[00:00:00] Speaker A: You was born on a Saturday in 73 in the park. Right? Music on the fifth guitar with the short wind radio.
It's motherfucking Andy calling. Look at my fucking cup. Here he comes. Andy calling, wearing his own.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Welcome to unsigned five one eight. I am here with beached bodies. I have will and Shen.
When we first met, like you said, you introduced yourself as Shen. And I was like, did I hear Shan or Shen? And I'm like, I feel like it was probably Jen, but then. So I'm glad that I cleared it up to avoid embarrassment, which I'm now doing.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Perfect.
[00:00:48] Speaker B: Recorded for all to hear.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: We like to broadcast the behind the scenes, though.
[00:00:54] Speaker D: S h e n.
I'm not sean. I'm not Jen.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: I think you've been auto corrected. I think you've been autocorrected in a few articles to just shin, like, the body part. Shin. Just because clearly someone's word doctored that.
[00:01:12] Speaker D: You didn't know that I actually am the band the shins.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: That makes sense. So you came on my radar a while ago, but mostly, like, the show that you. It was what, last night as we're talking? Yeah, it was last night. Yeah. So I talked about it. I was looking through shows, and because I had heard the name and I was looking for some local things, and I was like, oh, they're playing. And I'm like, let me check them out. And I was like, I like them. Hey, guys, do you want to come on the show? And it was like, that easy.
And as I said before we got going, I don't do any research other than I've listened to the music. I've listened to your music on Spotify, and that's it.
I didn't even know your names until ten minutes ago. So I want to kind of out of my own curiosity, and the audience gets to benefit. Let's kind of go back and tell me about how beach bodies kind of came to, uh.
[00:02:16] Speaker C: Yeah, I'd say Shen and I were really good friends for a while, hanging out, and Shen had some ideas for some music, and I play instruments, and Shen was writing lyrics, and Shen sings and was like, could you help me put some music to this? And then we kind of became, like, a buddy film of the local music scene of, like, we're kind of like comedy, high energy.
Just like two best friends making music to have fun.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:48] Speaker D: I asked Will.
We were driving back from rock climbing, and I very shyly, because will has a lot more music experience than I did. This is the first band I've ever been in. And I very shyly was like, would you like to help me make this? And then will was just going to help me record a couple of things. And then once we kind of got to writing, he was like, nah, let's make this a thing.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And so when you. I've seen the Instagram video, and I love the energy, and I love how you said you've never been in a band before. And, I mean, clearly I'm much older than you. I'm 50, and everybody in my band is in their 40s or fifty s, and none of us have really ever been in a band before. Our drummer was 20 something years ago, before he started a family or whatever.
And we all just said, literally what you just said. If you said five instead of two, it's the same thing. It's like, oh, we're just a bunch of friends that are like, yeah, fuck it, let's do this. Be, like, super fun.
[00:03:52] Speaker C: Hell, yeah.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: And we have more fun that not taking yourself seriously is an art form, I think, in itself.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: No, absolutely. And it's like, we want to have a lot of fun on stage. We take it seriously. But serious doesn't have to mean not fun.
If you're not having fun, the audience isn't having, so. And you would never tell that this is Shen's first band based on Shen's stage presence alone.
Do you want to get into some of your hijinks?
[00:04:26] Speaker D: I mean, last night. Thanks, mom. She just made me, like, this really sick cape.
Yeah, it's gold and orange and I absolutely love it.
And our friend Abby, we had whipped out Kazoos before and handed Kazoos out to people. But Abby actually, for Christmas, got me a kazoo that has, like, a mic, so that way we can just plug it into the amp.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Electric Kazoo has, like, a little pickup mic you could put onto it and plug it directly into a guitar.
[00:05:06] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:05:07] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:08] Speaker C: Abby of bitch and Betty, just to throw a little shout out.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: Abby is the lead singer of Bitch.
[00:05:13] Speaker D: And Betty, which is will's other anime cover.
So we do a lot of that. I like to get down into the crowd, really pick on some people, and, I don't know, I like to dance. I really like just a stage where I can do a lot, where there's a lot of things for me to climb on.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: I think the first question shen asks the sound guy when we get to any show is, how long is the mic cable? Because I'm not going to be or.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Take it that one step further. And get, like, the Britney Spears head, right?
