Shangri-Lass is the solo project of Rose Love, bass player with Sister Wives and Over & Over is her recently released EP, (reviewed on Joyzine at the end of April). It’s a stellar debut full of energy, 60’s panache, glorious tunes and harmonies all brought together in a bravura fusion of the acoustic and electronic.
Joyzine is beyond chuffed that Shangri-Lass was willing to take on our ‘10 QUESTIONS WITH…’ feature, and she has risen to the challenge with 10 standout answers, including an early love of East 17 and the Spice Girls, the influence of the 60’s group The Shangri-Las on her (“they were punk before punk”), first gig nerves, who she would love to collaborate with and how the Over & Over EP has changed her approach to making music.
1. What is your earliest music-related memory? What do you remember being played at home when you were a child?
My earliest music memories are of dancing in church, doing some kind of freestyle solo ribbon dance! Less embarrassing early memories are of Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen being on in the car with my dad, with me and my friend in the back doing impressions of Leonard Cohen as a muppet because we thought he sounded like one of the Muppets.
2) What was the first record that you ever bought? Where did you get it and do you have any recollection of the experience?
My first CD single was Stay Another Day by East 17, given to me by someone we lived with and I wrote the names of each of them on the cover next to their heads haha. That cd is long gone but I still love the song!
3) When did you really start to develop a passion for listening to music? How did that come about and what were you into at the time?
I was obsessed with the Spice Girls and used to trade cards and stuff which is pretty passionate. But I think it got more personal when I was about 10 maybe, after I got this Billboard 1970s compilation from a big CD warehouse which I played on repeat! It had Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and Can The Can by Suzi Quatro and loads of good tunes on it, still some of my all time faves. I was watching a lot of those Best of 1970s, ‘80s, ’90’s TV shows with my mum at the time too on Friday nights which definitely nurtured my love of old music and was why I wanted that CD at that age.
4) What was the first gig that you went to? Where was it and what was it like?
The Pilfers at Joseph’s Well in Leeds, it was a fun first gig to get taken to by a friend’s dad but I wasn’t a fan so don’t really remember it. I saw The Locust at that venue a couple of years later though which was much more memorable!
5) What are your memories of starting out making music? What was the first song that you learned to play?
Not sure of the first song I learned but I had piano lessons with this cool teacher who taught me how to play the snowman and stuff but also Roy Orbison and other classics. I remember really loving lessons when l got a boogie-woogie piano book, the only song I can remember from it now is Night Train but I played that a lot. I’d write little things on the piano sometimes too but just messing about.
6) What was your first band? What music was influencing you at that time? What are your memories of playing your first gig and are there any recordings out there?
My first band that managed to play a gig was called Los Pecadores (JZ: tr: ‘The Sinners’) and I was mega nervous. I was also wearing this leather cat-eye mask that I’d made, badly, and couldn’t see out of to see which keys to play haha. It was a surf/punk band so I mainly just hammered on one key and the mask looked quite good so it was a success. We were into Link Wray, Hasil Adkin, The Cramps, Germs, trashy RnR, surf and punk stuff. I listened to lots of different music then and DJ’d at a few nights playing that stuff but also psych, garage, soul, 70’s hard rock, proto-punk, funk, rhythm & blues, big band, just loads of old stuff! So all that was an influence, and some newer bands like Melvins, Electric Wizard, MGMT, etc too. There are demos that Los Pecadores did just after I left which I just found on Bandcamp, they’re fun!
7) Which band/artist do you think has had the biggest influence on your music over the years? What is it about them that inspires you?
This is really hard to answer so I’ll just answer it about the EP I’ve just put out and go with The Shangri-Las. Obviously my name is related but I’ve just always loved them. They were punk before punk, they did what they wanted and had a laugh at it all, doing piss-take covers and playing pranks. I love how loud their backing vocals are, how dramatic they sound and how much leather they wore!
8) Who are some of your favourite current artists? What do you like about them?
Off the top of my head & in no particular order… Tirzah, Ty Segall, Powerplant, Jack Name, Warmduscher, Alien Nosejob, Mandy Indiana, Slaylor Moon, Cate Le Bon, Divide and Dissolve, Oog Bogo, Big Break, The Shits, R. Loomes, Poison Ruin and Peace De Resitance. That’s who I’ve listened to or seen play recently and really buzzed off anyway but I’ve definitely forgotten loads! I like that they’re mostly pretty genre-bending and experimental with their sound whilst just writing well good songs! I’ve chosen Powerplant because I like that they mess about with their sound and whether punk, garage-y or dungeon synth, I love it all!
9) If you could collaborate with any other solo artist, who would it be and what would you work on together?
My first thought was Ty Segall & that we’d do some Hawkwind covers in various styles for a laugh. I read he’s a big Hawkwind fan too and his covers are often songs I really love so I feel like it’d be a dreamy collab. For me at least haha!
10) You have a new EP out, how has your approach to making music changed since you started out, and how has your sound developed over that time? Is there a particular song on the record that epitomises what you’re aiming to achieve or that is particularly special to you for any reason?
Well my EP Over & Over is the first release I’ve done as Shangri-Lass so it’s pretty fresh but making these songs has changed my approach to making music. I’ve been used to bands or duos where everyone has an input, even if it’s one person’s song, but with this it’s up to me to make decisions and oversee everything which is very different! The whole EP is really special to me, it’s my first solo outing and the songs are personal. Making music is an achievement in itself for me too, the aim is to just keep doing that really, making things I like and hopefully others will too. I really liked making this video, maybe I will aim to achieve greater video editing skills and the keys to the kingdom of lost footage.
Thank you Rose and I hope that the Over & Over EP is the first of many releases from Shangri-Lass.
Shangri-Lass socials: Twitter | Instagram | Streaming
Introduction by Paul F Cook
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