Michael Shelley Interviewed!

New York guitar pop hero chats about songwriting, his favourite music, his soon to be recorded 3rd album and throwing up in a Spanish petrol station...

May 2000

Q1 Michael Shelley - where were you born? What jobs have you done? Give us a bit of background prior to your illustrious musical career.

I was born in Manhattan. I have worked as: Paper boy. Dishwasher. Crash boat crew. (rescuing sailors who capsize while racing in the dead of winter on Long Island Sound). Cook. museum ticket clerk. Television Production assistant. Waiter. Sound Guy. Stage Lighting grunt. Bartender.

Q2 You are a sometime DJ on WFMU, New Jersey, what might a typical Michael Shelley playlist look like?

In a three hour show I will typically mix up lots of my favorite songs/genres/artists. A few new things: (Aimee Mann, Money Mark, Bill Fox, Fountains OF Wayne, Candy Butchers, The Muffs, Baby Lemonade, the Queers, Ted Hawkins, Steve Earle, Robbie Fulks, Ray Mason, Beastie Boys, Elliot Smith) maybe a nice organ set: (Jimmy McGriff, Wild Bill Davis, Dave "Baby" Cortez, Little Richie Varola, Groove Holmes, James "gonzo" Booker) some sixties pop: (Dusty Springfield "Little By Little",The Banana Splits, the Hombres "let It Out...", Beach Boys "Aren't you Glad", The Vogues "5 O'clock World") some country: ( Tex Williams, Ferlin Husky, Del Reeves, Hank Williams, Ronee Blakley) & Some 60's soul, Some Jamaican instrumentals (!!), and maybe be a set with some of my all time favorites (NRBQ, Jonathan Richman, Nick Lowe...) Also, I talk a lot, and tell crummy stories about my life, and things that are bugging me.

Q3 Tell us about your old band the Sloppy Joes? Where did you play? What did you release?

In the late 1980s I was living in Los Angeles and working as a sound guy. I did a tour with a great band called The Balancing Act, and we did some shows opening for a Boston band called Scruffy The Cat. I was so taken with the fun, rocking style of Scruffy, that when the tour ended I started writing songs, and doing some shows backed by Steve & Robert (the rhythm section of the Balancing Act) under the name "the Sloppy Joes". Soon after (this would be about 1986) I moved back to New York, to Brooklyn. I started a new version of the Sloppy Joes in NY, aside for the rare gig opening for a more well known band, we played mostly in bars. We were a fun live band. We released one 45 on the Diesel Only label in 1991 (the Girl With The Light IN Her Eyes/Keep On Truckin)

Q4 Your first album "Half Empty" (SHOECD006) is a modern day back-to-basics guitar pop masterpiece. Were you sitting on these songs for a while? How long did it take to record the whole thing?

Masterpiece? Thank you very much! About half of the songs were songs I'd been doing with the Sloppy Joes, and the rest were brand new. I was recorded and mixed in about nine 8 to 10 hour sessions.

Q5 "Think With Your Heart" and "Rollercoaster" are two standouts on a very strong album. Can you tell us about the writing of them - are they autobiographical?

I remember talking to my friend Lori on the phone, we were talking about boy problems she was having, and she said "my brain is telling me not to do this..." and I said: "Dont think with your brain, think with your heart"... after hanging up the phone I picked up the guitar and started writing the song. Rollercoaster was a real writing break through for me. I had gone on a "date" with a girl to Coney Island and wanted to write a song about the excitement and scariness of going on a rollercoaster, and of being on a date, but I wanted to make it not 100% autobiographical, so I closed my eyes and imagined a summer night at Playland (a small amusement park in Rye, New York, near where I grew up) I wrote down everything I "saw", and that's where the first verse came from. the second verse is sort of about that date in Coney island, and the third verse is about the same girl on the subway, which, in NYC, can be a lot like a rollercoaster. I should point out that Paul & Brendan, my band at the time (and the band on HALF EMPTY) really helped improve both of those songs with some great arrangement ideas. A good band can really make a songwriter look good.

Q6 After "Half Empty" your next album project was Cheeky Monkey "Four Arms To Hold You" (SHOECD002). Tell us about how that came about, how the songs were written, what the recording sessions like, your favorite tracks, etc.

I sent a tape of HALF EMPTY to Francis Macdonald 'cause I had heard some of the SHOESHINE 7"s, and thought he might like it. he called me, and within about 10 minutes he asked if I'd like to write some songs. I said "yeah" and we started sending tapes in the mail and playing bits over the phone to each other. He came to the USA and we worked on songs, then I went to Glasgow and we went into Riverside Studios and with the help of engineer Johnny Cameron (who was a real sweet heart) we recorded and mixed the entire album in four days. it all happened so fast, that I can barley remember the sessions. It was fun and intense, and I remember thinking that I knew we were onto something really special, something neither of us could have done without the other. My favorites are I Wanna live With you, That Kind Of Girl, Robert Lloyd and Uddingston Church Gun Terror.

Q7 Your second album "Too Many Movies" will soon be released on Shoeshine. The sound is less uniform than on "Half Empty", with clarinets, pedal steel, fiddle, etc. popping up in the mix. Did you deliberately set out to make a more eclectic sounding records?

Half Empty was record mostly in one room, for Too many Movies I wanted to branch out and do something different. I had a very varied batch of songs, and was working with a varied batch of musicians, so I tried to match the players and studios to the songs. Also I had a slightly larger budget, so I could afford to experiment a bit, which was nice.

Q8 A lot of people love "Baby's In A Bad Mood" on this album. What are your favorites and why?

I like Bad Mood too, but my absolute favorite is "Sweet Little One" (which Ive never played live for some reason...). The recording of that song just kills me.

Q9 Cheeky Monkey recently toured for the first time - in Spain of all places. How was that?

It was wild! I really enjoyed it. I love playing live, and this was a great tour. Its nice to travel, and find people who are happy you came to play. Its kind of mind blowing. I did vomit all over a gas station, but that's another story... Also, I got to play drums on some songs, which was a thrill.

Q10 You are already working on your 3rd solo album. How is that coming along?

I think it's going to be pretty interesting. Dennis Diken (from the Smithereens) and my NY bass player John Lee are the rhythm section. It's going to be warm and sparse, and lush, and rootsy and simple and complex. There are some new (for me) types of songs. And this is my first record that will have some songs cowritten with people (Francis Macdonald, Stevie Jackson, jay Sherman-Godfrey). I wish I was a better singer.

I'm not 100% sure! My U.S. record company, BIG DEAL, has folded. So I'm searching for a new label now. Cheeky Monkey just started our next album, which is going to be really different than the first lp. So in the next 12 months, we should see a my next lp come out, and the next Cheeky monkey lp, and maybe another tour of Spain, and maybe the UK. I'm thinking about making an instrumental Christmas record, and maybe a record of all covers. I'm also going to get married!