Shannon Hurley
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Shannon Hurley

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""The Broad Majestic Shannon""


I've barely scratched the surface yet.

Shannon Hurley has recorded some of the most immediate, sophisticated and understated pop music I've heard on the radio since Damien Rice's 'Canonball'. The eponymously named title track of her 'Sunrise' EP, is rich, emotional and evocative and like a dutiful moth, I am deeply into its flames. Shannon, suspends belief when she claims that Sunrise originally felt merely, slight, a throwaway... It's final rich sound she generously credits to Guy Erez and Carmen Rizzo, who did the programming and as she says, "Made it absolutely beautiful, shining."

It is.

And she's absolutely way too magnanimous, that song is all about the melody, the voice and the lyric, despite all the neat studio tricks, that song, which has featured extensively on some of Los Angeles' best known alternative radio stations, would be fine unplugged, Sunrise could carry itself on a Kazoo.

An Indiana native and a graduate of music school in Colorado. Shannon's music career in Los Angeles began in 2001, no more auspiciously than where many begin and end. Playing a few songs at the various open mic nites around town.

She eventually released her first, self-titled EP in 2003. But it's the new Sunrise EP she is keen to talk about when we meet over chocolate cake at North Hollywood's Aroma Cafe...

"I wrote the four songs on Sunrise. "Where I Stand" was written a couple years back, and to me it signifies the unwavering confidence of love. "Sunrise" was supposed to be a throwaway track. We thought it was going to be a little interlude, like a bridge between the other songs. But Guy is terrific at getting great vocals, so all this emotion came out of that recording. "Garden Path" is on the first EP as well as the second- but on Matt's recording, you'll notice a difference -- we were in the middle of recording, and he said, "I think it needs more lines at the end". So I took a pen and scribbled new lyrics in the studio. So now there's a whole new section at the end. "Don't December" was written right before my boyfriend moved to Chicago. It's a lover's plea. It was a very emotional time for me..." Her thoughts trail off, and then she smiles, "I must have written 50 break-up songs in 6 months! The good news is that my boyfriend came back."

The EP closes with an idiosyncratic version of the Charlatans (UK), "Try Again Today".

Shannon is way too busy for my liking. Makes my head spin. She has toured relentlessly as a backing singer and keyboard player for unmentionably large talents.

She has formed a loose affiliation with several other female singer songwriters, called 'Don't Call Us Tori'. I see way too many female singers who seemingly wish you would call them Tori, so this comes as a great relief to me. Shannon laughs, "Don't Call Us Tori' started when I met Steve Leavitt and we decided to put on a show at Westwood Brewery. We put four female singer-songwriters on the bill to give the audience a cohesive show. We were coming up with names for the night and some of the ideas we had were just abysmal. "Chicks with Pianos", "Pianos on Fire", and "Lots of Vaginas" were our other options!" Some names need no explanation at all. "Now we do 'Don't Call Us Tori' shows the last Saturday of every month at Karma Coffeehouse in Hollywood. It's usually standing room only, the place is packed to the gills. The artists love playing, and the audience is terrific. Jakob Nielsen from http://www.nextbighit.com/ has been very instrumental in its popularity..he webcasts the showcase live from Karma. Chris Opperman hosts the show, Steve runs the sound, and I book the shows..."

The group are planning a compilation CD, and hope to take the show on the road in true showbiz tradition soon. And Shannon says, are always looking for new artists and are always open to submissions. From female artists that don't want to be Tori, I hasten to add.

Shannon is also working with Corey Leland, "the brainchild..." she says, on a music specifically for kids (like me!) project called Insects Rock. "Corey writes these perfect little 60s songs that are full of Beatle-y sunshine pop," she begins, "in every song, there's a little lesson, like "Why Would I Wanna Wear Diapers?" and "Mommy Can't Get You Everything". We played a six year-old's birthday party in Silverlake not too long ago. It was great fun."

Which neatly restores us to Los Angeles. She loves Indiana and travels there for friends and family when she can, but she is firmly ensconced in L.A. "I happen to love nature," Shannon says, "Griffith Park is one of my favorite places - I go hiking there almost every day. To see music, my favorite place is the Hotel Cafe. And one of my favorite restaurants is Palermo's, a little Brooklyn-style Italian place in Los Feliz. They have an accordion player who serenades you on Sunday nights."