[00:05:55] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:05:56] Speaker D: Which would be amazing.
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Would be pretty incredible, honestly. Because shen is not going to remain on that stage through the duration of the set.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I do the same thing. Like, I play bass and sing in the band, but when I play bass, I have to go wireless. I have go Bluetooth for the same reason I like to jump off the stage or walk around and do all this stuff while I'm playing because I take it one step further. I can't have a chord and I can't play and face one direction the entire.
[00:06:29] Speaker C: No, yeah.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: I'm constantly, constantly, constantly spinning.
[00:06:32] Speaker C: See, I have a cable and I spin so much. And luckily, the thing about us is we do play. So it is shen on lead vocals, and then I am on electric ukulele. So there's no guitar in our bed. So it's an electric ukulele, which doesn't have a strap either. I just hold it, which does make, when I spin in a circle for a while in between songs, very easy to spin the ukulele after the song, to untwirl my cable, because I've definitely gotten myself twisted up.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: One time we were playing at rare form in Troy, doing a door show, and I was spinning around, and I kind of trapped my legs together and literally almost went down. I'd had a couple of beers. I almost went down because I snared my own legs together with a base cable. It was that day that I was like, I'm going wireless. That was too close. Too close.
[00:07:20] Speaker C: I love those rare form patio shows.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I love that place. So you were saying you play the electric ukulele, but on the recorded stuff, how does all that come together?
[00:07:33] Speaker C: Anything that you're hearing that you think is a guitar is an electric ukulele.
The drums are essentially drums, and the bass is essentially midi bass for a lot of it. Because I don't play bass very much.
So I play keyboards better than I play bass. So I could write a bass line better on a.
We, you know, do that kind of stuff. And we make backing tracks. We're a duo. We kind of pump really high impact Drummond bass backing tracks live. While I play electric ukulele and Shen sings over it.
[00:08:07] Speaker D: It leaves a lot more room on the stage for us to move around. We are aware that we're a duo, so we try and make the stage feel as full as possible with just our movements.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: Right? Yeah, I do the same thing. We just played or recorded an hour band show. It's a music show. We can talk about it off air, but everything was in ear, and they gave us these headphones. They were, like, super nice headphones, and I could not use them because I kept whipping them across the room because I would just get into the music, right?
Forget about it. Throw my head forward, and these, like, $300 headphones come flying off my head across the studio. And I'm like, I'm sorry, but the movement and the energy, and it's felt, too, not only in the live performances, but I can feel the energy and enthusiasm in the recordings. So do you guys diy all the recordings, or do you go somewhere? How does that.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: I don't know if you want to tell them, but we essentially do have someone who has a great home recording system, but we produce and record it all ourselves.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Cool.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: Using their stuff, which is really awesome. And it's great to have that resource.
[00:09:24] Speaker B: So you write everything yourselves? You record everything, you know, not all of them. Or maybe you write them all the same, but, like, a typical. Like, does it start like, shan, do you have lyrics for it? And then will comes in and you like, that's how it.
[00:09:42] Speaker D: Basically, I pretty consistently am writing just whenever.
And sometimes I come across something where I'm like, oh, actually, I want to present this to Will. And so usually during a practice or something, I will be like, I've got a new one here.
Can we work on maybe getting a riff for it? So I come up with the lyrics, the melody, and then will is really good about finding a groove for it.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: So you like, or whistle general, full.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: On sing the song, basically. Just sing it once.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Have the whole thing in your.
[00:10:32] Speaker C: No, they'll have the whole idea for the entire song, and shen will just sing the entire thing to me, and I'll just think, what chords will work under this? What groove will work under it, what little riff or whatever.
But it is a good 50 50 writing process, even when I'm writing the music. And then as we go into the. Because that's kind of, like, the basis as a band that doesn't have a band.
We actually have to record all of our songs before we can play them live, essentially. So then we really dive into the production stuff and go over little stuff of, like, I'll start writing the bass part and be like, what do you think of this? And sometimes Sean will be like, yeah, a little more bouncy or know. And we work off of each other.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: And when you play, like, what's the setup when you play out?
