This week DeBraun Thomas profiles keyboardist Jim Shaw of Wol and Weeps.
Jim Shaw is a native of Lexington who got his start playing music at an early age. Shaw says music was something that was pushed by parents more on his sister, which gave him the ability to be extremely creative at a very young age.
“I would take a boom box, record something into the boom box, then have that boom box playing while playing along with it into another boom box and like do some kind of primordial multi-tracking and it was kind of cool because there was no pressure and my sister had all this pressure to become this great concert violinist and, you know, they didn’t care what I did, so I ended up really focusing on the moment of creation and improvisation and all that stuff and I like the way it turned out.”
In 2010 Shaw decided to change directions musically. For years he had played guitar in bands, but never utilized his ability as a keyboard player. With the help of Mike Joyner and Dave Cobb, he formed the band Wol and Weeps. In the band, Shaw says he gets to really tap into his experimental creative side.
“So I decided sorta to create a band around playing keyboard, so with Wol and Weeps I play bass, I play two amps essentially, bass in one amp with one keyboard and the treble side in a guitar amp with the other hand and sometimes it’s the same thing, sometimes it’s different keyboards, you know, different sounds, so that creates, already creates sort of a unique thing compared to all of the guitar trios, you know, around town.”
In addition to performing with Wol and Weeps, Shaw also has another project called Recipe for Gamma Rays featuring Blake Cox and Mike Joyner. With two different bands, there are two different styles of recordings. Shaw says the plan for both bands is to finish the recordings and have them available in 2016.
“With Recipe for Gamma Rays we’ve actually done full sit down and do all the parts, Wol and Weeps tends to start out as my, I do all the parts myself and then the plan is to replace those parts over time with the actual musicians, but, yeah, we plan to fix up the recordings and then maybe sometime next year put out a first album of tunes, we have plenty of tunes to have a full albums worth.”
Jim Shaw performs with Wol and Weeps and Recipe for Gamma Rays. Wol and Weeps will be performing at Al’s Bar on October 24th and Recipe For Gamma Rays will be at Best Friend Bar on November 13th. More information about Shaw and his projects can be found on facebook.
