David Shaw

For years, the creative energy around Shaw and company has fueled rock and roll favorites The Revivalists from Radio City to Red Rocks here in the U.S. and beyond to a sizable international audience on the strength of critical acclaim and commercial success of albums like Vital Signs, Take Good Care, and Men Amongst Mountains.

After a lengthy run, however, Shaw says that energy began to change. Songs without an obvious home began to surface and creative fears were ready to be faced. It wasn't about leaving the band so much as it was branching out a bit, and Shaw took the time to write and record his self-titled debut as a way to stay obedient to that energy even if it meant making changes.

These days, Shaw's learning to balance the call toward both outlets. The Revivalists released a new record in '23, and Shaw's sophomore effort, Take a Look Inside, followed this autumn. The personal title says everything you need to know about the vulnerable yet impressive substance of it all, and we recently asked Shaw to lead us through the lessons learned from another solo outing.

Analogue: Let’s start with this as your second release. Once you had put the self-titled out there a few years ago, was it clear that this was a new permanent branch and not just a one-off? Or do you figure that out as you go?

David Shaw: At that point, I didn't necessarily know but now I do. I'm just kind of like following my energy and following my joy. That’s not to say that the band doesn’t, but for me, it's nice to get a different perspective.

It's nice to just kind of jump out of one energy into the next, so I can bring my full attention back. You can feel like you're just on the hamster wheel, you know what I'm saying? If you’re just going around and doing the same thing for a while, you can kind of lose your inspiration and your drive to do the very thing that you absolutely love. So I needed to shake it up and do something else, to grow in a different kind of way.

Analogue: So that’s what this process has been for you?

David: Oh, my god, I'm growing so much every day. I mean, I'm learning some hard truths. And I'm learning just how far I have actually come. It's kind of crazy.

Analogue: For example?

David: Like I have—and I'm still unpacking this—but I definitely probably have a good bit of imposter syndrome. And it's big time. It rears its head almost daily.

Analogue: I can try to guess, but I’d rather not assume something. Can you define what that means to you?

David: Totally. When you’re in a band, it’s in the band’s name. Sure, I’m the voice in the band or the face of the band most of the time, but it's still a band. And if you need to, you can be cloaked in that. And that's great. It feels it feels like a warm blanket sometimes, you know? But when it's just me out there… I’m not necessarily the guy who's like, ‘Let me put my name on something.’

Analogue: Yet there’s your name alone on the marquee.

David: Exactly. So it's been an interesting ride to step into that or something like it, because I've always just kind of been a band guy. Even when I started, I was never like, ‘It's gonna be David Shaw ‘til the end!’ That was never a thought. But being in a band for so long. It's kind of like, ‘All right, let me try something different. Let me see what this feels like. Let me see if I can do this. Let me see if I want to do this.’

Analogue: Do you think that that's a good thing? Like, do you think it's a healthy instinct that keeps you from fully owning it? Because maybe it's steeped in some humility.

David: I think so. But sometimes it doesn't feel good. I'll tell you, sometimes it's fear. But I know, just from past experiences, that fear is the place where I need to do the work. That's honestly a lot of what this album is about, especially the song “Take a Look Inside”.

Analogue: That’s interesting to me because I know you took more control on this album. You decided to produce this yourself after working with one on the first album. Was that facing your fears thing at work even in your creative choices?

David: Yeah, I knew that I needed to grow in that area as well. I felt that I could do it, because I've been doing that a lot with someone kind of holding my hand along the way, like another producer holding my hand. But I did have those feelings like, ‘Okay, I've been in the room with these guys who are amazing at what they do.’ I've learned a lot, I've been a sponge the entire time.

So I'm picking up a lot of that information and a lot of their knowledge, and I was like, ‘Well, all right, let me just see what my own compass kind of does in here through the lens of all the things that I've learned, and all the people I've worked with.’

There are so many choices that need to be made in the process of making records. What mics are you choosing? What vocal chain am I going to go? It’s really kind of wild, and so the producer really has a huge effect on the way that thing sounds in the end.

I also know that I can be that super positive beacon for good energy. And that's also what a producer needs to be like. That’s probably more important than the sounds that they're getting, honestly, because if the band just feels really good about the process, all that energy and all that good nature end up in the songs. You know, it's like the DNA of the tunes. So I knew that I could bring that to the table as well.

At first, it was like, ‘Oh, god, I'm not really a computer guy.’ But I've worked with huge producers who are also not computer guys. I mean, one of the biggest producers in the world, Rick Rubin, doesn't touch a computer. The guy doesn't even play an instrument, but it's so interesting. The proof is in what comes out from him working with some of these artists. Some of my favorite albums.

So, yeah, it's really about an energy. It's about taste. It's about raising my threshold for the things that I can deal with and the strength that I have and coming into my own.

Analogue: When you came back to the Revivalists for last year’s release, you’d had this chance to write and record and release your own work. What did that do for you creatively? Did that affect the band’s creative chemistry?

David: Yeah. Last time it gave me a really beautiful change in perspective on how far we had come and how much we had built and the fan love. Because the fans just love our band. I mean, some of these fans are just… it's just really, really incredible. I can't even believe it, you know? So I'm just like, ‘Wow, you're awesome. The love that you're showing right now is like, you know, it's really incredible!’

It's always a good perspective shift, you know? It energizes me to be able to do something different. Like I said, I can go away and do my own thing. It's a completely different energy. Then I'm once again recharged to come back and get in that band energy, where everybody's got an idea and we're going to see what works. It’s just a very different beast but it’s cool. It’s cool.

VISIT: David Shaw

Photo: Skylar Walkins