MN Music Note - Ep 27 - From Air Guitar to Real Stages with Shad Christensen

From air guitar in the mirror to sold-out local shows, this is what happens when passion turns into obsession.

In this episode, Shad Christensen shares his journey from teaching himself guitar by ear to leading multiple bands, including Seattle Rain and his acoustic project, Shevin. What started as a last-minute acoustic gig quickly turned into a growing demand, proving that raw energy and authenticity always win.

We dive into how he builds his sound, recreates the 90s grunge experience, and why having the right people in your band matters just as much as talent.

In this episode, we get into:

•  How it all started with air guitars and figuring it out by ear 
•  The story behind his acoustic project and how it unexpectedly took off 
•  What goes into creating a true 90s grunge experience live 
•  Why band chemistry matters more than just talent 
•  How small opportunities can turn into something way bigger 

If you are part of the music scene or have a story to share, hit us up and come be part of the conversation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Well, uh y introduce yourself to the audience. I know who you are, but maybe they don't.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

I'm Shad Christensen. I've got three bands. Seattle Rain. The uh um Nirvana tribute, Sentless Apprentice. We haven't really done much with that one yet, but it's basically a subset of the stuff we do with Seattle Rain, because we do uh eight, nine Nirvana songs in a full night show. So and then I've got the newer uh acoustic project called Chevin. Oh, I had to come along with it. Such a fun name. I love it, man. Well, the way that came to be, do you know how that band came to be?

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I don't. I don't Kevin's actually, I would say, one of my favorite people that I've met out in this local community, and he's really, I think, the guy that kind of brought me in and introduced me to everybody. So yeah, I like him a lot, but I have no idea how the band came together.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Yeah, Kevin, Kevin, so Kevin Sundberg, um, you know, plays in shredding flannel and and uh drummer, and uh he scheduled a show at Omni Brewery.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Uh out in uh uh Victoria. And he got the show scheduled, but he didn't have a band. It was just him. So so he scheduled like a six to eight deal, you know, on a Thursday night. And uh that place is great. I mean, beer and great pizza and everything out there, and anyway, so he's scheduled to do a show, just him. And uh so he's like he approached me, he's like, Hey, you want to do an acoustic show at Omniburn? And I'm like, I've never done acoustic stuff before, other than you know, I got an old acoustic that I bring out around the campfire once in a while. Okay, you know, so really that was a whole new thing for you as well, huh? Yeah, so I was like, Oh, okay. What's you know, so I threw together a list of songs and we kind of collaborated, come up with a list of songs of you know, classic rock stuff of Petty and Eagles and 90s acoustic versions of 90s stuff. There's some acoustic versions of you know Skid Row and Poison and and Limp Biscuit and all kinds of stuff like that. So um, and so we put that together and you know, cobbled together some kind of you know a PA system that I had with a mixer and some monitors and went and played the show, it was fantastic. I mean, the place was every table was filled, and and it was a great show, people loved it. And um, so then we did another show there, and we did one up at Casarillo, and that one was fantastic. That was a Friday night, yeah. Friday or was it Saturday night? I think it was a Saturday night show. Anyway, um, I was a little concerned about an acoustic show on a Friday night night. Yeah. What's the draw gonna be like? And it was great. Is that right? We had a great we played, we were the first ones to play um Mike, the owner up there at Casarillo. Mike and Pamela. They put in a brand new fold down stage, so they have two stages there now. Bigger one in back. We've played Seattle Rain on that one, but okay. Um, we were the first ones to play on that new fold down stage. Beautiful black stage says Cossa After Dark music across the stage. It's got some fold outs to put speaker stands and everything. Okay, and it was great. And uh since then, now we've got I don't know, we got like five, seven shows scheduled coming up and several Seattle Rain shows, and and uh so it's all kind of taking off and we're having a we're having a blast.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

People like it, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty cool, man. I mean, how do you how do you guys get by without the bass player?

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Well, uh you know, it's different. I mean, it's it's not like uh you know your typical acoustic show, a couple guys on stools putting people to sleep. I mean, it's it's like an acoustic rock show. Okay. I mean, I'm standing up playing. Yeah, and uh he's on the kids. There's drums, yeah. He's on the kid. Keeps the beat full. He keeps the beat full. And you know, some of those songs, some of those famous acoustic songs don't have any drums or anything in them. You know, they're just an acoustic guy singing. So we've added drums to those, you know, some subtle un you know, atmospheric stuff in the background that he's doing like like what?

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Like like uh name a name a couple tunes that you guys added some drums that don't usually.

SPEAKER_03 4:39

Okay, yeah. You know, that one normally doesn't have drums in it. Yeah, we've added drums to that one, and uh um you know there's some other ones that I can't think of the top of my head, but there's some other ones. Uh maybe yeah, that one's got drums in it.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

But so which one of you is a fantastic whistler? Because you can't do patience without a great whistle. I do the whistling. Do you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:59

I do the whistling. That's kind of unique because if you ever tried to you know whistle into a microphone, it it's kind of hard. So you gotta kind of work at it a little bit. Is that right? And you know, and the mic that I use is uh it's a really high-end Sennheiser uh mic. It's the it's the MD421, whatever it is. It's the one that Dave Grohl uses, it's the one that Prince used, um, several of them, but the thing is very sensitive. I mean, it picks up you know everything, but it really fights feedback. Great mic, but it's you know, you blow around it, you know, it picks that stuff up. So you gotta kind of be you gotta use some t technique to get the patients whistling. And I'm trying to there might be some other songs. We got some whistling in the case.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

