| On Tour with The Shys |
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| Written by Emily Ackerman | |
| Monday, June 25 2007 | |
 I was sitting at my computer under the buzzing fluorescent lights waiting for four ‘o’ clock when I’d be on the road—wind in my hair—heading for Long Beach to meet up with The Shys, a San Clemente rock band that plays raw and melodic music that incorporates classic rock as well as contemporary sounds. Although The Shys formed in 2004, bassist Alex Kweskin and singer Kyle Krone met as wee tots in grade school and later befriended guitarist Chris Wulff, who moved to San Clemente while the three were teenagers. Together they formed two high school bands, Hush Hush and Gun Shy, which evolved into The Shys. Their first LP, Astoria, was released in 2006 by Sire Records, and their single, “Call in the Calvary,” appeared on the HBO series Entourage. Soon after the album release, The Shys toured with The Killers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Subways and Colour.Now the band was back in San Clemente relaxing and touring around small venues in California. Tonight they’d be performing at a small dive bar and restaurant called, The Prospector. I guess the best way to describe the place is to tell you about the game the photographer and I played a couple miles from the destination. Changing the classic Jeff Foxworthy phrase, “You know you’re a redneck when…” to “You know you’re in the ghetto when…” we passed the time by one-upping each other with the sights we were witnessing outside our window. “You know you’re in the ghetto when your lawn is concrete slabs,” or “the most common house colors are turquoise and orange.” Once inside, I saw the bar was fashioned like an old-style saloon while the only discernable light glowed from the various neon beer signs. Kweskin sat at the end of the bar watching the TV. I found out that he would be our welcoming committee until the rest of the band got here; with difficulty, Kweskin attempted to make small talk while focusing on the NBA championship game on the set behind the bar. When the rest of the band arrived around a half hour later, they looked proficient in the rock and roll lifestyle. They had decided to take the metro from Hollywood to Long Beach, but after taking hours just to reach downtown LA, they made a detour to The Standard for some drinks. They all were buzzed when I met them at the bar. Krone went in to hug Kweskin, whispering he was drunk and had already had four shots of tequila. After the whispers, Krone stood up and shook my hand. He wasn’t what I expected. Wearing nearly all black with a respectable haircut an IRS agent or rock star could don proudly, he introduced himself with a clear crisp voice. Wulff greeted us next. Taller than the rest of gang, he had an orb of curly brown hair and a welcoming smile. He seemed like the guy you could call to help fix a leaky sink or carry your groceries up a flight of stairs—a good boy that probably loves his grandmother. .jpg) We all sat down at the back table in the quirky restaurant section of the establishment. There were kitschy paintings of cowboys and Texas plains, as well as whips and spurs hanging from the brickwork. I came in a little later than the band, and they quickly quieted when I sat down. Krone tried to return to their previous discussion, but Kweskin feigned ignorance; it was clear they were discussing something they didn’t want a journalist, and more likely a woman, to hear. One of the main things I wanted to ask them was how they felt about all the comparisons they receive from the critics and the press. In almost every interview I read, the only way reviewers seemed capable of reviewing the garage rock outfit, was by similes: “They’re like The Who meets The Rolling Stones with some Iggy Pop mixed in for good measure.” They can’t even escape from modern day comparisons. In the article, “South by Southwest Turns Twenty,” Rolling Stone termed The Shys “The Best Alternative to Jet.”  Krone quickly countered, “I think it’s boring. It’s a short cut to writing more about how that actual person felt about the record.” Kweskin added, “Most of the people that write about it; they’re just bloggers and shit.” About the Jet comments, Kweskin explained: “I don’t really like Jet personally. If it sounds like Jet to people, then it sounds like Jet to people. But to us, it doesn’t really sound like that.” As Kweskin continued, I could see Krone in the corner of my eye growing uneasy, staring at the tablecloth. He soon chimed in, “Really at the end of the day, who cares, really? It doesn’t really matter what they say cause you’re still who you are. They can say whatever they want; it’s fine. I don’t think any of that stuff really bothers us at all. We’re too busy having a good time.” Since so many reviewers found it necessary to qualify the band, I decided to find out what they considered to be their influences. Surprisingly, Krone was more influenced by contemporary music than any classic rock bands. “My influences lately have been my friends and contemporaries, actually, like The Delta Spirit, our other friends The Cold War Kids, bands that we don’t know, but are still contemporaries of ours, I guess, like Jack White, Arcade Fire, Richard Swift. Stuff like that—stuff from young people doing good art, basically. I mean we’ve always had a very traditionalist sense in our band. We’ve always listened to a lot of old music,” he explains.  Right now the band is building a studio in San Clemente and recording brand-new material. “Well this new record will be a lot different than the first one because the last one we did, Astoria, was pretty much written before we went in, except for a few songs. This new one we’re just going to write it all together and spend time on it and not do it till we’re ready. And we’re just going to do it completely collectively,” Krone states. I asked if they were experimenting with new instruments and styles, and there were instant yes’s. Krone was the first to reply, “Definitely, we’re switching up instruments and bringing in some new instruments that we haven’t used before and kind of seeing where that takes us.” Wulff chimed in, “There’s a lot of things that have changed since the last record as far as who’s doing what in the band and the line up because then it was just the four of us, and now it’s five of us. Now Alex is playing bass. I’m starting to play keyboards, and I played bass then so there’re, so a lot of things that have changed. We got a new drummer—Tony Cupito on drums, Riley on the keys.” The dinner ends, and everyone had turned lethargic and silly from all the steaks and burgers. We all go outside so the photographer can snap some shots. The guys line up against one of the murals, one looking straight on; another cracking jokes; and Krone doing his best job to hide his semi-famous face with hair and hands. It’s strange to be with these young men on the cusp of fame. They’ve gotten a taste of success and they’re ready for more. .jpg) The show kicks off around midnight and the crowd huddles closer to the stage. The band tests the mics by repeating, “syphilis,” several times. Soon after, they break out into high-octane guitar rock that gets everyone moving. It’s at this point I realize these guys not only appear like rock stars with their clothing, sarcasm and crazy tales of groupies and tour buses, but also are bonafide musicians who play music that eschews the hype and comparisons and gets to the point: great rock and roll. I asked the guys where they’d be right now if they weren’t rock musicians, and it took them all a moment to think. Krone answered first, “Probably sad, because this is the only thing I’ve been doing for the past three years.” Wulff tried to add a little comedy to the situation, addressing Kweskin, “Playing in a bad cover band with you and me in the Virgin Islands wearing Hawaiian T-shirts with flowers.” Kweskin laughed and added, “Drinking Mai-Tais.” Let’s hope that’s not the case for a long while because for The Shys, it’s only the beginning. Photos by Carli Rosenbaum Comments
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