Kevin Shields
Encyclopedia
Kevin Patrick Shields is an American
-born, Irish
vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock
band My Bloody Valentine.
After My Bloody Valentine went on hiatus in the early 90s, Shields had got work remixing and producing various musical acts. He has also played sporadically with Primal Scream
since 1997. In 2003, he contributed music to the motion picture Lost in Translation
, and was nominated a BAFTA for his efforts. Rolling Stone included Shields at number 95 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarist of all time in 2003 as well. More recently, Shields had provided musical accompaniment to Patti Smith
's reading of her book The Coral Sea
. In 2007, Shields announced that My Bloody Valentine had reunited and were recording new material.
from Ireland
in the 1950s. He went to a Catholic school
that he has described as "a really horrible school run by psychopathic nuns." When he was 10 years old his family returned to Dublin to live close to the support of their extended family.
Shields has described the culture shock of moving to Ireland from the USA, reflecting particularly on the American consumer culture, saying, "It was like going from, as far as I was concerned, the modern world to some distant past." The one difference between the USA and Ireland that had a big impact on him was the marketing of music towards teenagers in the UK and Ireland. He said it didn't really exist in that way when he lived in the U.S.
in the 1970s. Shields continues to hold a U.S.
passport.
When Shields was 15 he was approached by a 12-year old who asked him if he wanted to be in a band. This band was where he first met My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. The band was called The Complex and they played "somewhere between Oi!
and older punk", Shields remarked. Expanding on how he developed his playing style he said, "I always just wanted to be like Johnny Ramone
. Just be really good at one thing. I think because I was never dexterous, and because I never really learned how to play a scale, or lead guitar, or anything, but because I still wanted to be expressive, that made me use the tremolo arm, which gave me something to work with for a long time. I really get off on hearing, I can't even really describe it, the difference between hitting the same chord one way or another way, and the subtleties within that. So in that respect, more so than flashier guitar players, I can play and it sounds like the amp is turned down real low, and then play and it sounds like it's on really loud. Control."
Customizing the tremolo system for Fender Jaguar
s and Jazzmasters, Shields manipulates the tremolo arm
while strumming chords. He has had the tremolo arm on his guitars extended considerably and uses tape on one end so that the tremolo arm sits very high on the guitar and is very loose. (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 26) With the tremolo arm in this position, his motion is not restricted, allowing him to strum chords without having to alter his motion to accommodate the tremolo arm. To thicken the sound, he plays through a Yamaha SPX 90 using a reverse reverb effect that inverts the normal reverb envelope without making the notes backward. (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 152) Augmenting his sound further, he cranks amps to exceptionally loud volumes and uses open tunings, causing speaker "breakup" and increasing sustain. Instead of the usual note bending with a tremolo arm, he achieves a kind of chord bending that Rolling Stone
described as, "a strange warping effect that makes the music wander in and out of focus". Fans who played the vinyl record of Loveless
were known to check the records for warping on first playing them. On the subject of 1991 album Loveless
Shields remarks, "the songs do have weird timings and things, but the textures come from the guitar tunings."
Shields has pointed out that he uses far fewer effects pedals and overdubs than fans and the music press sometimes make him out to use. He has noted many times in interviews that most tracks feature one or two main, albeit massive sounding, guitar tracks that give off many layers of sound. This has mistakenly led people to believe he uses multiple overdubs which he has repeated over and over is not how his sound is achieved, at least not before the Tremolo
EP. Although Tremolo and Loveless featured more sampling and sampled guitar, (Simon Reynolds
, NYTimes, December 1, 1991, Arts Section Pg. 26) one need only play around with a Jaguar or Jazzmaster and Yamaha SPX 90 with some strings in open tunings to get an idea of how he achieves a massive swirling guitar sound with one guitar that to some sound like numerous overdubs. Kevin's earlier recordings pre-Tremolo consisted mostly of one guitar during the chorus and then a guitar with a different tone during the verses. Tremolo and Loveless involved more sampling of guitars and synths. Shields explained, "Ninety percent of what we do is just a guitar straight into an amp." (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 25-26) "People think it's all pedals, but all my pedals are graphic equalizers and tone controls. It's all in the tone." (Steve Double, NME November 9, 1991, pg. 14) Various effects pedals mainly play a role when trying to recreate studio sounds in a live setting.