That's a song that that Kay and I were were thinking about doing too. So adding to our band. Yeah, we do that one and we'll it's one that you know honestly, not a lot of people do, and it could be because of the whistler, it could just be because it's hard to say, it's it's old enough now that yeah, it is it's one of stuff is one of his tougher songs, the easier stuff to sing, but we do we usually do that and roll right into Used to Lover.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

So we'll do that. Had to killer. Yeah, yeah, used to lover, had to killer. Crowd gets into that one.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

I don't know why, but um same reason we all sit around to watch serial killer movies, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Yeah, yeah. That's what we do. Yeah, that's what Holly and I do. We uh watch murder shows to relax and go to sleep.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

It's funny. There was a meme out there, not to get political at all, but it was basically like I turned off the news and watched serial killer stuff so that I could relax.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Exactly. About the world we live in right now. That's you know, thank thank God for music. Right. Music is the escape. Right. Yeah, music is what brings us all together and leave that stuff at the door. Right. None of that crap, no political crap, none of the stuff the bad stuff's going on in the world. Let's escape for a few hours. Yeah, we played last weekend at the doghouse um with uh Strange Days and nobody. Oh, I remember seeing that. Yeah. I was on the 24th, yeah, Saturday. Yeah. Awesome show. I mean it's super cold out. Yeah. There's other good bands playing in town tonight, but we had a great, great crowd and uh had a blast, and it was just nice to get everybody together and have fun and escape for a few hours and forget about what's happening out here around us.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

But one of the toughest things actually about getting more connected to the local community and knowing musicians is you've got like five friends on any given night playing somewhere, and you have to make the choice about where do you want to spend your time, or is tonight that night you stay home and watch serial killer shows instead.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

So yeah. Yeah, we stayed home last this last weekend. Did you? There were some shows we wanted to go to, but it's just cold and crap's going on, and we just need a night to just sit at home and eat and I feel that, man. Drink some uh THC drinks and relax, watching movies.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Well, whatever you can do to kind of get over that that cold and just get back into the swing of things, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Well, yeah, and you know, the weekend before with that show at the dog house with Strange Days and those guys, that was that was good.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

That was a good what's your next show coming up?

SPEAKER_03 8:12

We've got uh February 21st at Shaw's. Okay. That'll be a full night Seattle rain. Seattle rain, three three one hour plus sets, and we're introducing a bunch of new stuff with that one. So probably have like, I don't know, seven new songs, you know, probably some Rage Against the Machines.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

Hey, I love some rage, man. Some rage too, but favorite song out of our sets are Rage Against the Machines. Yeah, so which one which one are you gonna do? Can you tell us, or is it a surprise for that night?

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Yeah, I'll probably leave that one as a surprise for that night. It'll be rowdy and fair enough.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Rowdy appropriate for the time.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

So yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Um if you've noticed, I get a little rowdy when I have a couple of drinks in me. So I look forward to being there that night.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

That'll it'll be a good one because it'll we'll have that. We're uh I think we're adding some screaming trees. Nice. Um, some old school foo fighters from the first album. Nice, some rock and heavy, yeah, obnoxious stuff. That's our favorites stuff. And of course, we'll be doing a bunch of tool and and uh chili peppers and all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

So yeah, I've seen uh AC working on some tool stuff on he does his little drum videos and stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Yeah, yeah, that was you know, he's just a unbelievable drummer. I mean, he's just he's amazing. He is an amazing musician all around. Um yeah, and you know, singer, and it's just we're we're so fortunate, so lucky to have him. Yeah, you know, the three of us in our band, Brandon, Brandon Ike and Aaron Cole and myself, you know, we couldn't be luckier to have the band we have because they're like brothers to me. That's awesome. We get along so well, we have so much fun playing shows, and there's no drama at all in our band. But yeah, Aaron is just I mean, you know, amazing. And but that one song, Anima from Tool, I was one that uh I was the one song that took him and all of us, you know, a while to live on one because there's just so much stuff going on during that song, and yeah, you know, the ending of it, we're all doing completely different stuff and all in time, and yeah, and then we gotta wrap it all up together, right? At the end. So that one was one that one of our more challenging tunes, but sounds cool live.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

That that particular album, uh, you know, I grew up on that particular album. That's my one of my favorite albums, definitely my favorite band, but the endings of the songs is just like they they really define the endings. You know, we went from I guess like the the the 90s rock era where a lot of bands, it's like the song would just end and you suddenly it's not going anymore. But Tool kind of said, Okay, no, we're gonna we're gonna release every song's an epic, you know, that's got a beginning and a middle and an end to it, which I I really love.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Yeah, they are they're probably you know, that's some of our favorite stuff to do live. It's just you know, the lyrics, the everything that you know, Adam Jones guitar tones and everything is it's it's just they're just so powerful. There's so much emotion and power in those songs, and and uh it's cool guitar tone, and the drums are crazy. The bass, I mean, everything's great on the songs, so they're a lot of fun to do. Lots of layers hard to do as a three-piece, lots of layers. Hard to do, yeah, hard to do as a three-piece, you know, because they're so we're kind of limited in in how many tool songs and which ones we could do because there's some of that stuff where Adam is doing a lot with the guitars, and you're gonna be able to sing over the top of that as well, which is man all stuff with the vocals. I mean, yeah. So, but yeah, that's that's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Cool. Oh, so um I I got a question for you. Shad is not a common name. Do you know what the story is behind where your name came from? I do.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

Okay, it's very complicated. It was 1972. My dad liked the name Chad, but there were too many of them. Okay, and that is the reason he gave me.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Really?

