The Shabeen release debut album and announce tour

The band consists of Jon Shaban (guitar and vocals) and Ryan McArthur (upright bass and backing vocals). They were joined on this album by Thomas Glendinning on drums and Stelth Ulvang (of The Lumineers) on accordion.

“We decided on the name 'Folk Is Dead' as a play on the saying 'punk is dead'. We're essentially a folk band, but we draw a lot of influence from the ethos of the punk culture and bands who influence us are also described as being 'folk punk'. We value and embrace the DIY attitude and easygoing nature of it all. It's also a statement of how we feel about the current exploitation of the ‘folk’ sound as a tool in mainstream pop music. We feel that the current wave of folk/pop/dance/rock has become so far removed from the sincerity and unpretentiousness that folk music stands for. This is the same thing that happened to punk music as it became more and more mainstream - hence ‘Folk Is Dead’.”

The album was written in late 2014 and early 2015. Shaban plays a lot of solo gigs and it took a while to write enough material to separate the repertoire between his solo set and the The Shabeen's set. But once the band decided on recording a full-length album, they were committed to writing and choosing 12 solid tracks, which resulted in a consistent sound on the album. The album was recorded at Vanguard Studios in Hillcrest, Durban in May 2015 and engineered and produced by the band themselves. The album was mixed by Adam Hawkins at Right Heel Music in Denver, Colorado.

Honesty and rawness

The band drew inspiration for the lyrical content from life experiences and describe the album as upbeat folk/country music with a punk influence. The honesty and rawness found in their lyrics is quite different to what most bands are doing.

“We like to sing about things that are real and easy to relate to. It's important nowadays amongst the bullshit that the mainstream music industry is dishing out for someone actually to write music that people can relate to. It's not all about sex and love and how high you can throw your hands in the air before you care. There are things to be liked and disliked and things to be happy about and things to be angry about. If our music can make anyone feel anything, then we're doing things properly.”

Buy 'Folk Is Dead' at theshabeen.bandcamp.com

www.theshabeen.com