Shutups: Fed by Friendship

By Caleb Peck

Plenty of bands are started with dreams of selling out stadiums, fueled by a lust for bright lights and fat stacks of cash. Oakland’s power-pop duo Shutups turns this narrative on its head. Hadley Davis (Guitar/Vocals) and Mia Wood’s (Drums) collaboration is founded on their similarities and fed by friendship. Whether it’s a mutual addiction to music videos, loving Weezer, or having a penchant for Monty Python, Shutup’s presence is defined by what they enjoy. Their fifth and most recent EP, “5”, released Oct. 5th 2020 on legendary indie label Kill Rock Stars (Bikini Kill, Elliot Smith), consists of all of this.  

The five song EP highlights the group's ability to rock out while maintaining an artistic presence. Heavy guitars and bass that thrive in dingy bars or decrepit basements while Davis’s voice oscillates through the instrumental heaviness with piercing poetic lyrics discussing guilt, love, and shortcomings. They juxtapose their sound with a saga of comedic music videos concerning dueling knights and their warlock counterparts, and at this point — you’ve pretty much completed the circle of Shutups: a band that perfectly toes the line between being playful, and being poignant.

After a series of timing misfortunes, I got a chance to talk about the band’s beginnings, their creative process, and what it’s like to have to email Slim Moon about your friends telling him they’re horny. 

Okay, here's the first question. Number one, how did Shutups come to be, and number two what is Shutups now?

H: Like us as like an entity, or like as individuals?

I'd say as an entity.

H: I mean Shutups came together as a mutual appreciation for Weezer and 2000's era power pop, a little pop punk in there. I texted Mia asking if she wanted to jam, and then we just jammed and that was it. We hadn't talked for awhile after college.

M: Yeah it had been like two years or something. We used to hang out constantly in this art house where we had met, and then we went separate ways and everyone graduated college. Then out of the blue he just texted me, "Lets jam sometime". I was like, "Where? No one has practice space." and He was like, "I do, down the street." Two days later we met up and collaborated on a song he had written and it just happened. The momentum was immediate.

So had you guys been in bands before that?

 H: Like high school bands.

M: High school band too, yeah.

H: Like nothing for five years after high school, so this is technically me and Mia's first serious band 

I mean it seems like it's working out pretty well. 

H: Yeah! it is. 

M: Wait, Hadley, what's part two of that question?

H: What are we now? Fuck... I feel like we're still the same. Still just excited about being in a band. I just look forwards to band practice more than anything. Like I just wanna jam. *laughs*

 M: And I just wanna be on tour all the time. 

H: I don't know that we've changed too much, it's still the same goal.

 Mia you talk about wanting to go on tour, I was gonna say that I think your music would translate really well to a live setting. How rough has it been not to play shows?

M: It's just bleak y'know, like we have no future basically. But yeah like as far as that feeling of playing live, there's absolutely nothing like that high of playing a really plugged in show where you're connected to all your bandmates. I mean it's even better if you're in a strange town on tour and people are into it. It's just this very niche feeling that you can't get anywhere else, so all year it's just been this unscratched itch.

H: Yeah, we would have done the East Coast this summer.

You guys have five EP's at this point and one album, what's the difference between making an album and an EP for you guys? 

H: The last two Ep's, "4" and "5", we made because the albums we were working on were taking too long. Like we made "4" because "(Every Day I'm Less) Zen" was taking too long and we were just bored. And then when quarantine started we were working on the follow up album and we couldn't go to the studio anymore, so. we just made "5". So the last two EP's have kind of just been distractions for ourselves.

 M: Definitely the difference is the process is so intense for the LP's where it's just a crazy long journey, so the last two EP's we're just like, "Can we do something in the meantime?"

H: We did "4" in like a month and then we did "5" in probably two months, but yeah the turn around time was just like insane versus a two year process for the LP.

So what was the process of making it during quarantine?

H: Well, none of those songs existed prior to quarantine, they were all written right off the bat like in March and in April. I wrote them all and then I shared them with Mia and then we got together and barely got a drum recording together. Then I just filled in everything else at my house and then got it mixed. It was pretty painless aside from trying to get drums recorded without a proper setup.

 M: Oh yeah, we had to record into an iPhone.

H: Yeah it was an iPhone and cassette recording that we combined and then we did some samples on the snare just as a replacement. But yeah, it was pretty primitive.

 Okay so for this release I've noticed that you guys are really sticking with the theme of these knights, you just released a video game about them two days ago, and they've been featured in both of the music videos for "Last Place" and "Death from Behind"... 

H: And "Can You Dance"

M: Yeah, it's a three part saga.

 Got it, so is it like a linear story?

H: In the music videos yes, but just like the idea as a whole was trying to approach the band and this era as a "season", kind of like how a fashion designer thinks of a season. This was just like a Shutups season, like it will not continue after this. 

