Shannon and the Clams, Being Dead at Respectable Street

Independent music mainstays Shannon & The Clams are known for their feel-good, vintage-infused, garage-psych sound. Their sonics go from black and white to technicolor on their forthcoming new album, The Moon Is In the Wrong Place, produced by longtime collaborator Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Faced with the unimaginable sudden loss of singer-bassist Shannon Shaw’s fiancé, Joe Haener, in a car accident weeks leading up to their wedding, the project is a holistic exploration of grief and celebration of life coupled with the most expansive, exciting songs and arrangements of their celebrated catalog.

Shaw’s bandmates, guitarist Cody Blanchard, keyboard player Will Sprott, and drummer Nate Mahan, rallied behind her to create their most ambitious, emotionally searing work to date. The title is drawn from a conversation in which Haener, an astrology novice, attempted to ask if Mercury was in retrograde. This ominous precognitive statement became the basis for the record.

The Moon Is In the Wrong Place marks Shannon & The Clams’ 7th studio album together and showcases their 15+ years of tight-knit collaboration.

Being Dead — the Austin, TX-based duo consisting of Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy — announces its new album, EELS, out September 27th on Bayonet, lead single/video “Firefighters,” and a fall headline tour. Being Dead’s records are mosaics, technicolor incantations, each song its own self-contained little universe. And while the dreamlike EELS probes further into the depths of the duo Being Dead’s psyche, it is, most importantly, a 16-track record that is genuinely unpredictable from one track to the next. It’s a joyous and unexpected trip helmed by two true-blue freak bitch besties holed up in a lil’ house in the heart of Austin, Texas.

When Horses Would Run, Being Dead’s “glorious and timeless” (Gorilla vs. Bear) debut record released in 2023, took years to release. The final product was excellent and expertly polished, at odds with the live rowdiness they’d cultivated a reputation for throughout Austin and beyond across seven years of being a band. For the next one, they knew they’d have to do things differently. They decamped to Los Angeles for two weeks to record with GRAMMY-winning producer John Congleton, writing songs for the record until days before they left. The radical shift in process was welcome - a good balance and a challenge, Congleton helping them find new ways to work and helping peel back the layers on the core of their songwriting. Being Dead has grown from a duo to a trio live, including bassist Nicole Roman-Johnston who also co-wrote and recorded bass and vocals on several album tracks.

The resulting EELS is a darker record, tapped more into the devilishness within. It’s a more raucous, rougher ride sonically. There’s heartbreak, excitement, enchantment, dancing – we move through it all at a high-octane pace. Falcon Bitch and Smoofy never want to do the same thing twice on any song, and they don’t. This is never more apparent than on lead single, “Firefighters,” which might be the first of its kind told from the perspective of a Dalmatian who is overworked at their fire station. The pummeling, distorted garage rock ripper’s accompanying video by director URZULKA “came together through a group hallucination.” The band adds, “We love marbles and outdoor play and decided to get it on video for y’all. Making this was like creating an intricate handshake with all your buddies—riddled with inside jokes and giggles.”

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