The Shy Guys, a local alternative and indie rock band, will play an album release show tonight at Local 506. Staff writer Kylie Piper talked to guitarist and lead vocalist Sean Neagle about the band’s formation and their new album.
Dive: When did you and other band member Gavin Welch start playing together? And when did you guys decide to form a band and add new members?
Sean Neagle: Well, I think it was the summer after eighth grade. That was when we tried to form a group. It started out with me, Gavin and a couple of other members, but it just didn’t really stick, and then the whole band kept on evolving, which resulted in our current band.
Dive: What was the recording process like for your first album?
SN: It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. It ended up taking up a huge amount of time, just recording, mixing and everything.
Dive: What was the most challenging aspect of the recording process?
SN: With the recording process, it was probably just making decisions on really minute details and mixing. And, for writing, I guess it’s just trying to get good inspiration and making sure everyone in the band is happy with what we play.
Dive: What was the most rewarding aspect of the recording process?
SN: It’s really nice to have the CD in hand because it’s just a physical representation of what we’ve accomplished.
Dive: Which song on the album was the most fun to record and why?
SN: Probably “Three Blind” because we could just make it weird and add a lot of extra stuff on top of it.
Dive: What’s your favorite aspect of performing?
SN: It’s really nice when the crowd responds well because you practice so much in an isolated environment, so it’s nice to know that it actually turned out OK.
Dive: What are you most looking forward to for the release party?
SN: Just having everyone that worked on the album be able to play it. We haven’t been able to play songs the way that we had them recorded, just with logistics and getting everybody available. So it’ll be nice to have everybody.
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