SPEAKER_03 12:23

He said, I like the name Chad, there were too many of them, so we switched it up, went with Chad.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

Well, there's definitely not too many Chads out there. I don't know that I don't know that I've ever I don't know that I've ever met another one. You have a couple in your hometown. I actually went your dad started the trend, and everybody else said, okay, I'm jumping on this thing.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

Exactly. I I I actually believe it or not, you know, at the New Lana Spicer High School in Spicer, Minnesota. 131 in our graduating class. One of my classmates is Shad Myers. Huh. Who lives up here in the cities? Yeah. So I went to school with another guy named Shad in my same grade out there in a small school. So crazy. And I know the uh, I don't know if he's still there, but the pro at the wild for many years, his name, first name was Shad. Is that right? I never ran it in Randon's some others too as well. But yeah, it's not real common. There's probably 98% of the people I've met in my life when I introduce myself, they go, Oh, Chad. Yeah. I usually spell it. I say it's Shad S-H-A-D.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

So it's not a lisp, it's actually Shad.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

But I get the is it you know, Shad Rek or Shadrag Meshak Nabendigo, you know, is a biblical thing. And I'm like, no, he just didn't. He he liked Chad, but so but I get Shad rap, you know. Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

And mom went along with it, huh? She's like, all right, that's pretty cool. Well, yeah. It's unique. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, you know, when it's sometimes you can define at a very young age that your son is born to be a rock star, and I think your parents just knew that that was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Yeah, it's kind of a funny thing because it's you know, how I got it started was I I always knew I could play. Really? From since I was a little kid. Yeah, it was a weird it was a weird.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Like how how young when you you would you define yourself when you kind of just knew it was gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

You know you're born with long hair and a beard as well.

unknown 14:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, I had longer hair when I was a kid, but it was like white blonde. I mean, it was like cotton candy. Yeah. Um really young, probably um I would say around 1982, probably. 82, 82 to 84. I kind of really I started getting into music. You know, how old would I have been there? I'd have been you know, in 84, I'd been 12 years old. So 10, 12 years old, right around that zone.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

I started getting into um Def Leppard, Van Halen, and uh um do you remember the song that kind of grabbed you one day?

SPEAKER_03 15:16

Well, it was or an album, uh Rock of Ages, Photograph, Hot for the Teacher. Yeah, those are the ones, and some of the Aussie stuff with Randy Rhodes at that time. Yeah. And uh that Motley Crue came on the scene. But when I was young, you know, 10, 12, I I started, I'd watch the music videos, MTV, um, when that first started, I think it was '84 or whatever it was. Something like that, yeah. And I started seeing the you know, the videos and the Def Leopard videos and Phil Collin on there with the black explorer guitar and the you know the British flag shirt, sleeveless shirt. And uh so I got that shirt, the sleeveless shirt, and I started making cardboard guitars. They're right. Yeah, I started making replicas that looked exactly like the ones on the video. So I made a Phil Collin Black, I mean as Explorer, the destroyer. Wow guitar looked exactly like the one he used in the video. I made a Les Paul like Ron Wood from The Rolling Stones, and I had a Flying V. Do you have any pictures of these? These old guitar you created? I do somewhere, you know, there's some pictures of them. Um but you know, I had a another explorer that was like uh was Shankar from uh from uh um what do you call it? Scorpions and uh you know, rock me like a hurricane video when they're in the cage and doing that thing. Um so I made all these guitars and I actually put um uh sewing strings, strings on them. So they have strings on them and everything. Wow. And they were painted, spray paint, and they're painted and and uh frets and all, you know, the whole deal. And so I had about four of them. These replicas I spent hours and hours to make, so they look cool. And then I would listen to those, listen to the albums like Pyromania and everything downstairs on my dad's record player, big stereo system down there. We had this huge glass mirror that was probably well, it was probably eight by six, maybe, and it was leaning up against the wall in our basement, and it was just like a mirror to you know exercise in front of and that sort of thing. Well, I used it for playing the guitars to the music and playing like it was a music video. And so we were air, you know, air guitaring with these little replicate guitars when my friends would come over and we do that all the time. So we act like we're in the video, so we'd be back to back, you know, playing, looking in the mirror, watching us. And so we had you had all the rock star moves at 12, huh? Yeah, yeah, working at we're working on them in the mirror going. That's just how you done the solo, you down in your knees and you do all this stuff, and and you gotta whammy on there and everything, and you know, just kind of replicating everything you do, and and all the time I'm like, I just feel like I could play guitar. Yeah, I just don't, you know. And one day when I was 16, I uh my mom played acoustic guitar. Okay, she had uh nylon string classical guitar. And one day when I was a 16, I was listening to um Rolling Stones Painted Black. And you know, I had music in the house the whole time growing up because my parents listened to lots of Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac and Joel and really big into music, then yeah, so I heard it all the time. That's cool. And so Painted Black, I was listening to that, and I saw her guitar laying there, and I'm like, the beginning of that sounds like it was on one of those guitars. So I picked up hers and I started playing, I found it on the neck where it was, and I started playing the intro. You know, that sort of thing. And uh I was like, wow, that's just like it is on the you know, I'm like, it sounds just like it is, and so then I started kind of figuring out more where's the rest of the song go on there? Where do I put my fingers? You know, that sort of thing. And I'd seen the videos and kind of watched how they hold it and so that's where it started. I mean, I just figured it out, and to this day, I don't I can't read music. I don't, you know, you say play a G, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I I don't I've never used tabs. I don't know how to use tabs.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Seriously, I read I with all the music you play.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Yeah, I play everything, either just listen to it and play it, find it on a um, or most of the time I'll watch the actual artist play it live or you know, in amazing video tutorial, whatever, and and then I I for pretty much every I play it, you know. There's some exceptions where I have to kind of fudge things because I'm trying to blend two guitar parts together, sure play lead and a rhythm as a three-piece, but most everything I play, I try and play it exactly like the artist plays it, exactly where they play it, how they play it, the technique. Um, and then I program my rigs on my fractal rig. Um, I have artist rigs on there that are using the amps that the artists use um and the effects that they use. So I have because I have a custom preset for every song. Every song, my board updates to a custom board for that song. So all the other buttons are blacked out, only the ones I use and they're colored how I want them and named what I want them to be for that specific song.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

