The Shins

The Shins biography

The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Russell Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, alternative country, and folk. The Shins were formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but are now based in Portland, Oregon.

History

From Flake Music to The Shins (1992-2000)

The Shins began in 1997 as a side project for singer/songwriter James Mercer (musician), whose primary band was Flake Music in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mercer formed Flake Music in 1992 with Neal Langford on guitar, Marty Crandall on bass, and Jesse Sandoval on drums. During the next 5 years Flake Music released several singles, a full-length album, and began touring largely due to the help of other bands like Modest Mouse.

In 1997, Mercer began writing songs that would eventually become the now classic first Shins single "Nature Bears A Vacuum". Around this time Flake Music had come to an end, which left The Shins with an opportunity to record their work. Recruiting Sandoval to play drums, Nature Bears A Vacuum was released with low expectations for being popular beyond Albuquerque. The Shins first few appearances originally featured only Sandoval and Mercer. However, the released single attracted enough attention for a full band to form. Marty Crandall, formerly of Flake Music, was brought into the fold on keyboards, and band friend Dave Hernandez (frontman of local punk legends Scared of Chaka, which had played dozens of shows with Flake Music) was given bass duties.

After a year as this lineup, during which half the songs on debut album "Oh, Inverted World" (including "New Slang") were penned, Hernandez moved to New York City. Neal Langford was selected as his replacement, and it was this lineup that saw the group embark on a tour with Modest Mouse.

Signed to Sub Pop (2001-2007)

At a San Francisco performance with Modest Mouse in 2000, Sub Pop's Jonathan Poneman asked The Shins to contribute a single to the label's Single of the Month Club, which eventually became an offer to release The Shins' 2001 single, "New Slang", and their debut album, "Oh, Inverted World". The group spent the rest of the year touring. The release of singles such as "Know Your Onion!" and "The Past and Pending" kept The Shins' success going into 2002, cementing "Oh, Inverted World" as one of the definitive indie-rock albums of the early '00s and The Shins as one of the genres most definitive bands. It received critical acclaim for its lyrically deft and jangly pop sound. The song "One By One All Day" was featured in the 2003 film A Guy Thing, starring Jason Lee. Two other songs from this album, ("Caring Is Creepy" and "New Slang") were featured prominently on the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garden State, starring and directed by Zach Braff, exposing the music of The Shins to a much wider audience. Their music was also featured in the television series The OC and the film The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. Oh, Inverted World appeared at #71 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of 2000-2004.

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