Interview with Shannon Shaw
of Shannon and the Clams
Interview by Sam Paul
Photo by Amanda Stosz
More often than not, Shannon Shaw looks timeless. She’s a larger-than-life blonde bombshell with winged eyeliner and perfect bangs. On other days, she wears gold suspenders that match the glitter that’s covering her face, her hair, and her outstretched tongue. She embodies the campy, punky, retro rock and roll that Shannon and the Clams performs.
Shaw isn’t only striking in appearance. She’s got a voice that doesn’t just blow you away—it takes you for a ride. It’s the kind of voice that, like Shaw herself, transcends time and straddles eras. It’s only natural that Shannon and the Clams warps genre and decade. At first you think their gut-wrenching ballads about love lost would be a perfect fit for your cool Aunt’s record collection, nestled between the Ronettes and The Shangri Las, but then someone belts out a scream, or the punk riffs take over. Imagine a doo-wop group in ripped tights playing in a musty Oakland basement. Or imagine the perfect soundtrack to a John Waters’ film.
Shaw, also a member of the famed queercore band Hunx and his Punx, met her original Clams bandmates Cody Blanchard and Ian Anderson at California College of the Arts. Later, Nate Mahan replaced Anderson. They released their first album, I Wanna Go Home, in 2009. The band gained a cult following quickly, charming audiences with their high-energy live shows, and raw and emotional songwriting. They released their fourth and latest album, Gone By the Dawn, this past fall on Hardly Art Records. They’ve been touring heavily since, and GAGC got a chance to see them at one of their sold-out Brooklyn shows.
SP: What was your first cassette tape? What were the kinds of songs that played in the background when you were a kid?
SS: My first cassette was Frizzle Fry by Primus followed by Roy Orbison’s Greatest Hits, No Need To Argue by the Cranberries and Throwing Copper by LIVE. The background music was always oldies top 40 kinda stuff and 80’s country and a lot of Patsy Cline, Slim Whitman, Hank Williams, Roger Miller, The Cars, Willy Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Marty Robbins and Harry Belafonte. My oldest brother who I really looked up to listened to a lot of heavy metal like Iron Maiden, Metallica and Slayer.
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