Shannon & The Clams

Mixing together the doo wop and early rock & roll of the ’50s, the dramatic girl group sounds of the ’60s, and punky snarl imported from 1977, Oakland, California’s Shannon & the Clams have came up with a sound that’s charmingly retro but never stale. Emerging on the Northern California underground/D.I.Y. scene in 2009, the band, led by vocalist Shannon Shaw, earned a reputation as a stellar live act, and came into their own as recording artists when they signed to the Sub Pop-distributed Hardly Art label for 2013′s Dreams in the Rat House and 2015′s Gone by the Dawn. The group edged closer to mainstream visibility with a trio of LPs produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys: 2018′s Onion, 2021′s Year of the Spider, and 2024′s The Moon Is in the Wrong Place. Formed in the late 2000s by vocalist/bassist Shannon Shaw, vocalist/guitarist Cody Blanchard, and drummer Ian Amberson while going to art school, Shannon & the Clams began playing shows around town and soon released a single on Weird Hug Records. They next hooked up with 1-2-3-4 Go! Records for their debut album, 2009′s I Wanna Go Home. Around this time, Shaw was playing bass and singing in Hunx & His Punx, too. After a 2010 full-length, Sleep Talk, for 1-2-3-4 Go! and a long string of singles, they moved over to Hardly Art for their third album. Dreams in the Rat House was recorded over the course of a year in various locales — including Nobunny’s practice space and a log cabin — and featured a tighter, tougher all-around sound. Shannon & the Clams’ reputation as a live act spread, and they toured extensively in North America and Australia. By the time of 2015′s Gone by the Dawn LP, Amberson had left the group and Nate Mahan (aka Mayhem) had taken over the drumming duties. Produced by Sonny Smith at Tiny Telephone Recording in San Francisco, the album was another step forward in sound and craft for the trio. In 2016, Shannon Shaw learned that Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys was a fan of the band and had recommended the Clams to an Australian promoter who made their Antipodean tour possible. When Shaw contacted Auerbach to thank him, the two struck up a friendship, and Auerbach signed the band to his Easy Eye Sound label. Auerbach also produced Shannon & the Clams’ first album for the label, 2018′s Onion. A few months later, Easy Eye also issued a solo album from Shannon Shaw, Shannon in Nashville. The group’s next project was created under difficult circumstances: Shaw wrote her share of the material while caring for her father, who was in failing health, and dealing with a persistent peeping Tom who had targeted her apartment building. Shortly after recording was completed in Nashville — where it was cut with Auerbach again at the helm — the city was hit by a tornado, and the COVID-19 pandemic put the recordings in limbo for several months. The album, Year of the Spider, finally emerged in August 2021. In 2022, Shaw was engaged to marry Joe Haener, a drummer who had worked with the bands Gris Gris and the Dodos. Only a few weeks before the wedding, Haener died in an auto accident near his family’s farm, and the group put their immediate plans on hold as they struggled with their loss. In the wake of the tragedy, Shaw and her bandmates began writing songs reflecting a desire for healing and beauty. The material was once again given a robust and artful production by Dan Auerbach, and The Moon Is in the Wrong Place was issued by Easy Eye Sound in May 2024. ~ Tim Sendra & Mark Deming