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I had a mission to capture the vibe of this town and to try to put it into words. I can go ya one better, and show you a LIVING BREATHING DEFINITION in the guys who formed the band SHAVED. The first time I saw them play was at The Stage Stop for the MDA Benefit on my birthday. The one thing that set them apart from the very beginning was that they looked like they belonged in the same band. They are very much a cohesive unit, each one of them is a talented performer. And they’re fun to watch., giving their crowd a high energy, adrenaline rush that has been lacking in the local scene of late. This is a band that bears watching, they have the potential to be the next big name to come out of Memphis.
Joey has an amazing voice, possessing an intensity unmatched by any other vocalist on the scene. He sings from his gut, making you feel his angst, his pain, and his triumphs. A GUITAR PARADE!! I’m loving it-two guitar players. Devin has an impressive rack of guitars (Schecters, I believe), he’s been in Surrender The Fall, Page 13 and Cannon holds his own onstage as well. Jonathan is an outstanding bass player, spot on timing, every time. Jaymes bangs king hell out of his drums. With influences ranging from Motley Crue & Metallica to Incubus and BB KING, this band was arena ready before they ever hit the bar scene.
Their songs are mean in a funny kind of way, Leave- “I want you to stay but I love to watch you walk away. You look better from behind” Sister-“Your sister is better than you are….better than you’ll ever be”… hilarious… These are songs that I can easily imagine hearing on the radio.
This is a band worth watching, but don’t just take my word for it- Go see for yourself, Stock up on their merch-ya gotta love a band that has their own panties;) And learn the words to their songs so you can sing along at their next show! - Kimberly Peters - Memphis Entertainment and Music Writer
Discography
Singles: Unspoken (2006); Leave (2008) and Sister (2008) recorded by Jason Latshaw (skillet) at Leeway Studios. Mastered by Brad Blackwood at Euphonic Masters. Available on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, and Napster as the Shaved EP. Radio airplay featured on 93x (92.9 wmfs memphis, tn) (RIP), SL-100 (100.1 fm Dyersburg, TN) Homegrown Show, Z98 (98.5 in Tupelo, MS), and i104 (online radio, Los Angeles).
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Bio
Shaved is a heavy-hitting rock band out of Memphis, TN with a unique sound that is at once familiar, yet unlike anything you've heard before. The band was formed in late 2005 by Joey Kuykendall (vocals) and Devin Hightower (guitars). The two began co-writing songs that combined their love of the classic rock they grew up on with the hard hitting stadium rock sounds that never loses popularity.
Their first single, "Unspoken" was released to much local fanfare, and immediately received an overwhelming amount of play in the Memphis market and was followed with a scattering of local shows to support it. Through this time, Shaved went through several transitions and kept a low-profile while fine-tuning the band's sound and members. Jaymes Oakman comes through on drums, laying an aggressive foundation while Jonathan Fortenberry and his bass layer on the perfect amount of low-end, driving the rhythm. Combined with Devin's unique guitar style and Joey's raw and powerful lyrics, Shaved is as talented and dedicated a band as you will find anywhere.
After laying low for a little while to round out the line-up and write new material, the band came back hard in 2008 and spent the summer and fall of that year showing their diversity by opening for such bands as legendary 80's rock staple Tora Tora, Wind-Up Records artists 12 Stones, 90's indie-darling Garrison Starr, and local major-label act Egypt Central.
In the Fall of 2008, Shaved released their self-titled EP on iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and Amazon and followed up the success of that release by performing gigs with Tooth & Nail artists The Becoming and Wind-Up Records artists Papercut Massacre as well as a long string of their own sucessful headlining shows throughout Memphis, Tupelo, Knoxville, Birmingham, Murfressboro, Jackson, Dothan, and Cincinnati, just to name a few.
Just as with their last single, the track "Leave" garnered significant radio play in the Memphis market and boosted them to several of those successful headlining shows. The song was also picked up and put into rotation on Z98 in Tupelo and iRadio 104 in Los Angeles.
With a combination of nonstop high-energy performance and stage antics that sometimes border on the theatrical, Shaved is unlike any band around.
As Shaved gears up for a long list of tour dates for the late summer and fall, the future holds big shows and bigger plans.
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