Many have tried to replicate the guitar sounds on Loveless, with varying degrees of success. Shields even had trouble reproducing the sounds himself, as his live guitar sounds at the time varied greatly from those on the record. He was known to try to duplicate the sheer power of the recorded tone by turning on-stage monitors to face the audience, rather than the band. The My Bloody Valentine regular set closer "You Made Me Realise" typically included an interlude using blasts of noise and feedback that could go on as long as 40 minutes of which Shields remarked, "It was so loud it was like sensory deprivation. We just liked the fact that we could see a change in the audience at a certain point". Many, including Shields, note that the Loveless
-era My Bloody Valentine shows were amongst the loudest rock concerts they had ever experienced. Fans even speculated that damaged eardrums had contributed to the post-Loveless absence of My Bloody Valentine.
In August 2003, Shields was voted the 95th greatest guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone
magazine.
For recent live shows he admitted to using 30 effects pedals to achieve his guitar sound.
When creating My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless
, Shields became a relentless perfectionist. Shields attributed the time involved to both their lack of resources (money to get their guitars in shape was one example noted) and simply not recording when there was no inspiration to guide them. So many mistook the main guitar track for ten to fifteen layered guitars. Most tracks ultimately were done in one or two takes with one or two main guitar tracks. The most notable exception is "To Here Knows When" which took months to create and even longer to mix. He went through 18 recording engineers before finishing Loveless
. Other eccentricities included not allowing the engineers to hear him or Bilinda Butcher
singing while recording. These drawn out, expensive sessions allegedly drove Creation Records
bankrupt, although Shields has refuted this claim saying many other bands on the label at the time were also to blame. Shields has commented that the extent of the contribution of the engineers was to get him tea and other gopher chores.
After Loveless
, My Bloody Valentine signed on with the major label Island Records
. Island ended up empty handed after financing the band for several years (finally spending approximately £500,000 according to Shields). Island cut off finances in 1997; however, Shields was still legally tied to the label until 2001 when the contract was finally terminated. In the meantime, Shields wrote many songs but never released them. The only work to come out of this period was two covers: We Have All the Time in the World
(Louis Armstrong
) on the 1993 Peace Together compilation; and a Wire
cover on the 1996 tribute album Whore.
Shields expressed interest in a reunion and releasing a new album with My Bloody Valentine. In an interview with Magnet
in 2007 he said, "We are 100% going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something. I'd feel really bad if I didn't make another record. Like, shit, people only got the first two chapters, but the last bit is the best bit. It's just that it's taken me such an oddly long time for that to happen." In November 2007 Shields announced that the band had reunited and that a new album which the band had started recording in 1996 was "3/4 finished."
This reunion came to fruition starting in June 2008 with two live rehearsal shows at the ICA
before a five-night stand at the Roundhouse in Camden
. The band played a number of festivals, including the Roskilde Festival
, Bestival
, and the Electric Picnic
. They had curated and performed at the 2008 All Tomorrow's Parties festival
in Monticello, New York
in September before playing a brief tour across the United States
and Canada
.
, Placebo and Yo La Tengo
. After working with Primal Scream
, he joined them on tour between 1999 and 2006, and had contributed to their albums XTRMNTR
and Evil Heat
.
Shields has produced and played on Dinosaur Jr
's Hand It Over (along with Bilinda Butcher
contributing vocals) and on J Mascis and the Fog
's More Light. He contributed (uncredited) guitar to the Manic Street Preachers
' 2001 album Know Your Enemy
on the track 'Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children'.
In 1999, Shields composed music, which includes "2", for the Canadian Contemporary Dance company La La La Human Steps
.
