an alternative pop/rock mix. It is a mix between guitars, keyboards and a lot of synth sounds. A lot of bands from the nineties really influenced us such as Depeche Mode, The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead; our music is influenced a lot by that stuff.
Sometimes I call it ‘pretty rock’ as it is not heavy in anyway - the keyboard keeps it softer and prettier.
When we are writing songs, we really just go for really great melodies, and we like a song to exactly where we want it to go when we first hear it. We don’t try to do something different or strange just for the sake of it; we just let it go where it goes.
- The album is produced by Jay Ruston so how did that collaboration come about?
We had produced some demos on our own, and we were really looking for a producer to produce the album. So we started researching some albums that we really loved to find out who had mixed them and produced them.
Because we had at least co-produced some of the demos that we had done we wanted to find a producer that was really strong on the mixing side. Right away, we were seeing Jay’s name come up as being a really great mix engineer, but also a producer.
We visited a few different producers and a couple of different places around the country such as Atlanta, Seattle and LA. When we met Jay right away we could tell that we were on the same page, and that we would work well together.
He really caught the vision of what we were trying to do and wanted to see that push forward, rather take it and mould into what he wanted. He is a very talented mixer, and I think that that was one of the main things that drew us to him. I think he did a really great job with the mixing and the producing for this album.
- How does the song-writing process work within the band - is there one main writer or is it very much a collaborative effort?
It is very much a collaborative effort. Both Chuck and I are always writing and coming up with ideas. So what usually happens is one of us will come up with an idea and, in the moment, will get it all out on our own as much as is coming to us in that moment.
When we have got the basis of it going, we will go to the other person and say ‘here is a new song idea I am working on, let's work on it together’. So we will sit down at the piano together and Chuck might grab a guitar, and we will just start working it through.
Usually whoever started the song and came up with the idea will end up being the lead vocal on it and the other person will do the harmonies. We really do all the lyric writing and all of that very collaboratively.
I really like having a partner in writing. Some people end up doing a lot of co-writing with other artists or producers, but it is nice that we do have that built in (laughs).
- So where did your love of music start? And what bands/artists were you listening to as you were growing up?
Chuck and I both grew up listening to different kinds of music when we were first getting into music on our own. I grew up listening to a lot of classical music, but also some classic rock from the fifties, sixties and seventies.
Once we each got into our own music, we were listening to a lot of nineties stuff as there were so many great bands around at that time.
We fell in love with artists such as Nirvana, Radiohead, The Cranberries, U2, Peter Gabriel, Depech Mode - there are quite a few different one and a wide range of artists.
I continued to listen to classical music as well as I played classical piano. So it was a mix of a lot of different stuff.
- When did you meet Chuck? And how did the band come about?
We met between Chuck’s eleventh and twelfth grade year in high school. We met that summer; I had graduated a year early and was leaving for a year to be an exchange student in Ecuador. We met that summer at a youth conference, and we had this immediate connection.
We have very different personalities - I think a bit of that opposites attract thing was happening - but we had a very similar base of values of things that we really love; we started talking about our passion for music right away.
We kept in touch the whole year that I was away in Ecuador; he called me more than my parents did (laughs). We started dating when I got home the next year.
At the time, we were both working on our own music and working on our own songs; Chuck was really writing a lot where as I was just writing some poetry and continuing to play piano.
But as he started to work more and more on his music, it was natural for him to be sharing with everything that he was doing with me, and I would give ideas here and there for songs.
So, we just naturally started working together. When he started to play out shows, it was just natural that I would play piano, and then I started singing. So it really just kept on evolving from there.
- With the album on the horizon in October are there any plans to come over to the UK and play some shows?
Yes, there are. We have had our name put in for quite a few tours in the fall. So we are hoping to come over really soon and we are really excited about as we have really loved the time that we have spent over there. We are definitely ready to come back (laughs).
- As well as music you are also a model, so how do you find balancing the two sets of commitments?
They are very different. The modelling thing is quite new for me, and it is something that I just fell in. I started doing things for friends who had fashion lines, and I began becoming a little more interested in it and was having fun doing it. It is definitely a balance.
They are in the same realm as they are both very creative fields; in a way, you are performing when you are modelling. I really love to be doing something that is creative but is totally different from the music.
I can go and meet new people and be in a whole different world, but when I come back I have fresh inspiration for writing music.
I am very committed to Shirock and what we are doing so it is something that I am not pushing as hard as I would if we didn’t have the band. So it is definitely a balance of both to those.
- Finally, what is coming up next for you?
This year we are working on a lot of new music that we are really excited about. As I said we are hoping to come over to the UK to do some touring over there as the album comes out. When we are not doing that we are going to be working on some new songs.
We are really excited to continue to put out new music over here, but also in the UK. It is going to be a mix of both of those.