Breaking Artist: The Shackeltons

Who: Five twitchy post-punk (pink) flag-bearers from sleepy Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Sounds Like: The Shackeltons provide a stout combination of clean, straight-lined production and cacophonous bursts of sound on their self-titled debut. Their blasts of angst, which are equal parts danceable bliss and seering noise, are held together by the jittery, literate lyrical musings of frontman Mark Redding.

Vital Stats:

• The band is named after Earnest Shackleton, an explorer who most notably attempted to cross Antarctica on foot in the early 1900s.

• The band has a few obvious influences (Pixies, Joy Division), but according to guitarist Dan Schuchman, the group also draws inspiration from soul crooner Otis Redding and gutteral rapper Busta Rhymes.

• Redding's stage presence can get quite manic — he will often collide with his bandmates onstage. In one early gig, he had a bit of his scalp and some of his hair taken off by a ceiling fan.

Hear It Now: The band's self-titled debut is available for download at iTunes. Check out the video for "The Breaks," directed by Sam Jones (the same man responsible for Wilco's I Am Trying To Break Your Heart film) above.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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