SUM: Hi Shanahan, glad to have you here with us. Let’s begin with your age and where are you from?
Shanahan : I am 25 years old from Connecticut, USA just out side of New York City.
SUM: How is the support towards your music from your country, and how is the support from your country to Electro and Dubstep in general?
Shanahan : Right now I am in the middle of rebuilding my brand from “ Jake Shanahan “ to just “ Shanahan. “ You would think going from such a small change would be easy, but it’s truly been very hard to almost “ restart. “ Reason being, my brand got hi jacked 6 months ago by a fellow in Italy, that will remain nameless. All my unfinished songs and hard work was stolen from soundcloud, along with twitter, instagram, dropbox, emails, etc.
But with that aside the support in my country right now is great, I just need to gather my momentum that I had with my old brand over to the new, and things will be back to normal. To be honest, I am getting most of my support from other countries, such as Guatemala City & The Netherlands in particular. I love the support mainly from Guatemala, because the fans reach out to me through emails or inboxes and are always so supportive of my work.
Electro is huge in the Boston area, every time I play there all I play is, “Bass.” But when I play in New York City I tend to play more, commercial or progressive if you know what I mean! I personally don’t have much to offer as far as dubstep, I’ve never played it and unfortunately never will! I have no problem with that artists involved, its just not my cup of tea!
SUM: Tell us how “Shanahan” came to be? How would you define your style and who/what are your musical influences?
Shanahan : Like I stated before, Shanahan came about due to my original brand being hi jacked and completely ruined by a guy in Italy. I always thought about making my brand shorter and stronger named, and I feel Shanahan is a better suit for me now. It’s easier to brand on t-shirts & other merchandise later down the road. I am a graphic designer also, but for this brand specifically I worked with my good friend, Klangwelt Design. They did a fantastic job on helping me re brand my ideas into a solid design.
My style is honestly all over the place, and I mean that in a good way! I personally love showing my versatility; going from tech house, trance, all the way to break beats sometimes. Why make one genre your whole career? That’s boring! I love making anything that just makes the song, “great.” Anyone can produce a genre really, it’s just the matter of fusing different genres into one major song, that’s what makes a song, “great.” Many people right now are so stuck in that “hard style drop” genre and it’s starting to make me sick! This just shows how artists roll with the what’s hot genre, and I’m personally not into doing that. When stuff like this happens I take this time to show other styles that I believe in, while other people are stuck in this what’s hot genre still!
My musical influences right now are slim to be honest! I haven’t been on beatport much the last few months as for me EDM went through a spell of “junk.” There is nothing I can do, but continue to grow into the artist I want to be and not follow what other artists are doing, because that will get you no where in the long run! But really, there is only one artist that truly has made me continue to push forward, that’s BT. BT is one of the only artists I have followed from the beginning, he is a true person, he is no bullshit! When you listen to a BT records it’s next level it almost doesn’t make sense when you compare his work to what’s on, “beatport.”
SUM: How many hours a day do you see yourself doing your magic in your studio?
Shanahan : This varies every single day! When I was 18-20 years old I would be in the studio 7 days a week for over 12 hours a day. I would skip school, or skip parties with friends, events, whatever it was just to play on my hardware! Some days I would have to work all day then take a break for dinner and get in bed, but then at 2am something pops in my head! I have to grab my headphones and fire the studio back up to complete what’s in my head or I will never sleep!
Now, things have changed I have a lot more going on in my life including my own graphic design business. Lately I get up at 8am start my day with the gym, then lock my self in the studio until about 4-5pm. I try to complete a nice 8-hour day of straight work and then give my self a break at night to hang out with my girl friend Emily and family!
SUM: 4 Years ago, you remix “Siberia”, one of Monolythe’s most successful releases in their careers. How do you measure your growth as an artist, starting from that point up until now?
