January 27, 2010
Help you help us
I like helpful people. In fact, I might go so far as saying that helpful people are just about my favorite kind of people out there. I don’t think that’s too wild a statement. Flora Edwards once said,
“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.”
Let me stop you before you ask me who Flora Edwards is. I have no idea. I just found that line when browsing the Internet for quotes about helping. Although a quick Googling of her name reveals a page that claims she is a “South-African born industrialist.” How enlightening.
But I digress.
My original point, meandering though it may have been, had to do with the many virtues of helping. Just look at this picture of some dude helping some other dude and tell me it doesn’t make you somewhat vaguely warm and fuzzy inside:
And with that we bring you a new page here on the official Shaimus website: How You Can Help Shaimus.
Why the bloody hell would you want to help Shaimus, you ask? You might not want to at all, to be honest. That’s OK. But in case you’re curious, we’ve laid out in reasonable detail on that page many little things that you could do that might help get our little band’s name in the minds and hearts of a precious few more people out there in the world. Luckily, none of our suggestions involve your dropping spare change into a mug and mailing it to us. Though that’s not the worst idea I’ve ever come up with (you don’t want to know the worst).
The thing is, going back to Ms. Edwards’ words of wisdom, that the more the fans help us pry our way into the collective consciousness, the more likely it will be for us to continue playing, recording, touring to a town near you, and so on in that fashion. See? Completing the circle, indeed.
Of course, it’s good to keep in mind the wise words of Andrew Carnegie:
“There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself.”
So let me be the first to assure you: we are, in fact, going to great lengths to climb the ladder. The greatest lengths in our power, to be precise. So you don’t have to feel at all dirty inside if you so choose to throw a bit of help our way.
January 20, 2010
A Year In Review
2009 was some year. Big negatives lead to huge positives. For Shaimus, it was our most productive and successful year to date. The entirety of ‘08 was spent recording, mixing, and producing our 2nd record, The Sad Thing Is, We Like It Here. So by the time ‘09 rolled around, it was time to get out of the damn studio and back onstage. We set some lofty goals for ourselves in Aught Nine and we somehow managed to surpass them all. Here is a look at some of our top moments from last year.
(I know it’s way late for a TOP 5 OF ‘09 LIST, but hey, screw you.)
5. WEST COAST TOUR
- Going on tour is pretty much the reason why people start bands. That and getting laid. Either way, we were lucky enough to get back on the road this year. Though the trip wasn’t exactly long, it made life worth living. San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and San Diego are amazing spots to play. We plan on doing much, much more of this in the near future. Click HERE and HERE for some blogs and photos from our Fall tour.
4. ALBUM RELEASE PARTY
- Though our album technically came out in ‘08, we threw an album release party at The Mint right here in LA. It was a sold out show and I feel sorry for anyone who wasn’t there to witness such musical brilliance. I wrote a blog about it awhile back which you can read HERE
3. SHAIMUS HEADLINES THE TROUBADOUR
- A dream come to fruition. This was also Lou’s first show with the band, that lucky little SOB. Evan wrote about this boner inducing experience HERE
2. THE ROOMMATE
- For those of you who haven’t heard, we shot a movie this year. We not only have two songs placed in the film, but we’re actually in the damn thing, too. This one put ‘09 over the top. Such an amazingly random experience that none of us will ever forget. We documented our time on set extensively and can be seen in these three videos:
1. LOU JOINS THE BAND
- Last year, we faced out biggest obstacle to date. When guitarist Dave Middleton decided to leave the band, we thought, well, that was fun. Time to pack it in, boys. Little did we know, the perfect replacement for his spot was someone who had been there all along. To me, Lou was always just Phil’s younger brother, but now, he’s my brother, too. I know the rest of the guys feel the same way, and we are so fortunate to have him as a true addition to the band. He stepped up to the challenge of entering a fully functioning dysfunctional family and did it with smile on his face. Lou is not a replacement, he is what makes Shaimus….Shaimus.
Get to know Lou better HERE and HERE.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- “Like A Fool” music video. We’re so proud of this thing. If you haven’t seen THIS VIDEO yet, WTF, bro?
- Getting “Left To Dry” placed on an episode of One Tree Hill. That was fun.
To all the fans out there, thank you for making 2009 our best year yet. We owe it all to you. So please, keep listening, keep commenting, and keep spreading the Gospel of Shaimus to everyone you see.
Cheers.
January 13, 2010
Lou’s Birthday
Yesterday was my birthday. I decided to go on a nice long walk and a write a reflective passage. Here it is:
January 12th, 2010. I am 22 years old to the day, and fuck. I have done some things, seen some things, learned some things. I have shared love, taken love, given love, forgiven love, and threw away love…off to a good start I guess. I’ve fallen in love with girls on the street, girls in dreams, girls in magazines, friends, lovers, bitches, sweethearts, and the most fun of them all: girls who are emotionally, spiritually, and logistically unavailable. I have also fallen in love with music. Fuck music…sometimes. I imagine my life without music: I wouldn’t be me, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing sometimes. But I suppose it’s not such a bad thing after all. Music keeps me sane and insane, it’s never balancing. That’s a job reserved for yours truly. I’ve been doing ok so far, but recently a series of unpleasant realizations have reared their fugly, mocking heads at me. I hope I can make peace with all of them in time. I’m sure that I will someday. Maybe in one year from now I’ll read this and laugh at what a sad bastard I was a year ago. Happy Birthday. Yours truly, Me
