July 13 Feature – SHEL
“We all have a destiny, but it’s never what we expect.”
What’s in a Name?
Sarah (def.) princess : 2nd youngest, violin
Hannah (def.) grace : eldest, piano
Eva (def.) life : between Hannah and Sarah, lead vocals, mandolin
Liza (def.) oath of God : youngest, percussion/drums (polyrhythmic, no less)
What began as four sisters playing at church events, led to playing back up for their singer/songwriter father in a bluegrass band, eventually progressed to their father backing them up, and ultimately, to the present amazingness and uniqueness that is SHEL. As you read this interview, keep in mind the meanings of their names, defined above, as the sisters reveal who is most likely to offer comfort in a time of crisis, who is most likely to get her party on, and what will happen to SHEL if one of these sisters decides (is allowed to) get married one day.
Sitting with the lovely Fort Collins sister-quartet, SHEL, I witnessed a simple, effortless relationship. Four wise-beyond-their-years sisters, laughed easily and often throughout our conversation. Different personalities ranging from easy-going to introspective, contribute to how these four sisters manage to live together, work together and play together, without going crazy.
It’s not often that such abundant talent oozes from one gene pool. However, SHEL is one of those anomalies, and unique in so many ways that it shouldn’t be surprising. One thing that makes SHEL unique is how they manage their working relationship and family relationship so harmoniously, when many bands, who aren’t related, can’t keep the trivial details from destroying what they’ve worked so hard to achieve.
“Early on, we got an idea from our parents of what would be necessary to succeed,” says Eva quietly, from behind a substantial amount of natural curls. “They told us, ‘If you work really hard, you could have a future in music.’ And along with that, they were present for arguments. When we fought, they basically said, ‘You can’t work together like this. If you’re going to be successful, you need to be able to resolve conflicts with one another, or it’s not going to work.’ So that constant reminder of, ‘If you can’t work through this, or if you don’t practice, you won’t be able to have a successful career,’ helped. Resolving conflicts, getting along, and respecting each other.”
“We have a unique dynamic, because we work together, but we’re family,” adds Sarah, who enhanced our interview with a frequent, lovely, smile on her face during our chat. “So basically, it breaks down to, if you have an argument or a fight about something that has to do with work, you have to work it out because you have to be professional, on one hand, and you have to work it out because you’re still family. You’re always going to be family, so if it’s something stupid, it’s like, ‘Oh come on, we’re related, we’re family, we’re just gonna stick together through this.’ And then when something stupid on the family side [comes up], you have to work through it because you have to be professional and maintain the working relationship. So I think in its own unique way, it’s really helped us with our dynamic because we have both sides. So, we do fight, but we absolutely have to work it out, otherwise, we won’t survive. And Liza is the glue that holds it all together, we couldn’t do this without Liza.”
Adds Hannah, “Liza is the one that each of us would want to share a room with. We get to the hotel and there are two beds, and we’re like, ‘I get to sleep with Liza!’”
Liza wonders why they feel that way.
“Because you’re the backbone, musically, but you’re the backbone anyway,” says Sarah. “Without you in the van with us, we would all drive each other crazy.”
Adds Eva, “It’s probably because she’s the most low-maintenance, and the most likely to do something kind for you. She has a servant’s heart, and sometimes you need somebody to go to. She’s always a good neutral party.”
In between laughing fits, inside stories, and friendly sisterly jabs, we got around to how much of their talent is a gift, and how much had to be learned.
“Liza was the only one who was obviously, naturally gifted with rhythm,” says Sarah. “The rest of us had to work really hard to get anywhere, and that’s not to say there wasn’t some musical talent in there, but I was terrible at the violin for a couple of years.” (Hard to believe.) “I remember entering fiddle contests and losing all the time, but Liza is naturally good.”
“We were homeschooled,” says Liza. “School was part of our everyday life. We would play in the youth group at church sometimes. Anytime I got up with the youth group, I was petrified. I didn’t really play drums at that point, I had tried a couple times, but I was very embarrassed, actually, cause I hadn’t really started playing yet, so I gave it a go and I was like, ‘I’m never doing this again.’”
Adds Sarah, “She played harp at that time.”
“There was never any room for [the harp],” says Liza, “except around Christmas or special things at the church, which, even then I was playing with my siblings, so it wasn’t like I was getting up with the band or anything. It was something we did at home and out with our dad at coffee shops, too.”
So even dad has the musical gene. “He was the leader of the band for awhile, then it switched over,” says Sarah. “It started with us backing him up, to him being a part of the band, to him backing us up, to him not being a part of it period. And our mom is still kind of in the mix a little bit with the Colorado stuff. Whenever we do a Colorado show, (like when we did Strings and Wood, she came and sold the merch, and she does the online stuff.”