That's a lot of work just in just in preparation. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 20:58

Yeah, but man, when you gotta sing and play everything, it makes it really easy when you're playing, and that board just has, you know, the four buttons you actually need. You know, the intro, the heavy, the solo, the outro, you know, the special effects, you know, whether I gotta put you know, uh uh some kind of effect on the you know, some of the Pearl Jam guitar solos have a lot of different uh a lot of different effects on them. So but so that's you know, with our bands, especially Seattle Rain, it's authenticity is the goal. Play it as authentic and as close to the original as possible to recreate 90s, you know, rowdy grunge shows. For sure. Kind of the yeah, kind of the no fucks given. Yeah. Show. Just come and go crazy and have fun and exhaust yourself. So when you're done you're Just like, man, that was a good time. You know, so that's kind of the goal of what we do.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

Well, mad respect, man. I mean, I I already knew that you were very into the gear and they're very into kind of creating that experience, but not at that level. That's impressive.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Yeah, program the rigs, the sounds, tones, all that, but and uh and the guitars. I use mostly signature guitars. I just got an Adam Jones. I I remember seeing this last week. That's cool, man. And uh and uh and played that at the last show, and it was flawless. Loved it. I have a Mike McCready.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

I was gonna say about a McCready at one at a Shaw's show as well.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

The Mike McCready strat, it's a 60s or a sick a 1960 rep rep, you know, uh a reissue 1960 all beat up with all the scratches his has on it. It's got the chip out of the headstock where he stuck his through a guitar cab. And uh I just love it, it's just beat to hell and it feels it feels old and beat up and just really comfortable. So I I sold my other two strats because I'd play that one all the time. And I've got two Kirk Cobain signatures, Jaguar. I've got the the Mustang, the blue one with those racing stripes that he played in the smells like Teen Spirit video. And then, of course, the Jerry Cantrell signature guitar that you know Allison Chains fans recognize with the blue dress girl on it that he played on the dirt tour. Wow, still plays a lot today, but that was the main tour that became famous playing that guitar on it.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

But yeah, so it's fun stuff. Yeah, pretty cool. So one of my uh recent guests, uh Brett Um uh Brett Schmidt, he and I became great friends. Anyway, he interviewed me on the last episode. I became the interviewee, and he was telling me that he had some ideas for the show to kind of expand it a little bit and get into like uh gear, you know, like seeing how people's gear set up and shit like that. And immediately I was like, oh man, Shad would be like the perfect host for that. Do a rig rig rundown? Yeah, I could do a rig rundown. So into that, but then you know, I'm like to get your rig, but then also go out and find some other musicians around around town who are really in. Uh Alan Alan from uh Shredding Flannel. I'm gonna have him on the show, and he's got like this whole stage setup where you can uh he can evidently send out like uh CSV files and it updates all the different pieces so that they're like all in tune with the exact set list for the night. And I'm like, man, that's just like it's so much thought and effort into just kind of getting it all prepped. Yeah, but then he can send a group out over there and a group out over there, and you know, set everybody up with the right stuff. It's pretty fascinating, man. Yeah. I'm still trying to figure out how to set up my drums in the right order.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

So yeah. Yeah, I should, you know, just uh you know, uh shout out to my bandmate, uh bass player, uh Brandon Ank. He's again, he's a godsend in our band because he's he's uh you know, he's a well-known sound engineer in town. You know, he did um sound at uh uh the Fillmore, at the Fitzgerald. Oh, okay. Um he's done sound at the Lighting Liney Lodge stage at State Fair for you know a number of years and and uh does a bunch of other big events during the summer. He does Rockfest, the sound at Rockfest and over Wisconsin. And man, to have him as your bass player, um have him uh mixing us because we bring our our own ri our own rack to every show that all our in-airs run off of. We've been using those for about two years now, and um, you know, we've got our big physical X32 board in our practice space at my place. And uh so we get everything fine-tuned in there to and then he just copies it onto the rack version of it and bring it to show us so we uh yeah, we're pretty self-contained when we show up in terms of our you know, our sound and our mix, because he's just runs a split, sends the split to the front of the house and makes it easy for the sound guy.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Do you guys run stage monitors as well as a backup or you're only in ear?

