So… I just wanted to express my excitement.

Some or none of you know that I’m getting married in October to a beautiful girl named Genevieve. I wanted to share this not only because it’s an enormous step in my life, but that it changes Shaimus in some/many ways too.
Without getting into too much detail; the word “commitment” has become more important for me and everyone around my general vicinity. Purpose has been pondered and focus has been sharpened. Ultimately we feel big things are going to happen…
Just sayin. Keep your ears open.

Anyway, Shaimus will have some new songs out very soon actually! COMMITTING to some fresh material.
For now, here’s a take of “Across the Universe” (John Lennon) that I sat down and sang. Me + the piano. I feel like this song captures how I feel at this juncture of my life.

Click on the play button below to hear it:

Across The Universe

Love you all.
-Phil

Shaimus has been thinking a lot lately about our artistic evolution, our overall look and image.  With these thoughts, there are discussions of what’s happening in the music industry today, specifically in the world of bands.  I think Pop will be around forever.  With every decade, there will be someone who will push some kind of envelope.  There was Bowie, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston…then Madonna and Britney…now Beyonce and Lady Gaga.  Oh yeah, and Rick Springfield…possibly the biggest and best Pop star in the history of histories.  I think there will always be Country music too…Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Shania Twain.  Oh yeah, and Taylor Swift…possibly the biggest and be-….sorry Taylor, can’t really finish that sentence, even as a joke.  You’re still adorable though.  BUT, Rock music changes every freaking second.  See?  It just changed again!  So we, as a band, have been branching out, listening to new music, music that college people are listening to and that young people are going to see live.  The truth of it is, Rock is dead.  But is that such a bad thing?  And what does that even mean anyway?  Maybe Rock is just not quite the Rock it was 20 or 30 or 40 years ago.  Maybe we shouldn’t even really call it Rock…maybe Stone, or Seed.  The genre is different now.  The guitars are clearer while sounding more ambiguous, the vocals are stronger while sounding meek and out of tune, and the drums are sloppier, while sounding powerful and tight.  This amalgamation of mind-fuck music is called Indie Rock.  Indie seems to be the way things are right now…Grizzly Bear, Vampire Weekend, The Dirty Projectors, Fleet Foxes.  Heck, I’m fine with it, and a lot of this music is actually quite good, inspiring even.  So does that define Shaimus?  Well, not exactly…we’re a more mystifying, multi-faceted mistress than most of these bands.  Hmm….is that why we can’t quit our day jobs yet?  Either way, I very much enjoy these discussions with the band.  It makes me ‘excite’ for what we can and will eventually shape ourselves into.  Music is cool…any thoughts?

Also, enjoy this picture of a guy dressed in Indie-style fashion.  I call him….Indie Douche:

Last night we played a half hour acoustic set at a venue called El Cid near Silver Lake.  It was for an SPCALA benefit event – we were invited to perform after our show at Saint Rocke some weeks back.  Excited for the opportunity, we revamped some songs for an acoustic setting and hit the stage.  Steve was kind enough to video tape, and here is “Interview” from The Sad Thing Is, We Like It Here.

Thanks Alisha and SPCALA for the opportunity!

People often ask us how to pronounce our band name.

Is it SHAY-mus? SHY-mus? Shay-moose? Shy-moose?

The last one is my favorite. If that was how to say our name, we could have a very bashful-looking moose as our mascot. Alas, it is incorrect.

The correct pronunciation is the first one: shay-mus, said identical to the Irish name spelled Seamus. That’s usually how people say our name, but I don’t blame anyone for being a little unsure. We did choose to spell it in a slightly odd way.

But I decided to give you all a little help in case you forget. I’ve drawn up a cartoon to illustrate what we are not:

There. That should settle it once and for all!

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.

This weekend we played a 4th of July pool party at a creative camp called uCamps.  It was in Big Bear, CA and at 7500 feet altitude, lifting an amp required similar effort to benching 350.  Luckily they provided us a hearty thanksgiving style dinner.

The gig was sweet – our audience was about 100 dancing and/or swimming kids, and playing outdoors in the sunset is always killer.

After the gig we hiked up to a cliff and watched the fireworks over Big Bear lake.  It’s been years since I saw a night sky like with this many stars – the milky way and all constellations were clearly visible, along with satellites and shooting stars.  I highly recommend it!

The next day we sat in on their rock band workshop.  I taught a few private lessons on bass, can’t say I’ve ever done that before.  Cam is actually staff and he will stay there teaching drums until Friday – his nickname is “Suds” (umm, because he’s a very clean person.)

uCamps is awesome – we had fun and we highly recommend it.

Last week, we were “on the road again”.  This time it was much more of a driving trip.  We took two days to drive up to Seattle to play one balls-rockin’ show, then drove back down to L.A a couple days later.  It was a blast, Seattle is way awesome, but the one-show “tour” was not executed without our fair share of problems.  Our van was junky and for most of the first day of travel, we were bouncing on a front left tire that was about to pop due to a rubber tumor.  It felt like an uncomfortable S&M massage chair.  Secondly, on the day of our show, the rear right tire blew out as we went 75 on the highway.  Scary, but we were able to fix the hunk o’ junk in Tacoma, then make it to the venue in Seattle with time (and a tire) to spare.  Rock and roll.  Here are some pictures to give y’all a taste of how awesome the whole excursion was.  Enjoy!

Because I recently got the opportunity to have an artist endorsement with one of my favorite guitar manufacturers, Music Man, I decided to make room for a new addition to my guitar lineup by selling one of my current guitars. After some deliberating, soul-searching and a few games of Tetris, I decided to bid a fond farewell to Sparky, my trusty Music Man Luke model guitar, seen here:

Sparky, which I named after its beautiful Black Sparkle finish (I tend to name all my guitars based on their color), has been a mainstay for me both live and in the studio. I’ve used it on the recordings of most of the “signature” Shaimus songs (”All Of This,” “Like a Fool,” “Tie You Down,” and many others). But the fact was that I always felt something lacking in various aspects of that guitar for my personal style, so I decided it was time to set it free. (I did make a note of the serial number just in case I run into it again someday!)

So the guitar I got to replace Sparky is far more ideal for me in many ways. It is a Music Man Albert Lee HH (double DiMarzio humbucker) model, in tobacco sunburst finish, with a vintage white pearloid pickguard, African mahogany body, and all-rosewood neck.

This is “Sunny:”

It complements my other main guitar, an Albert Lee model (in pearl blue, appropriately named “Pearl”) with three Seymour Duncan single coil pickups, an ash body and an all birdseye maple neck, in so many ways–they both have the same body shape (a very odd and unique angular cut which I love) and neck style which gives me some uniformity on stage. And because they are so different otherwise, I have a wide variety of sounds to choose from.

Sunny and Pearl will make a great team. And there’s also Sonic, the Fender Mustang that was the first guitar I ever bought, but it doesn’t see too much action these days (semi-retired from battle after serving me very well during my high school years).

Thanks to Derek at Music Man for helping to make this happen.  When I opened the case for the first time I actually got chills!  I plan to debut Sunny on stage in Seattle next week. Can’t wait for you all to hear her!

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