By: Steam Magazine
Show Info:  2-20-14 @ the Hop Shop Bar 
                     the Hop Shop Bar 923 S. 7th St. Harlingen, TX 78550
                     956-428-4200

Website: www.shadowofthegiant.com 
Social: Facebook/shadowofthegiantband
              twitter/sotg_band

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STEAM Let’s start at the beginning, how did you guys get together?

EJAY Shadow of the Giant is a remake of another band, Dead Sky. We wanted to take our music in a different direction and a different genre and Dead Sky wasn’t able to do that, so we felt that we’d start over in the new direction with a new name.

 

STEAM How did you come up with the name, Shadow of the Giant?

EJAY It’s a literary reference. We’d originally started looking at the name “Enders” which is the child hero in the “End of Games” series but a major label owns it.

We were looking for a name that will stand out on its own and not get lost in an internet search. When we were researching names one point that struck us all was that the name needed to be unique, so currently if you Google Shadow of the Giant you’ll find us and the book.

 

STEAM Can you explain your genre to me because when I listen I think metal-punk, but I know it’s not called that?

EJAY We’re jumping in at the beginning of a genre, Easy-Core. There are currently only about five big bands that list it as their genre; A Day To Remember, Chunk, No Capt. Chunk, and Kid Liberty to name a few. Easy-core or pop-core takes super high energy pop beats and puts metal and death-metal on top. Dead Sky was skate-core which is not quite as progressive, but faster. Now that those bands have broken the ice we have the opportunity to do more in this genre.

 

STEAM Were all four of you in the previous band?

EJAY We’ve all been playing together on and off for years; different versions of Dead Sky and other bands. Rich is a good friend and when we needed a bass player, we pulled him in. When we put this group together we decided we would do a two-year plan. We wrote down what we wanted, what our goals were, and we made a plan. We aren’t taking any short cuts on anything because it’s all planned out to reach our goals. 

 

STEAM Tell me about your first single and the EP that you’ve just finished.

EJAY “3 Cheers” is the first release and video and I wrote it when I was about 17. It took until we developed in this genre to get it right. We recorded “Better to Fail in Originality, Than to Succeed in Imitation” at Precision Studio with Robert Beltron. We put a four-song EP together with a video for each of the songs after we decided not to put all of our money into a single big project because it would slow or stop our marketing and touring plans.

 

STEAM Are you putting the EP on disc or are you going digital only, like so many other bands?

EJAY The EP came out on disc January 13th and it’s available on our site and at shows. CDs are so much cheaper than they used to be, but they’re also going away because downloads are an easier way for consumers to get the songs. What we really want to do is put out a vinyl with a digital download. Vinyls are hot and people want them, honestly. They sound so much better than a CD and then of course having the digital download with it just seems to make sense. Besides, you can put a poster in the sleeve, can’t really do that with a CD.

 

STEAM Excuse me. Did you just staple your leg? Because, I heard a pop and when I looked up you bouncing the stapler on your leg.

RICH No, I did sideshow for quite a few years, but I didn’t staple my leg.

REY Ask him what else he does.

RICH I’ve been on Ripley’s quite a few times and I have been on many professional music tours not as a musician, but as a sideshow act doing flesh suspension. The first world record that we (this crazy guy Jason and I) set was to travel the longest distance between Texas and Florida while suspended. After about three hours or so Jason came down, but I stayed up for 16 ½ hours. I was a professional fighter and I’m also a contortionist; I can do four of the five things that are supposed to be humanly impossible, but were not talking about that. 

STEAM OK, wow. That sounds like a whole other interview.

RICH What you need to know is that EJay has done an amazing amount of work on this band. Rey has done an outstanding job for the band as well. Me? I have watched these guys for quite a while, and they’re good friends and I just feel very fortunate that I get to do this.

 

STEAM That’s cool. Now that we know what Rich does; what do you guys do besides play music?

REY This is what I do; I’m a drummer.

EJAY I’m the sound engineer at Theo’s Boneshakers and Theo’s Billiards. I also do the music bookings. I’m not sure what Ric does, but he’s at work right now, that’s why he isn’t here.

 

STEAM OK back to where I was originally going… I know that you plan to tour very soon; where are you headed?

EJAY Yes, we all have tour experience and our thought is to join a tour as a supporting act for a group already actively touring. If we’re not able to join a tour then we will still go on tour on our own in March. Either way we’ll be out there until we can no longer do it. Our goal is to build our fan base.

 

STEAM How often do you guys play around here?

EJAY We decided early on that we would only play a few times anywhere, so that we don’t overplay or oversaturate any markets. We want to build that anticipation up with our fans and make them want to go see us; we don’t want people skipping show A because they can catch us at B, C, D, in the same month. This last December we headlined the Shadow Fest at Theo’s Billiards.

 

STEAM That’s right; that was a great show! It had a real carnival type feel to it.

EJAY Yeah, it was great. There were over 400 people that came out to it and we sold a huge amount of merchandise. Of course our t-shirts went over big, “If you don’t like Texas, eat a bowl of F@#$” (you can order that on our website).

EJAY We’ll be at the Hop Shop Bar in Harlingen, TX on February 20^th. (Hop Shop Bar, 923 S 7th St Harlingen, TX 78550,  956-428-4200)

RICH We are also waiting to find out about joining with an active tour. Nothing we can tell you about yet because we’re still waiting for it to be finalized, but as soon as we do, we’ll let you know!

 

Ejay - Lead Guitar, Vox-Cleans and lows

Rey - Drums, Vox-Back Ups

Ric - Rhythm Guitar, Vox-High screams

Rich - Bass Guitar, Vox-Back Ups

shadow of the giantcom;  www.facebook.com/Shadowofthegiantband, @SOTG_BAND on Twitter