In 2003, Shields contributed four tracks for the Sofia Coppola
film Lost in Translation
. He was nominated for a BAFTA for his contribution to the film score.
In 2005, Shields appeared at London's Meltdown Festival with Patti Smith
, providing accompaniment to her reading of her book The Coral Sea
(a tribute to her friend photographer Robert Mapplethorpe
). This is available for streaming here. Live album The Coral Sea
released on July 2008. Patti Smith has said My Bloody Valentine was her favorite group in the last 15 years. He co-wrote and performed on some of the tracks of Le Volume Courbe
's debut album, I Killed My Best Friend
. Shields was credited as "Noise Consultant" for the documentary film, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
Shields has remixed and combined two songs for The Go! Team
, "Ladyflash" and "Huddle Formation" into "Huddle Flash, which can be found on the "Ladyflash" single. The band expressed their desire for Shields to produce their second album, although this did not happen. He remixed two songs by Bow Wow Wow
, for the Sofia Coppola
film, Marie Antoinette.
In 2009, Shields contributed guitar to the Paul Weller
song “7 + 3 Is The Striker's Name” from the album, Wake Up the Nation
.
In July 2010, Shields made a guest appearance on guitar at the Spacemen 3
reunion show (without Jason Pierce
) at the Hoxton Bar and Grill in London.
, was a member of Rollerskate Skinny
and Lotus Crown, and is co-director of landscape design practice, TTT (thirtythreetrees). He is currently in the band Wounded Knees
. Their sister, Anne Marie, has worked extensively in the music industry, managed tours for the brothers' respective bands, and was credited for "coordination" on Loveless. Their youngest sibling is shoe designer Eileen Shields
.
In the late 80s/early 90s, Shields and Bilinda Butcher
had a relationship, which they had discussed in various interviews at the time. Recently, Shields has been linked to Charlotte Marionneau of Le Volume Courbe
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born, Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
vocalist, guitarist, and producer of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band My Bloody Valentine.
After My Bloody Valentine went on hiatus in the early 90s, Shields had got work remixing and producing various musical acts. He has also played sporadically with Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
since 1997. In 2003, he contributed music to the motion picture Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation (film)
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
, and was nominated a BAFTA for his efforts. Rolling Stone included Shields at number 95 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarist of all time in 2003 as well. More recently, Shields had provided musical accompaniment to Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
's reading of her book The Coral Sea
The Coral Sea (book)
The Coral Sea is a book by Patti Smith, published in 1996.- Voyage :# "The Passenger M"# "The Throw"# "Light Play"# "Rank and File"# "Music "# "Staff of Life"# "After Thoughts"# "An Auctioned Heart"# "A Bed of Roses"# "Monkeyshines"...
. In 2007, Shields announced that My Bloody Valentine had reunited and were recording new material.
Childhood and formative years
Born in Queens, New York City to a mother who worked as a nurse and a food-industry executive father, Kevin Shields is the oldest of five siblings. Shields' parents immigrated to the U.S.United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in the 1950s. He went to a Catholic school
Catholic school
Catholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
that he has described as "a really horrible school run by psychopathic nuns." When he was 10 years old his family returned to Dublin to live close to the support of their extended family.
Shields has described the culture shock of moving to Ireland from the USA, reflecting particularly on the American consumer culture, saying, "It was like going from, as far as I was concerned, the modern world to some distant past." The one difference between the USA and Ireland that had a big impact on him was the marketing of music towards teenagers in the UK and Ireland. He said it didn't really exist in that way when he lived in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1970s. Shields continues to hold a U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
passport.
When Shields was 15 he was approached by a 12-year old who asked him if he wanted to be in a band. This band was where he first met My Bloody Valentine drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. The band was called The Complex and they played "somewhere between Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
and older punk", Shields remarked. Expanding on how he developed his playing style he said, "I always just wanted to be like Johnny Ramone
Johnny Ramone
John William Cummings , better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being the guitarist for the punk rock band the Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and remained a member throughout the band's entire career...
