Shanti
Gig Seeker Pro

Shanti

| SELF

| SELF
Band Pop Singer/Songwriter

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Artist's debut CD glows with her love of life and profound sense of peace"

To Judge from the radio play lists and music videos on MTV, pop music is cynical, over-processed, fake and sex-obsessed. From whence, then, comes Shanti Wintergate?
Armed only with a guitar, a sweet voice, and a song in her heart, this songstress smashes the "pop princess" and "girl with guitar of piano" stereotypes currently saturating the airwaves.
Shanti's debut CD This Moment (Allone Records, $10) reflects her earnest inner life and her fierce independence. The daughter of a musician and an actress, she didn't have a team of songwriters writing for her, nor an unlimited studio budget, nor a million dollar ad campaign.
She produced the CD herself. A DIY pop artist, Shanti even turned down a tentative offer from a major label for a demo deal, saying in a recent interview for Desert Post Weekly, "They didn't want to let me keep the rights to my songs. I would rather just do it myself."
This Moment's attitude is upbeat, with a profound love of life as it's central theme. It's a pop album that rocks as hard as, say, No Doubt at times. Some songs are catchy numbers like "Lifetime," and some are softer ballads. "The Beauty," which was featured on the WB series Charmed, is an infectious tune about the essential beauty of living.
"I really like music that makes you either bop or rock," she explains. "Hopefully my album makes you want to do both."
Shanti said she admires artists whose voices are well honed musical instruments, citing Billie Holliday, Frank Sinatra, and Nat "King" Cole as favorites. Her influences include plenty of contemporary names, too: Madonna, U2, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Brian Auger and Cheap Trick, to name just a few. "Of course we can't forget Elvis or Roy Orbison or the Beatles," she adds.
And speaking of the Beatles, at times it seems as though Shanti may be the spiritual heir to George Harrison, whose later work was devoted to evoking a mood of “peace that passeth all understanding.”
Shanti’s lyrics show a woman in search of contentment who prefers to see the perfection in life beyond the appearance of pain and sorrow. Even when she sings about heartbreak, there’s a hint that someone else may be out there for her. She may go through a dark time, but she sees light at the end of the tunnel.
One explanation for Shanti’s refreshing take on life may be that she moved from Hollywood to the mountains of Idaho at the age of 8. For some kids, the move would have meant deprivation, but “for me it was amazing. I went from playing in a 400 square foot yard to having a whole national forest as my back yard. I would ride my horse for hours every day. I grew up skiing and snowboarding on some of the best snow in the winter and rafting and wakeboarding in the cleanest lakes and rivers in the summer. What more could you ask for?”
But what seems like unadulterated innocence is contradicted when you ask Shanti about her childhood. As it turns out, she traveled all over the world with her parents, including Third World countries where she witnessed hunger and grinding poverty first hand. No, the woman is no Pollyanna, Her optimism isn’t about innocence that’s never been punctured, but something deeper.
When Shanti was 14 she contracted a rare, violent strain of meningitis that brought her close to death. “ I experienced the light and everything that went along with it,” she explains. “And being given a chance to either be finished and move on or come back and share myself, I chose to come back.”
After the illness passed she felt that “there was something I had to do in life but wasn’t sure what…. The things that seemed important to me before didn’t matter anymore. What was important was to enjoy my life.”
Ultimately, the woman is singing about enlightenment, pure and simple. And the songwriter walks her talk. “I really try to live my life from moment to moment,” she confides earnestly. “because I feel that it’s truly all we have… The songs are just a reminder to myself and anyone else that all we really have is now, this very moment—and anything can happen.”
Shanti’s album can be purchased on her Web site, www.shantimusic.com
-Paige Holt
- Desert Post Weekly


"Shanti"