[00:11:19] Speaker D: I mean, you can really get into this a lot better. Than I can. But will has, like, this little broken amp and recently a bunch of very tiny pedals.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: Yeah. So I've been building a mini pedal board for the ukulele because it seems appropriate, and it runs out of a little tiny, somewhat broken Marshall amp that just gives you a great little gnarly, distorted tone for ukulele. And then besides that, it's just kind of running backing tracks through a computer with a stereo di. But that's part of the fun of it, too, is like, we walk up on stage as a ukulele duo. So they're like, oh, here comes this person and this dude with a ukulele. What are they going to do? Sing their little adorable pop songs? And then it kind of is suddenly a really loud, raucous show.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: People have asked us after the show, honestly, once a show, there'll be someone who's like, I play drums if you need a drummer. And it's like, obviously we love that element. I play in other bands. I'm a drummer myself.
But it's like, to keep that element of surprise is fun. It's easy to organize a band that's two people, too. Like, we have a good writing process between the two of us that introducing other people into a writing process can sometimes be tricky. Things like that, even just scheduling changes, it even just scheduling to schedule a practice or a rehearsal or recording time with three or four people is twice as hard as scheduling one with two people. You know what I mean? So that's also a big part of it.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: So do we want to play a beach body song?
[00:13:04] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:13:05] Speaker C: I think after that, we should start with our first song. After we say that we're loud and raucous. We should almost show our first song that it's our mellowest song to show where we kind of started.
Right? So you want to introduce that one?
[00:13:19] Speaker D: So this one coming up is secret messages.
I wrote it after.
This was the first song we put out together. I wrote it after a breakup with some french dude.
So that's why there's some lyrics in there that may not make a lot of sense, like notes post written outside your native language.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: Let's check out secret messages, beach bodies, and then we'll be right back to talk some more with will and Shen.
[00:14:10] Speaker A: You back of my ear are you saying what I want to hear?
Are you screaming our name in vain?
Memories leaking from your brain?
What has your friends said to you? Condolences.
Wish it was me comforting you tap once for no, twice to distract I think you sending me secret matches no posting outside your native language do you think about me more than you like to admit?
You crop your head off your boat and you lost it I spotted your casual espanage plausible deniability camouflage just keep clicking through my story just keep forgetting to hide me I wouldn't stop sneaking around you but the only way I could reach you whoa I think you're sending me sacred matches no folks, when I tell your native language you think about me more than you like to admit?
You crop your head off your post cause you lost it I think you're sending me secret message no folks when I tell your native language do you think about me more than I could admit?
You cracked your head off your post cause you lost it I never want to see you again but I miss you it all means I spoken at this room sometimes right before sleep but I talk to you you know I'm not always angry I never stopped having secret messages it started wish I be not I think of you more than private demon my heart roll out room where I left it I think you're sending me secret matches no force when I tell your native language you think of me more than you like to admit you crouch your head off your.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: Boat all right, so that was secret messages, beach bodies and that was your first ever single, correct?
[00:17:16] Speaker D: That's correct.
It was the first one that we put out and we kind of had this idea for ourselves that we were kind of going to be this dream pop band. And then we took a big turn once we electrified the ukulele, once you.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: Discovered pedals, once we discovered pedals.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: And then even the production changed, like that song has, you'll notice, like synth bass and that kind of stuff. And even though we're still work with Midi bass, we're using more real rock and punk bass tones and now, like real drum sounds on everything, so it's like real drums. So became much more raucous after secret messages. But we still love that song and play it live every set because it's bouncy, it's fun.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: So you've put out an EP since the single, and then you're currently working on a new album.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: Technically, we are working up towards recording a new album. And in the meantime, I think we're going to put out like a kind of a side, b side kind of thing, a couple, a pair of songs that go really well together that we have pretty much mostly recorded. So we're going to work on finishing up vocals on those, getting those mixed, and excited to get that out there. Into local radio stations and things like that, who've supported us, which has been awesome, right?
[00:18:35] Speaker D: We've started playing them at shows, but it's going to be very exciting to get them out there because both of them were actually written when I was a senior in high school. So they were sitting in the Google Docs for a long time and then it was like, it's time to get them out.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: We were talking a little bit off air before we got rolling again, how no fun is kind of where you got your start and threw yourself into the scene. So I do kind of want to, and I said, I'm like not going to ask any questions.
I do kind of want to, I guess, steer it a little bit towards that.
For anybody listening that is musically inclined or in a band who kind of thinks, oh, I wish I could, but how there are resources. You just have to put yourself out there.