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Only in ears. Okay. Only in ears, and then I Brandon and I run cabinets on stage. You know, we don't want a silent stage because then you know people in the front row get kind of a shitty experience with silent stage, because then that you know, all your vocals and everything are guitars, vocals, and everything are coming through the mains. And you know, if they don't have that front flooding enough, that front row, all they hear is the drums.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

You know, so a sound guy just told us that this the past weekend, so I was curious how you guys are running it.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Yeah, we we have my cab, you know, I either run a 212 or a 412. Um, and then Brandon's got his bass rig cab, so we've got you know a nice a nice balance coming out from people in the front row there. You know, they gotta get it enough for the vocals from the mains to you know to join in with that. But um, but yeah, it's uh it's nice. And I I you know I have to have a cab because I, you know, one, I want to be even with my in-ears, I want to be able to feel it behind me, feel it in the floor. And I do a a lot with um feedback effects and stuff like that for some of the tool stuff and nirvana and yeah, yeah. And a lot of things got different, you know, and intros, outros parts during the saw where you've you know you're trying to pull that feedback out of there and have it hold. And so I gotta have the cab there to be able to do that. I wouldn't be able to do that with a silent stage. So yeah. So and I don't, you know, we're uh our goal is to be as authentic as a grunge rock, heavy rock 90s grunge band as possible. So we want that kind of experience on stage. You know, we kind of try and get into the personas when we're up there. Sure. So yeah, I'll I will even I'll change how I delivered things and how I play and different mannerisms and stuff according to the artists we're playing. Yeah. You know, after watching the artist play live and kind of kind of imitate them uh, you know, sort of the attitude and the way they move around the stage, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

So what was it, you know, in in working on that, kind of building your personas and stuff like it? What do you think kind of like the toughest nut to crack was?

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Uh, you know, for me the toughest are the ones that when I'm playing a pretty involved guitar piece, you know, in the song when there's a lot of guitar work in it, and there's also pretty significant vocals with it. Those are the most challenging to try and be able to play the guitar stuff correctly, you know, like the artist, but also to be able to sing and deliver the vocals and interact with the crowd. You know, those are those are the most challenging, you know. I try and stick with choosing artists from the era and everything that that we can do well. The stuff that I can sing, you know, there's artists in the area, in the era that I don't we don't do because it's just you know, it's a little too much, or the vocals just don't you know match up right. And we got a little bit of flexibility because Aaron sings from the kit too. Yeah, um, Brandon sings. So we're all three, and you know, some of the Allison Chains stuff, we have three part harmonies, you know. A lot of that. Um but out of the stuff we do now, I would say the stuff that's most challenging on a given night is probably the offspring stuff. Offspring, is that right? Yeah, cuz vocally. Because he's it's pretty high.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

He's got a pretty high, it's like almost like an Axl Rose high, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:56

It is, but it's also has to have rasp. So it's gotta be high, but it's also gotta have that rasp thing in there. Because there's a lot of people that can sing high, you know, but it's gotta have sort of that attitude and rasp to it. So that's what makes it kind of tough. And yeah, and it's took a little bit to work on that to get the technique right, um, and have my mic turned up enough so that I can be able to sing it sort of under my breath without having to really stress and push. You know, I use so many different techniques in the stuff that we do, you know. Dave Rose stuff is really power. That's that's mostly stuff where I'm letting it rip. Uh Kirk Cobain, you know, the Nirvana stuff, same deal. Um, but you get into stuff like the offspring and the tool and things like that. You know, Maynard stuff, you know, you've got some of his stuff that's so beautiful. You get the higher stuff, and it's just beautiful, and then he'll just turn it on to this angry, you know, and uh it's really fun to that stuff, and and that stuff for me is relatively easy compared to you know, the offspring stuff, and where I gotta kind of hold it back and kind of sing under my breath and you get on the mic more. So there's so much technique, you know, and to be able to do it for a full night, you know, and we're doing three plus hours of music, really had to learn how to technique to be able to not blow it out early, you know, with the kind of stuff that we do, because there's a lot of it's pretty aggressive. And so I gotta come pace uh pace myself. And I've used different things. There's a couple different vocal training exercises, really, really good one on YouTube from an Aussie Aussie rock vocal instructor is because the men's men's rock workout, I think, from Aussie. I can't remember his name is, but he's from Australia. And it's a video of five different exercises that he takes you through that runs up all these scales, and it's all these different techniques, and it's fantastic. And I anybody who's singing, highly recommend they go check that out. And then I got one of these perfect what's it called? Perfect voice or something like that, a little vocal trainer, it's a little plastic thing that looks like a whistle.

SPEAKER_02 32:27

Yeah, my wife's got one too. It looks like a whistle, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:30

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Yeah, let's say it's a weird she really likes it too.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

It's weird using it because you're basically humming into it, humming scales, humming songs, sort of deal, but really pushing with your diaphragm, you know, and it's amazing how you use that for you know half hour or something like that, and then all of a sudden you sing stuff, and it's easy to get, you know, the extended ranges and everything. Because that's you know, using SS is what's allowed me lately. I've done some Motley Crue, and it's allowed me to hit the high, you know, the high notes and the that Vince was able to hit back in back in the early days on the first album or second album.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

But so why why is it so important to you, Shad, to give so much authenticity and respect to what you're playing?