And for Cup Cakes, a recent more serious interest of ours, she dares to say no to Yummy in Burbank, or Sprinkles in B - www.outsideleft.com


"KGRL's List of Influential CDs of 2007:"

KGRL's List of Influential CDs of 2007:
(Others on the list: albums by Kate Nash, Ingrid Michaelson, and Libbie Schrader)

Shannon Hurley - Ready to Wake Up

Libbie Schrader's friend, Shannon Hurley has put out a similar effort of masterful songwriting ability. Ready To Wake Up is sure to put listeners in melodic overdrive building layer upon layer of indie pop excellence. The record is definitely a must-own CD for lovers of indie-pop/rock.
- http://thetimemachineradioshow.blogspot.com


"Rolling Stone Declares the Best Bands on MySpace"

We thought it was high time someone made the definitive list of MySpace bands. So we asked for your help: And you guys nominated over 1,700 bands. We nearly lost our minds listening to all the tunes, but today we’re proud to announce the top 25. Winners come from a variety of genres: You’ve got your German industrial metal (B.O.S.C.H.), your silly/cool European-style lounge music (Los Super Elegantes), your Brian Wilson-esque child prodigy (Ryan Marks Productions) and an array of pop, garage, hip-hop, dance-rock and singer-songwriter stuff. Here, in alphabetical order, are the results:

* The Airborne Toxic Event - “Wishing Well”
* An Pierlé & White Velvet - “How Does It Feel”
* Astro Junkie - “Don’t Say Another Word”
* Band Marino - “Every Time I Make A Girl Cry I Know I’ve Done My Job”
* The Beauty - “Abbi”
* Bedtime For Toys - “Mona Lisa Pt. 2?
* bill - “Watercolors”
* BLACK AFFAIR - “Japanese Happening”
* B.O.S.C.H. - “Mehr”
* CosmoBrown - “Illusion”
* Couple - “Now That I Can See”
* The Fancy Claps - “Holly”
* Ferns - “Disaster Strikes Again”
* Kolja - “Let It Be - No Fears”
* Locksley - “Don’t Make Me Wait”
* Los Super Elegantes - “Je Suis Bien”
* Miniature Tigers- “The Wolf”
* Night Driving in Small Towns - “Close Encounters”
* Ryan Marks Productions - “High Tide”
* Shannon Hurley - “Sunrise”
* State Of Ohio - “Wasted in a Vase”
* Ultra Sonic Edukators - “Salle Green”
* The Voom Blooms - “Thoughts of Rena”
* White Shoes and the Couples Company - “Tentang Cita”
* Y.O.U. - “Break”
- Rolling Stone Magazine


"SHANNON HURLEY CONTEST SEEKS REMIXES OF HER SONGS"


SHANNON HURLEY CONTEST SEEKS REMIXES OF HER SONGS

Los Angeles singer/songwriter Shannon Hurley is holding a contest to find the best remixes of her songs for her new album, Ready to Wake Up. If you can imagine a brand new version of any of her songs, now is the time to show off your creative style. This contest is open to everyone. Soon, the "stems", or songs components (bass, voice, piano, guitar, strings/FX and drums) will be available for download and you can remix your own version of the songs. You can do this by adding your own beats and instrumentation or just remixing the original parts. For more information, visit http://www.myspace.com/shannonhurley

- Music Connection


"Shannon Hurley Artist Spotlight"

Shannon Hurley
The following QA with Shannon Hurley was conducted in June 2008 by spinmeister.

Having been featured on Rolling Stone Magazine’s declaration of the 25 best bands on MySpace, singer / songwriter Shannon Hurley, based in Los Angeles, California recently uploaded remix packs for several songs from her first full length album “ Ready to Wake Up” to the ccMixter under the moniker shannonsongs, where they were immediately met with the kind of love only the ccMixter community can give: lots of great remixes.

As part of her “ Call for Remixes,” she kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions so the remixers who want to be considered for inclusion on her remix compilation can get to know her.

Some great remixes of Shannon.




spin: First of all, thank you very much, Shannon, for making the the time to talk to us here at ccMixter. You’ve landed with quite the splash at ccMixter, but let’s go back to how things got started in your musical life. When did you first start singing and playing the piano? Was that back home in Indiana?

Shannon: Thanks so much for having me here at ccMixter! You are correct. I got into music while growing up in Indiana. I started playing piano in the third grade, but clearly I was never meant to be the classically trained, concerto-playing prodigy that all parents hope their child to be. The summer I began taking lessons, I was already flipping my piano lesson book upside down to see what the songs sounded like backwards and inverted. I thought the songs sounded more interesting that way. Also, I was already getting into pop music. I was ecstatic when I first learned how to play the chords to Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” on the piano. Then, as children do, I began to get restless. I wanted to try a new instrument. You know how musicians come to schools and introduce kids to different instruments? Oh wait, this is 2008, do schools even have music programs anymore? Well, I wanted to play violin, but my mom quickly rejected that idea on the grounds that me practicing a violin would be too wince-inducing. (laughs) I got back at her the next year when I picked up trombone!

spin: (laughs) Note to mothers everywhere: be careful what you reject! So how long did the trombone playing last?

Shannon: I played trombone all throughout college at the University of Colorado and got my music degree.

spin: At what point in your life did it become clear to you, that you were going to become very serious about making music and to start forging a career?

