Christopher Shayne Excited For NC Debut Concert On Outer Banks [Interview]

OBX Entertainment: First, welcome in advance to the Outer Banks! Are you at all familiar with this area?

Christopher Shayne: I’m not! When Ed LeClaire from NP Productions said we were coming to North Carolina, I got so excited! I was doing my research to try and take it all in, and I was blown away. It looks like such a cool area to be. I got my restaurants picked out, my places I want to visit, but this will be my first time stepping foot on Carolina soil. 

Your website lists ZZ Top and The Black Crowes among your influences. Can you explain a little more about your particular style of music?

One of the reasons I’m excited to come out to Outer Banks is because the area is steeped in that southern style. That dirty blues of a guitar, a man, and a life lived. This undercurrent of blues is shared in the music of ZZ Top, the Black Crowes and various others. They’ve all got to put their spin on it, and so have we. Sharing their spirit in adapting these southern blues motifs has been an absolutely amazing experience.

There’s a strong country vibe, but clearly a lot of rock infused into the tracks we’ve heard. Maybe you can comment on the balance your songs seem to find between the two genres?

The balance between the two can be hard. I’m more based in the rock while Dave and Zach are more based in country. While we’re writing, it all depends on where the needle lands for it. Sometimes we can just hear “oh that song fits over here” while other times it goes the opposite way. We like that though.

As a listener, I like it when a band can stretch boundaries of genres and pull in elements that work. So we carry that want as listeners ourselves, and apply it to how we view our songs. This allows us to play in both fields, without feeling completely out of place.

Can you describe a bit about your songwriting process? (Does it start with a riff, a lyric, or just an idea?)

All of the above! Sometimes we’ll be messing around in rehearsal and someone will play something. That’s when I get out my phone, tell everyone to stop and we catch whatever it is. Other times, I just hear that ethereal “something”. I’ll stew on it for a day or two, and come back to the guys with my full idea ready to present.

That’s how “Give a Damn” started. I was so angry at the time that I was just thinking “I’m trying to remember…”. I became obsessed with the idea so much that I had to just write a song around it, and it was born! Other times, Dave or Zach will send me recordings of ideas, and I’ll do my thing over the top and it’s done in 20 minutes! All depends on the mood! We challenge each other to write something daily, so there’s always something new flying around.