SPEAKER_03 33:23

Well, because there's there's so many, there's so many, you know, weekend variety bands. There's so many of them. Yeah, you know, and there's a lot of good ones. And they play everything, you know, it's across the board, it's all you know, and and they're really fun. And then you go to a bar and it's sort of a you know, sort of a party band, dance floor sort of thing. Um that stuff, I like to go do that. You know, Holly and I like to go do Holly loves to dance, and and we do all that, and it's really fun. That's not what I want to do musically. You know, I want to do stuff that's like a rock concert. So when you come to one of our shows, it's not the dancy party dance floor thing, it's a rock show. You know, it's a no-giving rock show where we get up there, get in character, and deliver that shit. And and it's big and it's heavy, and it's fun, and it's rowdy, and it's I want to transport people back to the 90s when that first stuff first came out and packed clubs, and it was just crazy, and everybody's just loving the music and rocking out to it, you know. Um, where they get done at the night, and everybody's going, man, that set loose was crazy, you know. The stuff they covered tonight was unb unbelievable, and they did it really well and really close to the original recordings or famous live versions or stuff like that. So that's the kind of thing because I just have such an appreciation for that era and the bands, and I love the music, and it's really fun to play it, so we have a lot of passion. And I'm like, you know, if we're gonna do this, let's be really authentic so that people remember it and that they'd love it, and that they come back for more shows. And and uh so to date we honestly I mean, I think every show we've played, I don't I I don't know that we've approached a venue ourselves directly ourselves. Every show we've played has been word of mouth, it's been the result of word of mouth.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

Um you know that's a pretty that's a good damn good place to be.

SPEAKER_03 35:40

Yeah, either the venue getting in contact with us, you know, because they heard from somebody, or it's another band that, you know, got an opportunity to play a show and they ask us to play with with them. Nice. Um, so we've had the privilege to play with. I mean, uh the lineup that we've played, the people we've played with the last two years in the venues has just been fantastic. I mean, we've played all the pretty much all the venues we've ever wanted to play. Right. And um just played the red carpet last, you know, a few weeks ago, right before Christmas, and and uh and then you know, we've played with you know 10,000 Days and Queen of the Reich and Sir Psycho and Via and Strange Days and and uh Metallica and Um Yeah, those are uh bands that we really admire and that we love to go see ourselves. So be able to do shows with them and yeah, Strange Days. I used to see them all the time back in college. Is that right? They used to play out in my hometown Spicer out in a place that was called Melvin's, and it's on it's absorbus now, but on and they just unbelievable shows out there where the place was just packed. And they'd play all 90s grunge and hard rock and everything. And since then they've you know several albums of their own where they've done a bunch of original stuff, and and uh so you know when I got a message out of the blue from Eric, the guitarist, um I was just giddy. I mean, I was beyond you know, humbled and flattered that they asked us to do a show with them, and uh so it was it was just a blast doing that show with them, and we'll probably end up doing several more with them because we really had a lot of a lot of fun. Awesome. Yeah awesome.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

So uh 12-year-old Chad with his friends in front of the mirror, just rocking out air guitar. Where where did it go from there? Did you form of uh a band with these friends? Or what no?

SPEAKER_03 37:49

I um you know uh I was 16 and I you know picked up my mom's guitar. So you know, kind of figuring it out. But then I bought my first guitar, it's just a cheap little Samic white single humbucker rock guitar with a little crate 15-watt amp. Okay, bought that in Wilmer, Minnesota. Brought it home and just started playing it, started learning all kinds of stuff myself, and uh and then I went to college uh well before that, but for my 18th birthday, my mom uh my my parents got me a uh uh an Ivanaz RG 470, all black, black hardware. Unbelievable because I still have it to this day. Great guitar. It's my first really nice guitar, and and then I ended up seeing on the I think it was the Metallica Cunning Stunts, the box set. There's uh one show in there where Kurt Kirk does a guitar solo on a break, and for the guitar solo, he's playing the exact guitar. He's got a black Ivan S RG470. That's the first time the only first and only time I ever see him play an Ivan S. It was the same one that I had. So um, and I was a big Steve fan at that time too. So I was like, oh my god, an Ivan S, you know, dual humbucker, a single in the middle, man. This thing's you know, it's kind of like Steve's, yeah, sort of thing. But um, and then he came out with the seven string one with a hand thing on it, and I was I couldn't do that, but but so then college ended up playing, you know, just jamming with a bunch of people in college and you know, playing a few times with some different bands, um, nothing, you know, um regular, but just played guitar all the time and played at parties and you know, different get-togethers and and uh acoustic stuff and electric stuff, and uh did that throughout the years and and uh you know it got later in life, and I was like, well, you know, and it was early days in college. I hung out with a lot of bands, you know, in the band scene.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

But never really quite got into one, huh?

SPEAKER_03 40:02

Right, right. You know, I was more of going to shows and seeing shows, and I was being really good friends with uh Johnny band Johnny Clueless, Steve Brown, and um Stacey and Eric and everybody there, and and uh still really good friends with them to this day. Uh like to see they usually do a show or two a year, but um and in the scene, but then uh you know, later in life I started binging around with uh got a band mix kind of Facebook for sessions and ended up hooking up with several people in there, ended up jamming with a bunch of different people off band mix and um you know that kind of took off and then it was uh it was kind of rare as COVID was kind of was starting. Um I formed kind of this concept of a band, the 90s okay 90s era tribute band, and I formed it with uh it was it was myself and Brian Cheminak, Brian on the bass from uh 10x2 bucks. Yeah. It was he and I, and then um we had a drummer uh named Jonathan Alexander, he was great, and it was during COVID, so we'd meet, you know, in a practice space, and we'd be you know 10, 12 feet apart, and you know that stuff, and he got ready and and we worked on we had you know set of 40 some songs, and we you know got them all up to speed, and we're ready to play, you know, just waiting for some opportunities, venues, whatever. Um well then Jonathan got an opportunity in Memphis, job opportunity, and he had to leave in two weeks. So we had to re we had to start over again. Then we got another drummer named uh Alex Gollard, young, younger guy from uh he was on the drum line at the University of Minnesota. Great drummer, great drummer. He sang, um great playing with him, got up to speed on all the songs, and we played a showcase at Rue 47, then we played a show at the Amsterdam, St. Paul. And the week before we played the one at the Amsterdam, he told us he got a job opportunity. We had to travel, travel 90% of the time. So he had to quit. Wow. So then we're like, Jesus, right? Yeah, well, then at that time, Brian was working with some stuff with uh the Chris Hockey band, and they were doing some stuff in the studio and recording some stuff, and he was pretty busy with that, and he's you know, yeah, I don't really have time to you know go and get try and get another drummer right now, you know. So we kind of we're just kind of gonna put the project on hold or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Well then what was the what was the genre of music? Was it the nineties thing already that you're gonna put it together with him?

