Shivering Timbers is a crazy great folk rock band that puts on an awesome live show. After seeing them at a show at the Kent Stage I made a point of making contact with Sarah, the lead singer and stand up bassist. The band was willing to answer a few of our digital inquiries here. If you’re in the Cleveland/Akron area be sure to check them out live at the show announcement at the bottom of the interview.
1) So for those not introduced to your music, how do you describe your sound?
We’re combining sounds from all music that interests us — rocknroll, folk, gospel, blues, touches of bluegrass, some punk and experimental, plus nursery rhymes and child-thematic… it’s all in there.
2) It seems like “Generations” is growing into a “hit” for you all. Can you tell us a little about the background to that song?
I (Sarah) wrote that song during a time of insecurity and fears about the future. I guess it’s a coming-of-age song for grown-ups. It’s a song of survival and commitment to your family. It’s interesting how it turned out on the album, the way Collin DuPuis mixed it because we’d placed the mices improperly on the drums and had too much cymbal. He mixed it to get some of that out, and it gave the drums an interesting kind of boxy sound. It changed the feel of it, but we went with it because we didn’t have time to re-record the whole song. We didn’t hate it, so we let it be. Sometimes accidents happen, that end up being alright.
Jayson and I both started playing in bands in our late teens, evolving through various genres. When Jayson and I met, we were in vastly different bands, eventually we came to writing music together. It took some time to evolve our sound, and figure out how we fit together, which is what we were working on when we made the first album.
No, I love it. It’s not that bad, we use a trailer to haul gear, and the bass lays on my daughter’s old crib mattress, padded by body pillows! It doesn’t have a name yet. My old bass didn’t earn a name until it almost died…Jayson tripped over a haybale carrying it at a party and snapped the neck off. It earned the name Dixie after that. I had it glued back on, then traded it for our trailer. Same with the only car I ever named, an old mustang that I unfortunately wrecked, then rebuilt with my dad.. Only when it’s in a state of despair does a name come out. That’s similar to my songwriting process…
We try and put as much passion into our live shows as we do when we initially write the songs. So coming to hear us perform is really the best way to get to know us as a band, and as people.
Upcoming Show:
Friday March 22 8:00pm
Mahall’s 20 Lanes 13200 Madison Ave. Lakewood, OH
With The Womack Family Band, and Angela Pearley& The Howlin’ Moons
Tickets $6.00 / $8.00 under 21; online through Ticketfly