. Just be really good at one thing. I think because I was never dexterous, and because I never really learned how to play a scale, or lead guitar, or anything, but because I still wanted to be expressive, that made me use the tremolo arm, which gave me something to work with for a long time. I really get off on hearing, I can't even really describe it, the difference between hitting the same chord one way or another way, and the subtleties within that. So in that respect, more so than flashier guitar players, I can play and it sounds like the amp is turned down real low, and then play and it sounds like it's on really loud. Control."
Guitar sound
One of the most recognizable aspects of Shields' music is his thick and dreamy guitar sound, associated with his later recordings with My Bloody Valentine.Customizing the tremolo system for Fender Jaguar
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar introduced in 1962. A descendant of the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar quickly caught on in the emerging Surf music scene...
s and Jazzmasters, Shields manipulates the tremolo arm
Tremolo arm
A whammy bar, tremolo arm/bar, or vibrato arm/bar is a component of a guitar, used to add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the strings, typically at the bridge or tailpiece...
while strumming chords. He has had the tremolo arm on his guitars extended considerably and uses tape on one end so that the tremolo arm sits very high on the guitar and is very loose. (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 26) With the tremolo arm in this position, his motion is not restricted, allowing him to strum chords without having to alter his motion to accommodate the tremolo arm. To thicken the sound, he plays through a Yamaha SPX 90 using a reverse reverb effect that inverts the normal reverb envelope without making the notes backward. (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 152) Augmenting his sound further, he cranks amps to exceptionally loud volumes and uses open tunings, causing speaker "breakup" and increasing sustain. Instead of the usual note bending with a tremolo arm, he achieves a kind of chord bending that Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
described as, "a strange warping effect that makes the music wander in and out of focus". Fans who played the vinyl record of Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
were known to check the records for warping on first playing them. On the subject of 1991 album Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
Shields remarks, "the songs do have weird timings and things, but the textures come from the guitar tunings."
Shields has pointed out that he uses far fewer effects pedals and overdubs than fans and the music press sometimes make him out to use. He has noted many times in interviews that most tracks feature one or two main, albeit massive sounding, guitar tracks that give off many layers of sound. This has mistakenly led people to believe he uses multiple overdubs which he has repeated over and over is not how his sound is achieved, at least not before the Tremolo
Tremolo (EP)
Tremolo is an EP by My Bloody Valentine, released in February 1991 by Creation Records. The title is a reference to the band's heavy usage of guitar tremolo and vibrato to create blurred, dreamlike tones...
EP. Although Tremolo and Loveless featured more sampling and sampled guitar, (Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
, NYTimes, December 1, 1991, Arts Section Pg. 26) one need only play around with a Jaguar or Jazzmaster and Yamaha SPX 90 with some strings in open tunings to get an idea of how he achieves a massive swirling guitar sound with one guitar that to some sound like numerous overdubs. Kevin's earlier recordings pre-Tremolo consisted mostly of one guitar during the chorus and then a guitar with a different tone during the verses. Tremolo and Loveless involved more sampling of guitars and synths. Shields explained, "Ninety percent of what we do is just a guitar straight into an amp." (Alan Di Perna, Guitar World, March 1992, Pg. 25-26) "People think it's all pedals, but all my pedals are graphic equalizers and tone controls. It's all in the tone." (Steve Double, NME November 9, 1991, pg. 14) Various effects pedals mainly play a role when trying to recreate studio sounds in a live setting.
Many have tried to replicate the guitar sounds on Loveless, with varying degrees of success. Shields even had trouble reproducing the sounds himself, as his live guitar sounds at the time varied greatly from those on the record. He was known to try to duplicate the sheer power of the recorded tone by turning on-stage monitors to face the audience, rather than the band. The My Bloody Valentine regular set closer "You Made Me Realise" typically included an interlude using blasts of noise and feedback that could go on as long as 40 minutes of which Shields remarked, "It was so loud it was like sensory deprivation. We just liked the fact that we could see a change in the audience at a certain point". Many, including Shields, note that the Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
-era My Bloody Valentine shows were amongst the loudest rock concerts they had ever experienced. Fans even speculated that damaged eardrums had contributed to the post-Loveless absence of My Bloody Valentine.