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Yeah, yeah, it was it was originally originally called uh band was originally called Generation Angst.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Angst, okay.

SPEAKER_03 43:09

Yeah, for the angst of the nineties. I like it. I like it. And uh so then it was like a day after, two days after Brian and I had that conversation where he's like, Yeah, I'm gonna be concentrating on this studio stuff that we're doing. Um then um Brandon contacted me on Bandmix. And on Bandmix, my profile had said, here's my influences, here's my gear, here's videos playing, and you know, here's my vision, what I want to do with a band. And Brandon was like, I like that vision. He's like, I'm into that. He's like, Yeah, let's get together and jam. And Brandon and I got together and jammed, and it's just it was great. I mean it was perfect. You know, he's both him and Aaron are amazing musicians, but they're even better people. They're such great individuals. You know, like I said, I love 'em like brothers. And so Brandon and I hit it off. We're like, oh, let's do this. Well then, you know, then we got it was at that time he knew this Alec scholar, young kid at the U that you know, wanted to pick up the planet, man. And that's how that got formed. And then it was it was Generation Anks for a while, and then um well then Alec had to had to quit. And then uh Brandon and I were at a jam at Shaw's and we did a couple we did a couple Allison Chains songs with Aaron on drums when he was in the house. And I was drummer. And uh we played it was perfect. I mean I can't remember it was like a rooster and wood or something like that. And we were like, ah, that was great. And Brandon was like, Man, that was great. Playing with Aaron, Aaron and I were just locked in together. And I was like, Yeah, I was like, that was pretty cool. We got done playing that night, and uh Aaron was like, Well, that was really fun. You guys have a band? Like As a matter of fact, we're looking for a drummer. I'm like, here's kind of the set list we got, and I showed him you know, like a 40-some song, and I'm like, Would you be interested? He's like, Yeah. He's like, Well, let's take like 10 songs and why don't you come over and jam with us? We'll do like 10 songs. Well, first time he came over, we end up playing 25 songs. I was gonna say he's probably locked in or yeah, he it was it was like twenty four we rattled off twenty-five. We could have played a solo show that night. I mean it was it was just great, and so ever since then, it's just been it's just been so much fun playing with those guys.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

The three amigos, huh?

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:01

I love it. Yeah, cool. So that's fascinating, man. So you really never you know you never even made took a shot at it a whole hundred percent until kind of a little bit later in life. Pro COVID time, if you will.

SPEAKER_03 46:12

Yeah, I actually uh you know, right at the beginning of COVID, um right before COVID hit, um I actually was recruited by um Legacy of the Loud to sing for Legacy of the Loud. Okay. And uh uh I ended up you know, we ended up they ended up selecting me and another friend of mine, Josh, um as singers because we wanted to have multiple singers in that band because it's pretty challenging stuff and it's it's medley and and um so we were gearing up and going over everything and you know, a bunch of practices and rehearsals and getting ready, you know, but it was COVID, so it was like you know, is anybody playing anywhere? But there was it was gonna start opening up pretty soon, but um you know I ended up getting virus in my vocal cords. Oh man. And uh yeah, it messed up my vocal cords for probably six months or more. Wow. And so during that time, you know, we basically had to part ways because I I couldn't I couldn't sing more than five songs, you know, four or five, and even the four or five were hard to sing at the time I had no no uh endurance and um and it just stayed there for months. I mean, it just took forever to go away. And uh, but it was in that time that Brian Tremaniac and I got together and we're like, oh, it's COVID or whatever, but let's you know, let's work on this band thing. And you know, and then we got Jonathan and we started, and it was great. Beginning of the story, yeah. Yeah, and then at uh we know when Aaron joined the band and we changed the name and uh you know, went through a little process, and I have years of experience in you know the naming process and creating brands and stuff like that with the agencies that I worked with and you know, business life. But um, so we went through and I came out and I'm like well we wanna this band, we wanna to be really era era tribute to nineties, hard rock and grunge, you know, kind of the influence of that uh Seattle based influence that affected, you know, all the bands out of Detroit and LA and everybody, you know, even Silver Chair out of Australia.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

They uh they was Silver Chair shirt rocking over there, buddy.

SPEAKER_03 49:02

Right there. Yeah, I love, love Silver Chair, yeah. Big and heavy and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:07

And um too bad they didn't go a little further down the line.

SPEAKER_03 49:10

I know it. I know it as a bummer. But that was that was really it. Is okay, well, we want to have this, this is the vision for the band. It's good, you know, we're not gonna do any, you know, the softer, poppier stuff, you know, that may have been popular on the radio at the time or whatever. We're gonna stick to the stuff that's heavier, darker with attitude. You know, that's a rock concert. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh, you know, kind of that badass kind of stuff that we wanted to stick to. And and I'm like, well, how do we let's come with a name that, you know, kind of the influence of Seattle, but it's so that's how we're like, oh, Seattle rain. Well, it rains in Seattle, it's dark, it's gloomy, and we're gonna spell it R-E-I-G-N. So it's the rain of the rain of Seattle.