M: *laughs* We're not gonna be knights forever.

Do you know what you guys will become in the future?

H: Every time we come up with a gimmick it's really on the spot, so it hasn't been come up with yet, but there will be something.

M: I don't know if it's gonna be as LARP heavy as this last one, we're not gonna be a costume band forever *laughs*. It also felt very appropriate for this year where we're like not doing any of the things we're used to, so it seemed right to just fully put on costumes and kind of be outside of our norm. 

 Is there anything specific that connected you with the idea of being knights? 

H: *Laughs* I really just wanted to get some chainmail I think, and wear some tights. 

M: It was very appealing.

 It's a good excuse.

H: Thank you *laughs*

 M: I feel like Hadley and I have always enjoyed really goofy, medieval, Monty Python humor. We speak to each other in mock olde english, it's just a part of our sense of humor, so as soon as he had the idea for the first music video as knights, I was like "yep, absolutely" *laughs* this is like already so inline with our personalities.

No it's cool, I really liked the music videos. I've noticed that you guys seem to put a lot of work into them, potentially more so than other bands in similar scenes, what does the medium of the music video mean to you guys?

H: I mean it's a great marketing tool. It's like a great digital product to have, especially being in an era where we can't play shows. We've always been really music video heavy,  at least I, and I know Mia probably does too, idolize music videos. In my spare time I just watch music videos, I just... they're great, I'd rather watch music videos than movies or TV shows. I think I just wanted to be in a music video.

M: Dude it's just a whole other way to experience the music, add the visual element and the possibilities are endless. We have a lot of really talented friends who know how to film and how to edit so we employ their talents. It's really fun every time, it's always like a party, like we're just having fun with our friends y'know. 

You were talking about how the knights kind of come from you guys having a sense of humor. I feel like theres a lot of  sense of humor in your content, not necessarily always within your music, but just with the music videos or with releasing a video game or even your web design for the website, which is fucking crazy, what makes you guys use so much humor in your presence?

 M: I mean I think it's fully an extension of how me and Hadley's friendship is, and our personalities. Just like, really silly, immature humor, and like irreverent joking. It's funny cause what you just said is something I've also noticed. The music is kind of like emotional and serious a lot of the time, and everything else around it is a joke kind of. I just think it's what our friendship has always been like, and it just turned into what our band is. 

 Was there any difference in your process in creating a project for a label like Kill Rock Stars than it was for other releases?

 H: Well, the EP was finished before the conversation even started, so we didn't even know. I mean every time we start something I hope it comes out on a label. Once we realized that it was, we knew we had to step up our music videos, we got the website up and running, we kinda had to look. a little more professional I think.

I was gonna ask about the website, you guys have a number for a hotline (833-SHU-TUPS) on the banner, is that real? 

H: It was real, but I haven't paid the bill in so long that it doesn't work anymore *laughs*.

M: We have bumper stickers of that around town and it's like a non-functional number. Although we could start it up again.

 H: I think I owe like $150 bucks or something.

M: The story behind that is that one of the singles off of "Every Day I'm Less Zen" we released with a hotline and you could like pre-order the LP, or hear the single, or leave messages for us. It was kind of  a weird interactive gimmick thing that was silly. Yeah the song was "Apple Salad".

H: Yeah we gotta get that up and running again, it was like $70 bucks a month or something so I couldn't keep it up very long.

Did you guys get any good voicemails?

 Both: There was a lot.

H: We could also get texts, it was mostly just a lot of voicemails of people telling us to "shut up", which is kind of something that we signed ourselves up for *laughs* 

H: I also got a bunch of our dumb friends, when the "5" vinyl was for sale on Kill Rock Star's bandcamp (it still is), so they get all the messages from the people purchasing it, and every once in awhile Slim (Moon) will send me an email of messages that are like inappropriate "daddy" shit that is from our dumb friends, and it's like coming Kill Rock Stars.

It's coming from a very influential indie label's founder.

H: Slim's sending me emails that say like, "You're so daddy", and I'm just like "Fuck dude, don't fucking do that", Slims reading these *laughs*. It's just like my dumb roommates or like my fucking brother or something. So yeah, Slim probably thinks we have absolutely stupid friends that say dumb shit all the time.

M: Or just creepy, creepy fans.

 Maybe he'll just start thinking that you guys are international sex symbols based off of Bandcamp messages.

H: That's possible, there was one that he sent me that was just, "I'm so horny", and I had to be like "Thanks Slim for sending me this email!" So maybe.

M: Yeah we're so professional *laughs*. We nailed it.

 You can purchase Shutups EP “5” on their Bandcamp page, as well as send a message that an extremely influential member of indie history will read. Check out their website for their fascinating web design, access to their entire catalog of music videos, and any other information about their upcoming projects. Follow them on their Instagram for behind the scenes stuff, and whatever else you could need.