This doesn’t really have anything to do with Shaimus.  Like, at all.

I opened up my iPhoto for the first time in a year and decided to pick some of the greatest hits from the past couple years.

This is my buddy Jake.  He’s pretty rad.  As you can tell from this picture.

If you’ve never partied with a headlamp and a drawn on mustache, you’ve never really partied.

I’m a sucker for (Hawaiian) sunsets.

My friend Ben got pooped on by a bird.  What an idiot.

You best believe these shoes don’t look like this anymore.

Here’s a sweet picture of Jason.  Not exactly sure why this is in my iPhoto, but hey.

Manager Steve.  Halloween?  Or just a regular Tuesday night?  You decide.

Scott Baio and Eli Roth chatting before a Hollywood screening of Baio’s 80’s classic ZAPPED.

Phil in Nashville.  Happy for no reason.

Found this in a urinal in New Orleans.

Johannes, are you having fun in Vegas?

And here’s a bear eating a marshmallow out of my mouth.  Big finale.

Well…that was fun.

hey everybody.  cam here.  I’m the, uh, drummer.  yeah.

here’s a quick update on what shaimus has been up to recently.

we’re currently busy writing new material.  locked away in our rehearsal space for hours on end, we’re taking our sound to new heights, experimenting with sounds and a renewed focus on songwriting.  while we’re so happy with what we’ve put out in the past, we know we have much more to say.  the new songs we have so far are definitely our favorites.  not because they are new, but because they are the best we’ve ever written.

we are also planning a summer tour!  yes, shaimus will be hitting the road again in august/september of this summer, hitting cities up the west coast and (!!) further east then we’ve ever been before.  expect tour date announcements soon.

lastly, if you haven’t been following us on twitter (@shaimus) and facebook, you’ve probably been missing your weekly chance to chat with the band.  each week we will be having an unannounced chat online with fans where you can connect with the band and ask us literally anything you’d like.  so make sure to follow us online, because it’s always a surprise!

thanks for checking in.  we look forward to seeing you all in concert very soon.  keep spreading the music and thank you for all the support.

cheers.

- cam

Here’s a taste of what I’m listening to.

Lydia – This is Twice Now

The Lightning Seeds – You Showed Me

MuteMath – No Response

Fountains of Wayne – Hackensack

Now it’s your turn.  What’s in your Walkman these days?

This past weekend we had the chance to play some shows in Arizona.  It was our first time there, so we were especially excited about this trip.  Turns out, Arizona likes them some Shaimus.

“howdy, ma’am”

First we played in Prescott (pronounced press-kit (WHY??)) at Embry-Riddle University.  I thought Arizona was supposed to be warm but apparently when you’re over a mile high, it’s not.  Our show on campus was outside in 38 degree temperature, but it still turned out great.  Here’s us mid interview with the school’s radio station:

Second show was in Scottsdale at The Martini Ranch.  Great show, great venue, great people.  We hope to be back soon.  Afterwards, we treated ourselves to some Domino’s pizza in our hotel suite.  Luckily, Phil mentioned our band name while ordering and the guy he was talking to turned out to be a fan.  5 pizzas for the price of 4 is a little something we like to call a “rock star perk.”

Here I am getting my beauty rest after a great weekend in AZ:

Thanks, Arizona!  We will return.

Remember those “25 Things You Might Not Know About Me” things on Facebook awhile back?

Well, I missed the boat on those.  So…No time like the present.

25 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT CAM

1.  I have seen the movie Scream 40+ times.

2.  Flip flops are quite possibly my favorite thing ever.  I would be happy wearing them every day for the rest of my life.

3.  I played trumpet for 5 years before switching to drums.  Oh lord, was I terrible.

4.  What music I listen to is in direct correlation to the weather.  For example, I listen to country music, but only between the sunny months of April and September.

5.  No one makes me laugh like Charlie from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

6.  I have an abnormally long torso and surprisingly short legs.  Therefore, the bottoms of my jeans will always be ripped and my belly button will forever be exposed.

7.  I eat chicken at least 2 meals a day and sometimes even that’s not enough.

8.  I am able to completely compartmentalize my levels of criticism when it comes to movies and music.  I can get just as much enjoyment out of a crappy horror movie as I can from an oscar winning film, both for completely different reasons.

9.  Every time the Medic dies in Saving Private Ryan, I cry uncontrollably.  It’s a problem, really.

10.  I wore glasses for exactly 1 year when I was a kid, but apparently every single picture of me as a child was taken within that particular year.

11.  I have an ongoing fascination with boats and water, even though I’m borderline terrified of swimming in anything other than a pool.

12.  I played soccer my entire life up until I was a junior in high school when I quit to focus on music.  I was a goalie and I miss it.