SPEAKER_02 50:02

Pretty cool, man.

SPEAKER_03 50:03

Yeah, so and it's really stuck stuck well now. I I really like the name, and it's a great people seem to really like it for what we do. Yeah, it's perfect. Um and it's great play on words. Yeah, yeah, there's double entendre, double, triple entendre, right? You gotta love that, yeah. And uh, so it's worked out really well. And uh, you know, at some point we're gonna have to come up with a t-shirt. Yeah. Because people ask for them, and yeah, like, well, we don't have any t-shirts, we don't have any hats, we're not, you know, we have you got a banner, you got a banner at least, right? You got a banner, yeah. At first, they're like, Well, we should get a banner. I'm like, fuck that, we're a grunge band. We're not doing a banner, and Nirvana never had a banner. You know, they had a drum that said chalk on it. You know, so that was at first, it's like we're gonna be stripped down, we're not doing anything, you know, highly produced. It's gonna be. And then I'm like, well, we gotta, I suppose we can have something, you know, after people need to know where to contact her, yeah. Yeah, but but let's make it simple. So it's just Shadow Rain, cross the banner, you know, it's sort of dark and gloomy. Um, colors sort of similar to the blues in the nevermind album. Gotcha. That stuff. And and uh so that's yeah, it's worked out. It's worked out well. I I love the name. I'm I'm thinking of a t-shirt design that would you know have like the name, Seattle Rain, and then maybe uh I've got a t-shirt that has a list of like Staley and you know, all the different lists of the people who made it up, yeah. All the main name singers and guitarists and stuff like that. I was thinking about a shirt that has like you know, the name of the band and maybe those names down the back of the shirt or something like that. And cool, man. Something like that. Well one of these days we'll get into have some kind of marketing.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Well, let me and my wife know we'll do a t-shirt tour around town for you. Yeah, I don't know if you've seen our little t-shirt tour.

SPEAKER_03 52:12

I have seen that, yeah. Yeah, we gotta come up with something that people want to wear. And I think they would want to wear that one because it'd have all the famous names on the back and our name on the front.

SPEAKER_02 52:21

Yep, yep, yep. Oh, and it's totally what you guys are about, man. Yeah. All right, so last bonus question, I ask everybody. Who do you recommend should be next on the show?

SPEAKER_03 52:32

Who do you know? Me personally, I would like to see Brandon on here. Okay, let's do it. I would love to see Brandon on here. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 52:39

Have him talk about you know, maybe we'll do one because he was maybe we'll do one with all three of you guys in here. That would be great. That would be great fun.

SPEAKER_03 52:46

Yeah, yeah, that would be fun.

SPEAKER_02 52:47

That would be fun because ball around a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 52:50

Yeah, because we all have it's such a good blend of three different kinds of personalities.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

Yeah, especially and you guys get along so well. I'm sure we'd have a great some great fun in here.

SPEAKER_03 52:59

Yeah, the level of respect that we've got for each other and it works so smoothly, and we have so much fun doing it. But I would like to see Brandon here because you know, Brandon was actually a guitarist before he started playing bass. And you know, when he contacted me, he's like, I've only been playing bass for like a year. He's like, I was a guitarist.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

You never know it though.

SPEAKER_03 53:21

He's well, and they they recorded an album with his former band, and I listened to it, and it was like heavy, like really great creed type creed type stuff, and the guitar work was great. And I was like, That was you playing a lot? He's like, Yeah. I'm like, for a minute. Well, then he'd been playing bass for a year, and he's like, I really like it. So then he came playing bass bass bass for us. Well, then I got him singing because he had never sang and played at the same time before. So I'm like, Wow, I gotta have you singing with me, you know, we're gonna do this stuff. Well, then Aaron came in, he sings too.

SPEAKER_02 53:53

So yeah, I look forward to some of those three-part harmonies. I mean, I don't know that I I don't know that I've seen Brandon sing yet. Oh, yeah, yeah, I may maybe I have, but I don't think so. Because I've seen you guys a couple times having Shaws or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 54:03

Yeah, he sings quite a bit, does he? Yeah, yeah, he does a lot of the backup stuff and nice Nirana stuff and Alice and Chains. And yeah, we're we're lucky to have three of us that you know can help out and contribute. And he does other stuff too on the bass, like they're beginning of Black Hole Sun. There's like a slide guitar type thing in the beginning of it. He does it on the bass. He does it on the bass because I'm playing a dude. I think I've seen I think I've seen him do that before.

SPEAKER_00 54:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:35

He does that on his bass. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 54:37

Nice. Yeah. Hey there, Minnesota Music Family. If I haven't personally reached out to you yet, consider this your 100% official invitation to join me on the Minnesota Music Note. I'm Will McLeod, co-founder of the podcast crew here in beautiful Robbinsdale, host of the show, and the guy behind the kit for the band Hits in the Mistes. I started this podcast because I want to get to know the people who make our scene tick. Whether you're fronting a band, spinning hip-hop, running sound, booking shows, running shows, or teaching the next generation of talent, your story belongs here. We've had everyone from videographers to festival organizers on the mic, and we're just getting started. It doesn't matter if you're playing arena or just making magic in your basement. If you're part of the Minnesota music community, I want to chat. Slide into my email or hit the email below and let's hang out and talk to y'all.