Shannon: When I decided to study music at CU, that’s when I knew I was serious about making it my career. I took an electronic music class and I always skewed it more to the composition angle. I was supposed to be practicing trombone, but I’d lay it down in favor of sitting at the piano and learning a Kate Bush or Tori Amos song. I also studied songwriting with Patrick Leonard, who wrote stuff like “Cherish” and “Like a Prayer” for Madonnna. I’m sure my trombone teacher wished I would have focused my efforts on trombone, but that was really just a vehicle to get to what I really wanted. It was like my heart was forging the way to what I was supposed to be doing.

spin: About when did you first start writing your own songs? Was that a watershed event, or did it sneak up on you?

Shannon: I didn’t start writing until I joined a band in Boulder called Jyemo. The singer and the guitarist wrote most of he songs, but they let me have a crack at one or two of the tunes. I felt the biggest rush in the world when it was time for us to do one of my songs. Of course, I look back, and the songs were not that great! (laughs).

spin: You obviously haven’t heard some of the stuff from my cutting room floor! What is the inspiration for the topics of your songs?

Shannon: From life, from love, and from heartbreak. When my boyfriend, who was also my bass player, left me in 2005, I wrote a tremendous amount. Songs proved to be my therapy, and I wrote at least fifty songs about my very sad and lonely state.

spin: (laughs) Poor you! Good bass players are hard to find!

Shannon: (laughs) By the second month, I was writing happier stuff again. Everything finds its balance! But Ben, boyfriend came back, and now we’re married!

spin: That’s wonderful! Other than heartache, do you have a typical process for writing your songs?

Shannon: I can’t really write away from the piano. So I start noodling around at my keyboard, and I sing over the top of my playing, and I find something that locks in. Usually it’s a nonsense phrase that will get me going, and I have to find words pretty quickly, otherwise it’s a lost cause. When I don’t find the words in a day or two for the musical phrases I have in mind, they can swim around for two years, and it becomes too precious. So when I have the beginnings of a song, I like to work very quickly.

spin: Does song writing come relatively easily to you, or is it a hard undertaking?

- ccMixter.org


Discography

"Ready to Wake Up"- 2007
"Sunrise" EP- 2006
"Garden Path" EP- 2003

RADIO AIRPLAY
"Dead Air" program/ Indie 103.1FM LA
"No Pigeonholes" program/ KKUP 91.5 FM Cupertino
"Face the Music" program/ KZFR 90.1FM Chico
"Indie Music Weekends" WIRN (online)
Desert Highway Radio (online)

Photos

Bio

"A gifted and talented songwriter and performer"
-Music Connection Magazine

"One of Rolling Stone's top 25 artists on MySpace"
-Rolling Stone Magazine

"Shannon has recorded some of the most immediate pop music since Damien Rice"
-OutsideLeft.com
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Recently named one of Rolling Stone’s top 25 artists on MySpace, singer-songwriter Shannon Hurley is making good on their word.

Shannon’s full length debut, “Ready to Wake Up”, is receiving airplay on Indie 103.1FM and XM Radio. “I put my heart and soul into this record. The reason it took so long to release a full length, quite honestly, is because I wanted to wait until I had a good enough collection of songs to make it worth the listener’s while. I think I accomplished that”, she says. Her alternative pop style has often been compared to Aimee Mann and Sarah McLachlan, but her songwriting and singing have lifted her to a place that is completely her own.

This Indiana-born musician has been playing music all her life, being brought up in a family of singers. Picking up piano at age 8, she then moved on to trombone. She graduated with a music degree from University of Colorado at Boulder, where she became the stage manager for Fox Theatre, where she met Julian Lennon, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, and Rufus Wainright, and consequently she became enamored with songwriting. She studied with Patrick Leonard (hit songwriter for Madonna) and moved to Los Angeles is 2001. Shannon is a sought-after session musician and spent 2005 touring with Universal Motown artist Brie Larson. This has given her the opportunity to open for Jesse McCartney, Gwen Stefani, The Black-Eyed Peas, and Gavin DeGraw.

Currently she is playing keyboards for international artist Marina V. In addition to these accomplishments, she is also co-founder for "Don't Call Us Tori!", a showcase for quality women singer-songwriters. These shows are held in L.A. venues such as the Hotel Cafe, the Derby, and Tangier.

Shannon was recently commissioned to write a song for the Getty Center exhibit, the Zuccaro Drawings, in which Frederico Zuccaro depicts the struggle of his artist brother Taddeo. Shannon performed at the Getty alongside Tom Freund, Jim Bianco, Beth Thornley, Priscilla Ahn, and Libbie Schrader.

Her full-length debut. "Ready to Wake Up", is available on iTunes and CD Baby.

You can say hello to Shannon at www.myspace.com/shannonhurleymusic