[00:19:28] Speaker C: A venue like no fun is incredible because they do give opportunities to literally all genres. You can be as artistic and weird and out there as possible. So where we started was going to the weird ass open mics there, where they do sometimes a touring band will be in town and a band will go on stage and absolutely rip it at an open mic. And then you'll get noise artists and soundscape artists going up there doing weird ambient stuff, and they just let anyone express themselves, which is awesome. So we played one of those before we had the electric ukulele. We went up there, we sat on stools.
It was really awkward and uncomfortable, and it didn't feel like us, and we were kind of nervous. It was our first time playing and it went pretty terribly.
[00:20:17] Speaker D: I did not hear myself at all.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: That's the worst.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: We went out back out there, got the electric ukulele, got some distortion and some fun sounds, and came back to no fun for the same thing. Weird ass open mic.
And it opened the doors for us. We just had so much fun being able to move and hear ourselves and being loud because it's tough to mica Ukulele and things like that. So I was like, we need an amp. And then it enabled us to stand up and move and have fun. And then that's when the sound guy there kind of was like, reached out to a manager there and was like, we got to get these guys on an actual show. Like what they went from, from a month ago till now. I'm excited to see where they'll go from there. And they booked our first shows.
So we do owe a lot to no fun. And then going back last night was kind of like a little homecoming, so that was really fun as well.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: And it's funny how I say the five one eight has a great scene and everybody works together and there's not rivalries or whatever, but there's definitely, like pockets of different scenes. And I'm going to have to say Troy.
I lived in downtown Troy until probably ten years ago or so. I lived there for ten or 15 years and I was there when it was considered not great.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: Right.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: And it was kind of like coming into something where you could see something really happening where it was cool. And then I haven't lived there for ten years and now I'm like, I'm really fucking jealous of Troy so far away. There's so much happening there and it's such a cool part of the scene and it feeds the rest of the scene.
Yay for no fun and yay for Troy.
[00:22:13] Speaker C: No, absolutely.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Those things have just been really cool.
[00:22:16] Speaker C: I grew up. Not grew up at all, I grew up around New Haven, but I've been in Albany for the last ten years, so I've been here since there was the bogey scene in Albany, and Albany had a really strong hardcore scene and that stuff was fun. And then it seems like that's kind of gone away, which is a bummer. But Troy seemed to be a really good hotspot for the alternative artists in the area, and that's been really fun to see. And we've made connections with other bands. We're friends with so many other bands in the area. We play with other bands in the area.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: That's important, too. That's not something that you see everywhere.
I always saw being in radio, I was always looking at national scenes and it was always like, no bands help were helping each other.
Everybody was competing against each other. So I don't know if every local scene is like this, but I have a feeling it's not.
[00:23:13] Speaker C: No, absolutely.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Everybody is cool with each other and helps each other, and I love that.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: And I think it's getting better and it's almost easier to be less competitive in the local scene as a duo. In a weird way. I don't know why, but it's just like they're doing their thing. They're beach bodies. It's like we're kind of our own thing. So it's fun, right?
[00:23:36] Speaker D: Yeah, we fill our own little niche and we're just super excited to always get to perform with new people, old people.
It's just great to do shows.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a really fun part of it. And every time you do a show, your network grows.
You meet new people, you meet other bands. And I love. And they don't happen quite as much as I wish they would. But, like, multi genre shows where it starts off with a folk artist and goes into something and builds up and it goes into a hip hop artist and goes into a harder thing. And by the end of the night, it's like, I love the idea of those multi genre.
[00:24:25] Speaker D: We did put together a show at fuse box like a month or two ago where we had this idea for a pop night. And so we had Sydney Wordley there, kind of like indie pop, and then we had Camptron there, who's more like hip hop. And then it was us.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: They've both been on the show.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: That's awesome. But they both fit under. I feel like that pop umbrella, right? I mean, rap music is pop music.
And same with Sydney, makes, like, fun, upbeat hooks that wants people to dance to. I think the theme of that night pop is like, these are three bands that I think will get people dancing and we want to have some fun, right? Like you said, it's not the same genre, but it's almost a vibe and the same energy that feeds each other.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: And that's why I always say whenever I'm talking about multi genre, because I'm an old dude, I always go with, like, because I'm a punk rocker. But my next thing would be, like, folk and rap. Because to me, folk and rap and punk are kind of the same. They're all, you know what I mean?