13.  In college, I played so much Tetris, I considered competing professionally.

14.  I have based a large part of my personality off of what Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles taught me, which probably explains a lot.

15.  My hands are small, yet I use enormous drum sticks.

16.  I have an unhealthy obsession with Jason Voorhees.  Hanging on the walls of my room are framed posters of every Friday the 13th film.

17.  I learned how to tie a tie 3 weeks ago.

18.  I make really stupid faces when I’m drumming.  If you’ve ever been to a show, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

19.  My two most feminine tendencies are my affinity for scented candles and Cyndi Lauper.

20.  Mexican food is the best food.  This is not opinion.  It is fact.

21.  At night I sleep with a mouthguard, a wrist brace, and sometimes a sleeping mask.  Yes, a sleeping mask.

22.  Sometimes I miss my hometown of Seattle.  Though I’m pretty sure I miss the idea of Seattle more than the actual city.  Kinda like Ferngully.

23.   Once I’ve heard a song 2-3 times, I will remember the song form forever.

24.  I am very close to my Mother.  This does not make me a sissy.  And that was an over share.

25.  I remember the weekend I feel in love with music.  When I was in 6th grade, I went to Costco with my parents and bought the Star Wars Soundtrack, No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom, and The Wallflowers Bringing Down The Horse.  Somehow that magical concoction made all of this possible.

K, thanks.

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:

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

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.

Cam here.

It’s Halloween time.  To most, it’s just another holiday that became an afterthought the second you were too old for trick or treating.  A burden that comes every year and urges you to buy a costume you don’t want for a party you don’t care to attend.  But to me, it’s something else entirely.  It is quite simply the most wonderful time of the year.

For anyone who has ever spent more than five minutes in the same room with me, there are a few things you pick up on almost instantly.  I am alarmingly attractive, I get really excited about dumb things, and I am unabashedly and completely obsessed with horror films.

The strange thing is, if you were to ask me why I felt this way towards this black sheep genre of cinema, I couldn’t give you a straight answer.  It’s something that has always been with me.  Perhaps it was all those terrible movies I was exposed to as a kid growing up with satellite TV.  Maybe it was the fact I had two older sisters whose idea of a good time was chasing me around the house wearing scary masks until I cowered in my bed for hours.  Or maybe it was simply that SCREAM came out at the exact right moment in my puberty stricken life that it imprinted my mushy middle school brain forever.  Regardless, all I know is when I was in 6th grade, my Mom bought me a copy of Stephen King’s THE SHINING and it didn’t leave my backpack for three years.  I was hooked.

Ask any of the other SHAIMUS guys, they know.  They’ll tell you about all the horror movies I’ve forced upon them in past years.  The ones they liked (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, SLITHER) and the ones they didn’t like so much (HELLRAISER II, HATCHET).  And though our perception of what makes a film “good” or “bad” may be different, my band mates have been very understanding of my extracurricular activity, even if they don’t share the same feelings towards zombie disembowelment as I do.  (NOTE: Lou loves horror movies.  Forget his guitar playing, that’s how he got my vote!)

So what was I talking about again?  Ahh yes, Halloween.  For this holiday, which I believe to be the ENTIRE month of October, it seems the rest of the world catches up to people like myself.  For just a few short weeks, people embrace the dark world of the macabre.  A place where nightmares seem a little more fun than truly scary.  A place where you can carve pumpkins while you drink your pumpkin flavored coffee or beer.  People begin to view the world in the same light as I do year round.  Yes, it is an amazing time to be alive…or undead.

Instead of making some Top 5 list, I’m going to keep things simple.  Here are my two MUST WATCH Halloween films.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

When I was a kid, this movie was the reason I fell in love with Halloween.  The story is fantastic, the characters are memorable, and the music is damn near genius.  It doubles as a Christmas movie, but to me, it will always be about the magic of Halloween.  Long live the Pumpkin King.

TRICK ‘R TREAT

Though filmed several years ago, this film was just released on DVD this month.  It is without a doubt the ultimate Halloween film.  A ghoulish love letter to the holiday that bleeds black and orange.  Four short stories intertwine throughout, showcasing what happens to those who don’t adhere to the rules of Halloween.

Hold up.  I know what you’re thinking.  “Cam, what about HALLOWEEN??”

HALLOWEEN is a classic.  It perfected the slasher formula and basically turned it into an art form.  Problem is, it has little to do with the actual holiday.

I am the way I am.  I can’t help enjoying the things I do. I don’t make fun of you for liking crappy romantic comedies.  I think it’s best we just agree to disagree.

So this Halloween, don’t be a grinch.  Buy that costume, hand out that candy, watch some scary movies, and do it with a smile.  After all, it’s more fun to be scared than you might think.

- Cam