In August 2003, Shields was voted the 95th greatest guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine.
For recent live shows he admitted to using 30 effects pedals to achieve his guitar sound.
My Bloody Valentine
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
, Shields became a relentless perfectionist. Shields attributed the time involved to both their lack of resources (money to get their guitars in shape was one example noted) and simply not recording when there was no inspiration to guide them. So many mistook the main guitar track for ten to fifteen layered guitars. Most tracks ultimately were done in one or two takes with one or two main guitar tracks. The most notable exception is "To Here Knows When" which took months to create and even longer to mix. He went through 18 recording engineers before finishing Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
. Other eccentricities included not allowing the engineers to hear him or Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Jayne Butcher is a vocalist/guitarist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-Biography:Butcher was raised in London and then Derbyshire. She went on to study dance at Laban College in London, but she dropped out after a year due to developing a case of cystitis...
singing while recording. These drawn out, expensive sessions allegedly drove Creation Records
Creation Records
Creation Records was a British independent record label headed by Alan McGee. Along with Dick Green and Joe Foster, McGee founded Creation in 1983. The label lasted until its demise in 1999. The name came from the 1960s band The Creation , whom McGee greatly admired. McGee, Green and Foster were...
bankrupt, although Shields has refuted this claim saying many other bands on the label at the time were also to blame. Shields has commented that the extent of the contribution of the engineers was to get him tea and other gopher chores.
After Loveless
Loveless (album)
Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...
, My Bloody Valentine signed on with the major label Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
. Island ended up empty handed after financing the band for several years (finally spending approximately £500,000 according to Shields). Island cut off finances in 1997; however, Shields was still legally tied to the label until 2001 when the contract was finally terminated. In the meantime, Shields wrote many songs but never released them. The only work to come out of this period was two covers: We Have All the Time in the World
We Have All the Time in the World
"We Have All the Time in the World" is a James Bond theme and popular song sung by Louis Armstrong. Its music was composed by John Barry and the lyrics by Hal David. It is a secondary musical theme in 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the title theme being the instrumental "On...
(Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
) on the 1993 Peace Together compilation; and a Wire
Wire (band)
Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
cover on the 1996 tribute album Whore.
Shields expressed interest in a reunion and releasing a new album with My Bloody Valentine. In an interview with Magnet
Magnet (magazine)
Magnet is a music magazine which generally focuses on alternative, independent, or out-of-the-mainstream bands.-History:The magazine is published four times a year, and is independently owned and edited by Eric T. Miller. Music magazines with a similar focus in the 1990s era included Option,...
in 2007 he said, "We are 100% going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something. I'd feel really bad if I didn't make another record. Like, shit, people only got the first two chapters, but the last bit is the best bit. It's just that it's taken me such an oddly long time for that to happen." In November 2007 Shields announced that the band had reunited and that a new album which the band had started recording in 1996 was "3/4 finished."
This reunion came to fruition starting in June 2008 with two live rehearsal shows at the ICA
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
before a five-night stand at the Roundhouse in Camden
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
. The band played a number of festivals, including the Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival
Roskilde Festival is a festival held south of Roskilde in Denmark and is one of the six biggest annual music festivals in Europe . It was created in 1971 by two high school students, Mogens Sandfær and Jesper Switzer Møller, and promoter Carl Fischer...
, Bestival
Bestival
Bestival is a four-day music festival held at the Robin Hill country park on the Isle of Wight, England. It has been held annually in late summer since 2004. The event is organized by DJ and record producer Rob da Bank and is an off-shoot of his Sunday Best record label and club nights. The initial...
, and the Electric Picnic
Electric Picnic
The 2005 festival took place on Saturday 3 September and Sunday 4 September. It is best remembered for Arcade Fire's performance which came before their subsequent mainstream success...