[00:25:35] Speaker C: Counterculture, fun energy.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a lot of crossover from those three. So I like that vibe of like, that's my thing would be like, start acoustic and then build up into some shit. But, yeah, Camtron and Sydney worth. That's a good bill.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: No, it was really fun.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: That's great. So do we want to play another beach bodies tune?
[00:26:00] Speaker C: Yeah, I think hangnail.
[00:26:01] Speaker D: Yeah, let's get a little angsty in here. Show off those distortion pedals, right?
[00:26:08] Speaker C: We call ourselves power pop. Honestly, that's how we define ourselves. Like, they're big, loud pop songs, but with a lot of distortion and fun. So I think this kind of shows where we are now. Yeah, this is from our EP.
[00:26:20] Speaker D: Our EP. Ask your mom if I can sleep over.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: What a fun name.
That song's called Hangnail. You said hangout.
[00:26:29] Speaker D: It's called hangnail. Fun analogy, right?
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that is great. All right, so let's listen to hangnail, beached bodies, and then we'll be right.
[00:26:37] Speaker A: Back to wrap it up dust by shoving it under my bed?
You're the monster who crawls out and into my head?
Knowing everything that goes wrong?
Won't you tire of the haunt after so long, so long? I'm tearing at my finger, pulling out reminders? You're the hang there I can't grab? I bleed out? You're deeper than the scam?
I let go? You hold tight, you borrow when I seem all right, all right?
Close, sad, out at a painful edge?
Pop up when I'm good as a flashback wedge?
My heart gets started up again?
Then they say what you would have? I'm back, way back, back then I'm tearing at my finger, pulling a reminder? You're the hang that I can't grab? I bleed out? You're deeper than the scam I let go? You hold tight, you borrow when I seem all right, all right?
Escape and I nail bed?
You put the thoughts in my head?
I'm mostly scar tissue?
You made me the issue? And I'm tearing at my finger?
Pulling every mind?
You're hanging I can't grab, I bleed out? You're deeper than the scab I let go? You all say you borrow when I seem all right, all right.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: All right. So that was hangnail beached bodies and Will and Shan. I want to thank you both so much for taking time out of your day to come up here and hang out at the Tasselton and put up with Calvin and his.
[00:29:51] Speaker C: Calvin's the best co host his weird.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Podcast, dog energy, that he's got going today. Bye. But before we go, like I do with everybody, I just want to give you the chance to say what I refer to as your gratitude. So whoever wants to start.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: Do you want to go first? You want me to go first? All right, well, I'd like to start by thanking all the venues that have shown us support and the local collectives that have shown us support to help book us at those venues. We've mentioned no fun.
We've played fuse box, the DIY venues in the scene that I won't blow up their spot just in case, but places, collectives and record labels like Birdhouse and Super Dark, who put on awesome, just multi genre bills of all styles and fun.
Birdhouse, I think, is doing a SpongeBob versus Shrek party coming up, so I would definitely go to that.
Just thanking them for giving us opportunities to play with really cool artists.
[00:30:54] Speaker D: Yeah. And we'd like to thank all our friends who come to the shows. A lot of them have bands themselves there's el modernist.
Billy and the great western postal Service bitch and Betty.
[00:31:10] Speaker C: Grandma's.
[00:31:11] Speaker D: Grandma's.
Everybody that loves.
[00:31:17] Speaker C: Awesome. Yeah.
[00:31:18] Speaker D: There are way too many bands, right?
[00:31:20] Speaker C: And then just every person who comes to a show who's not in a band and just comes to support local music and checks us out, why we all do it. So. Absolutely.
[00:31:34] Speaker D: It's rad having people actually come and listen to us, because we're just people messing around on stage.
[00:31:45] Speaker B: All right, cool.
[00:31:46] Speaker C: And we want to thank you for having.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: Well, thanks.
So, Will and Shen, collectively known as Beach Bodies. I'm Andy Scullen. This is unsigned five one eight. I'll see you on the road.
Unsigned five one eight is produced and hosted by me, Andy Scullen. New episodes are available every week wherever you stream podcasts. If you'd like to help support the show, please like and subscribe wherever you are listening. Or you could buy me a
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Take care of one another, and I'll see you next week.