Shanahan : Four years ago is a long time in the music business. You can change your sound or find new sounds over night, so within a four-year period you’re a completely different artist almost! I do remember that track and was very proud to be apart of the release; it was a great track at the time. But now, I am positive I am on another level and extremely happy with how far I have come as an artist, without any help from engineers/co producers/etc. Back then, I was putting my self in a bind of genres, I tried making only one genre and that was really limiting my creativity. Now I literally have no boundaries and just make a good song, regardless of what genre or what sounds are within the record!
SUM: What are your top 3 tracks at the moment?
Shanahan : In the last few months unfortunately there haven’t been too many records that I went, WOW! Again, due to the “hardstyle drop” explosion that took over EDM!
– BT “ SKYLARKING “ is on another level.
– TJR “ ODE TO OI “ is bouncy as hell!
– HOT MOUTH ft. CHRIS JAMES “ TOTALLY WORTH IT “ ridiculous production!
SUM: If you had the opportunity to collaborate with one artist, who would it be and why?
Shanahan : That would be easy, BT. He is on another level then everyone in EDM. A lot of artists are just going for what’s hot! I know for a fact that BT is going for what is in his heart and what he truly cares about when he makes music. He is one of the original pioneers of dance music and I can’t express how much respect I have for Brian for the style music he has continue to give all his fans. To collaborate or sit down with him in the control room would be a dream come true!
SUM: What is coming next?
Shanahan : At the moment I am literally making a ton of original tracks and not sending too many out to labels, I am letting this genre take over at the moment try to settle. Then I will attack labels with my new original work, right now majority of labels are stuck within what’s hot. Which is understandable, they want to make money and be popular!
I have a collaboration and an official remix coming out soon for one of the biggest artists in the world that I cannot announce yet. It’s going to be a game changer for my brand, and will be one of the biggest steps in my career, I am very excited.
I am also going to start to play out a little more. I love being in the studio but it’s time to play some of my new material out and see what the reactions are!
I plan to start focusing on releasing on certain labels instead of shopping all around, I had two releases on Hardwell’s imprint a couple years ago and I plan to continue to work with them!
SUM: How do you see Electro House evolving the coming 5 years?
Shanahan : Electro House is a great genre, just for me to continue to stay involved with its genre; I want it to evolve into something more with a story line. Almost like progressive house tunes that go on for 6-8 minutes they have a story to them. Electro tunes right now are just bang, boom, holy shit, and boom, done. You know what I mean!? I want more story within the tracks and more thought musically of why the song works. Most artists actually don’t even think about this during the production process!
SUM: What is your biggest passion apart from music, tell us a bit more about you as a person.
A: I just love being around family. I am a home guy, I don’t love being away too much. I love going out and seeing new things and having fun, but for me the comfort of home and family is my top priority. Like I said above I also run a graphic design business, and put a lot of hours into that career on top of music! On the side I actually watch a lot of sports, mainly hockey, baseball, & football. I was a big athlete when I was younger, and all my time went into sports!
5 Random Questions
SUM: If you were lucky enough to win the lottery, what would you do?
Shanahan : That’s easy! I would go spoil the hell out of my family first. Specifically my brother, he is the hardest worker in the world. I would buy him everything he wanted, and then take care of my parents with what ever they want. Then, I would take care of my self and what my girl friend and I want for our future. Definitely open up some sort of music venue, specializing in EDM. Lastly, customize one badass music studio of course! I would probably build a house somewhere far off from civilization to go to when I want to get away!
SUM: Name one expensive thing that you bought and now regret buying.
Shanahan : Tough one! I really don’t spend my money in crazy ways as of late! All my money is put into well thought out decisions and I am always looking to save money as much as I can. I don’t regret anything that I have done; I believe everything happens for a reason!
SUM: Which cartoon did you like the most?
Shanahan : Rocket Power & Hey Arnold!
SUM: Ben Affleck as the next Batman, thoughts?
Shanahan : No way!
SUM: Message for your fans?
Shanahan : Don’t follow others, make your own brand/style and be passionate about what you believe in only. Never give up on something, when its hard and not going your way you need to work harder, it will happen only if you want it.