. They had curated and performed at the 2008 All Tomorrow's Parties festival
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
in Monticello, New York
Monticello, New York
Monticello is a village located in the Town of Thompson in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 6,512 at the 2000 census. It is the seat for the Town of Thompson and the county seat of Sullivan County...
in September before playing a brief tour across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Work outside My Bloody Valentine
Since the cessation of activity of My Bloody Valentine, Shields has found steady work remixing and producing for artists including Joy ZipperJoy Zipper
Joy Zipper is an American indie pop duo from Long Island, New York, made up of Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso, who are also a married couple. The duo has been playing dream pop since the late 1990s...
, Placebo and Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
. After working with Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
, he joined them on tour between 1999 and 2006, and had contributed to their albums XTRMNTR
XTRMNTR
XTRMNTR is a 2000 album by Primal Scream. In a departure from Primal Scream's earlier hedonistic recordings, the band took a more political stance, attacking government, police, and multinational corporations...
and Evil Heat
Evil Heat
Evil Heat is a 2002 album by Primal Scream.The track "Rise" was originally titled "Bomb the Pentagon", and debuted as part of the band's live set in summer 2001. In light of the September 11, 2001 attacks, both the lyrics and title of the song were reworked, and the revised version appears on the...
.
Shields has produced and played on Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005...
's Hand It Over (along with Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Jayne Butcher is a vocalist/guitarist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-Biography:Butcher was raised in London and then Derbyshire. She went on to study dance at Laban College in London, but she dropped out after a year due to developing a case of cystitis...
contributing vocals) and on J Mascis and the Fog
J Mascis and the Fog
J Mascis + The Fog is the post-Dinosaur Jr musical project embarked by Dinosaur Jr's founding member, musician J Mascis.-History:After fulfilling his contractual obligations to Blanco y Negro in the UK and Sire/Reprise in the US, Mascis holed up in his home studio in Amherst, MA, which he named...
's More Light. He contributed (uncredited) guitar to the Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
' 2001 album Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy (Manic Street Preachers album)
Know Your Enemy is the sixth album by the Manic Street Preachers. It was released in March 2001 on Virgin Records. The album has songs ranging from energetic lo-fi rock songs reminiscent of their earlier material to highly produced, more melodic pop songs as well as a disco song...
on the track 'Freedom Of Speech Won't Feed My Children'.
In 1999, Shields composed music, which includes "2", for the Canadian Contemporary Dance company La La La Human Steps
La La La Human Steps
La La La Human Steps is a Québécois contemporary dance group in Canada, known for its energetic, acrobatic style that often involves fast-paced and athletic physical contact...
.
In 2003, Shields contributed four tracks for the Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
film Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation (film)
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
. He was nominated for a BAFTA for his contribution to the film score.
In 2005, Shields appeared at London's Meltdown Festival with Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, providing accompaniment to her reading of her book The Coral Sea
The Coral Sea (book)
The Coral Sea is a book by Patti Smith, published in 1996.- Voyage :# "The Passenger M"# "The Throw"# "Light Play"# "Rank and File"# "Music "# "Staff of Life"# "After Thoughts"# "An Auctioned Heart"# "A Bed of Roses"# "Monkeyshines"...
(a tribute to her friend photographer Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...
). This is available for streaming here. Live album The Coral Sea
The Coral Sea (album)
The Coral Sea is a live recording of two performances by Patti Smith and Kevin Shields from 2005 and 2006 respectively. The set consists of Smith's homage to the photographer, her friend and former lover Robert Mapplethorpe, and consists of the text of her epic 1996 poem of the same title...
released on July 2008. Patti Smith has said My Bloody Valentine was her favorite group in the last 15 years. He co-wrote and performed on some of the tracks of Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe is a band by French-born, London-based singer/songwriter, Charlotte Marionneau. "Le Volume Courbe" was a name of a sculpture by a friend of Marionneau's....