Looking for something more upbeat to accompany your power yoga, or just some post-workout musical mood maintenance? Pop in independent LA artist Shanti's debut, This Moment- a 9-song collection of soaring pop hooks and surprising emotion the LA Times recently hailed as a 'sassy pop gem'. Lyrics like "I don't need to be anyone but me, and that's exactly who I'll be/All I see is part of me and the greatest love is inside of me" as well as the beauty of the acoustic cut, "Amazing" illustrate the spiritual side of this twenty-four-year-old yogi who not only has something to say, but wields a voice and heart big enough to say it with. The potent combination leaves imprints in unsuspecting listeners' heads long after This Moment ends. Ohm, Shanti!!
--Shawna Kenney - Yogatimes


"Shanti This Moment"

You know how sometimes you just want to hear a really good, heartfelt pop record? A record that gets you pulling the shades in the middle of the day and dusting of the air guitar(or, in mycase, the air drums) so you can bounc around for a little bit and shake a bad mood? Enter "This Moment." From the rock super riff opening of "Fool 4 Love" till the end, you'll be jumping and singing your guts out, caring less and less as the record goes on wheather someone outside can hear or see you. And if the universe is a just and fair place, Shanti will get huge and when I really want to hear a good, heartfelt pop song, I'll just turn on the radio. Extra props for putting out this record herself and being a lifelong vegetarian.
-Josh Hooten - Herbivore


Discography

"Stranger Days Stripped" LP 2009
"Stranger Days" LP 2008
"This Moment" LP 2004
"The Beauty" featured on the WB's Charmed
"The Beauty", "Today" and "Fool 4 Love" currently playing on LA's Indi 103.1!
"The Beauty" streaming internet radio play on AOL radio.
Various songs on rotation in South America (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador)
"The Beauty" featured on 100.3 the Q's New Music Lab (April 23, 2004)(Victoria/Vancouver BC CANADA)

Photos

Bio

Shanti, a pop singer/songwriter with lungs to die for, is one of those artists that you just can’t get enough of. Fresh off of the Vans Warped Tour 2008, she may be a pint-sized powerhouse, but it’s hardly her first rodeo. Her new self-released album, "Stranger Days," combines her edge with the catchy pop hooks that we love to sing along to. Deeper and more politically charged than her previous release, Stranger Days fires you up and then breaks you down. This child of musicians debuted onstage in utero, kicking to the drumbeat of her parents' band. Since then, she's licensed some of her music for use in commercial television, acted as a roller derby girl on "CSI: NY," and last year she and husband Greg Attonito, singer of the Bouncing Souls, published "I Went for a Walk" -- a children's book they wrote and illustrated together.

Stating as a child that she was the incarnation of Elvis Presley was only the beginning of Shanti’s road to success. Although her musical style isn't that of his, she does think very highly of the King. It's evident in Shanti's music that the sweeter side of rock n roll is a staple of her diet, while her soulful, powerful lyrics and vocals complete what is perfection. Listen once and find yourself driven by the beat and the melody, listen twice and you'll hear her depth, listen more and you'll be hooked!

Driven to make her mark in the music industry, Shanti released her first record "This Moment" on her own label Allone Records. After a number of TV/Film placements and radio play, Shanti was asked to be part of the 2004, 2006, and 2008 Vans Warped Tour, where she continues to build an eager audience. As part of the Warped Tour family, Shanti currently has items on display at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame's new exhibit, "12 Years of Mayhem: The Warped Tour!"

Although Shanti has presented herself mostly as an artist in the Pop-Rock genre, she started out in coffee shops, traveling the world with her acoustic guitar in hand. Her new album Stranger Days gives us the best of both of her worlds. Collaborating with producers Chris Wardman and Brad Haehnel, Shanti has created an album that will satisfy the fans of both her Rock and Acoustic shows. The album gives you music with a full band and full production and the same 12 songs in a stripped down acoustic setting, scheduled for release in Nov 2008.

In support of the release of Stranger Days Stripped, Shanti will be hitting the road with friends XO, Smile Smile and Paper Mache for an acoustic tour of the US this fall. Keep your eyes peeled for tour updates and help Shanti start a love revolution!