's debut album, I Killed My Best Friend
I Killed My Best Friend
I Killed My Best Friend is the 2005 debut album from Le Volume Courbe. It was produced by Charlotte Marionneau and features contributions from Hope Sandoval, Kevin Shields, David Roback, and Colm Ó Cíosóig.-Track listing:#"Harmony"#"Papillon de Nuit"...
. Shields was credited as "Noise Consultant" for the documentary film, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
Shields has remixed and combined two songs for The Go! Team
The Go! Team
The Go! Team are a six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, double dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars similar to the style of Sonic Youth. Their songs are a mix of live...
, "Ladyflash" and "Huddle Formation" into "Huddle Flash, which can be found on the "Ladyflash" single. The band expressed their desire for Shields to produce their second album, although this did not happen. He remixed two songs by Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...
, for the Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
film, Marie Antoinette.
In 2009, Shields contributed guitar to the Paul Weller
Paul Weller
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam , Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council...
song “7 + 3 Is The Striker's Name” from the album, Wake Up the Nation
Wake Up the Nation
Wake Up the Nation is the tenth studio album from Paul Weller and was released April 19, 2010. It was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize....
.
In July 2010, Shields made a guest appearance on guitar at the Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3 were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1982 in Rugby, Warwickshire by Peter Kember and Jason Pierce. Their music was "colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s; instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia"...
reunion show (without Jason Pierce
Jason Pierce
Jason Pierce , also known as J. Spaceman or Spaceman, is an English musician. He was formerly the joint leader – with Peter Kember – of the alternative rock band Spacemen 3, and is now the leader and sole permanent member of the band Spiritualized.In between his work with Spiritualized...
) at the Hoxton Bar and Grill in London.
Personal life
Most of Shields' siblings have gone on to various degrees of fame. His brother, Jimi ShieldsJimi Shields
Jimi Shields was previously best known for his work with 1990s indie rock group Rollerskate Skinny. He is the co-director of TTT, thirtythreetrees, LTD in Dublin, Ireland, which is a landscape art and garden design practice...
, was a member of Rollerskate Skinny
Rollerskate Skinny
Rollerskate Skinny were an Irish band that enjoyed their greatest success during the 1990s.-History:Ken Griffin, Ger Griffin and Steve Murray had been in The Hippyshakes in the 1980s. Later the band became "Shake" and was characterized by a strawberry logo...
and Lotus Crown, and is co-director of landscape design practice, TTT (thirtythreetrees). He is currently in the band Wounded Knees
Wounded Knees
Wounded Knees is a band whose core members are Jimi Shields , ex-Mercury Rev flautist Suzanne Thorpe, and Phil Williams .-History:...
. Their sister, Anne Marie, has worked extensively in the music industry, managed tours for the brothers' respective bands, and was credited for "coordination" on Loveless. Their youngest sibling is shoe designer Eileen Shields
Eileen Shields
Eileen Shields is a footwear designer and owner of the EILEEN SHIELDS label and the Dublin-based store/gallery “5 Scarlet Row”...
.
In the late 80s/early 90s, Shields and Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Butcher
Bilinda Jayne Butcher is a vocalist/guitarist for the rock band My Bloody Valentine.-Biography:Butcher was raised in London and then Derbyshire. She went on to study dance at Laban College in London, but she dropped out after a year due to developing a case of cystitis...
had a relationship, which they had discussed in various interviews at the time. Recently, Shields has been linked to Charlotte Marionneau of Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe
Le Volume Courbe is a band by French-born, London-based singer/songwriter, Charlotte Marionneau. "Le Volume Courbe" was a name of a sculpture by a friend of Marionneau's....
.
External links
- Obsessively complete list of output by My Bloody Valentine and Kevin Shields including "Best of" list of side projects
- From My Bloody Valentine to 'Lost in Translation' NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
interview with Shields - Buddyhead interview with Shields on the Internet Archive.
- Kevin Shields at imdb
- Patti Smith and Kevin Shields at exclaim!