Seemingly unaffected or unaware by their formidable force in the music world, we discussed what would happen if someone wanted to get married, or decided they were just done? Everyone has different dreams, if one sister left, would SHEL be finished?
“We were just talking about that, actually,” says Eva. “We decided that if somebody ever left SHEL, it wouldn’t be SHEL anymore, which was not an intentional thing in the beginning when we made the name an acronym, but it worked, because if one person leaves, one letter would be gone, and you couldn’t spell SHEL anymore. But, beyond that, we just wouldn’t be SHEL without every member in the band.”
“It’s one of those things that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately,” says Hannah. “I would love to be living in Boston right now, but these guys aren’t into it so much. We like the idea of Nashville, we’ve talked about L.A. a little bit, we’ve talked about New York. It’s one of those things that if we’re going to keep touring and keep doing what we’re doing, we have to stick together. I’ve been thinking about this lately, that SHEL needs to become famous; that’s ultimately what’s going to have to happen for me to do all the things that I want to do, this is what it’s going to take. So, that’s my goal before I’m 30, that SHEL will be famous.”
Listening intently to Hannah answer this question, Eva takes an introspective moment before responding. “I think it’s interesting that you say that because I came to a conclusion that I feel is almost the opposite of what you’re saying,” she says. “It was the philosophy of fame. I was thinking about how [fame]– it’s unimportant. The goal or ambition to be famous doesn’t really mean anything at the end of the day.
“We talk all the time about how success is different, and for me, I had a personal realization that doing something with the ambition of becoming famous takes the joy out of it. I realize that what I love about what we do, and my part in it personally, is the interaction with fans that we have right now, and I feel really lucky that we have people who support us right now, and that having that close connection with them—that’s where the magic is for me, and I don’t want to reach that point where fans become numbers so that I can live a particular lifestyle.
“I always want to have that connection with them, and I want to make music that touches their lives. We received a fan letter from a young man who just lost his sister, his grandfather, and one of his best friends all in the same month. He has synesthesia; he hears colors. He wrote us this letter and he said, ‘Your music has helped me get through this really hard time,’ and said, ‘I don’t usually write fan mail, but your music is the most colorful music I’ve ever listened to.’ He sent us watercolors of what he saw. It was the biggest reward—numbers mean nothing.
“This is why we make music, this is why we make art at all, is to touch people and share that experience with them. It’s called music business for a reason, but there becomes this ambition and this goal that “we need to make music like this or that so we can sell more, so we can get more fans; and it’s all the more-ness of it, I guess. I want to be grateful and excited about the fact that our music is touching people, and I don’t want to change it for the sake of more-ness. I just want it to be what it is and do what it’s gonna do.”
“Aaaand, that’s why this dynamic works!” Says Sarah, breaking the silent awe that had filled the room. “Hannah and I are business minded, especially Hannah. Like, “This is what needs to happen to be here at this time. So she has this 5-year plan, and I’m like, ‘This is what we need to get home.’ This is a discussion we literally just had. Eva is the dreamer. Eva is the main songwriter, she pulls everything together, and that’s how it works, because we’re all different.”
So if someone falls in love . . .
“We’ve already decided that nobody’s getting married,” says Sarah, laughing. “No one’s dating, no one’s getting married.”
“It feels like you’re married to the band,” adds Hannah. “If I fly out to Boston to see my friends, that impacts our practice schedule, so I think in a lot of ways, it’s really good training for later in life, for like when we do get married, because, I’m sorry, but someday I’m probably going to . . . (laughing)”
How would each sister describe the others?
Eva: “Sarah,vibrant; Liza, laid back and upbeat like a Red Bull/Vodka drink; Hannah, class and beauty.”
Hannah: “Eva, genius; Sarah, gregarious; Liza, party.”
Liza: (tearing up) “Eva, this is meant as a compliment so I hope it comes across; innocence and innocent in the absolute best way, and I would also couple that with genuine. Sarah, oh my gosh, you’re kinda my favorite–I would say partner in crime because we can party and have lots of fun, and at the end of the night, we’re still okay with each other. Hannah, you absolutely are my older sister—not that you guys aren’t—you are the one who helps me if I have a question about something. If I’m going through something, I will come to you to talk about it. So teacher, wisdom.
Sarah: “Eva, straight-up creative; Liza, understanding about anything that goes on; Hannah, loving, loveable.”
Final words or shout outs?
“Moraine Music. Diana Maher is our publisher and acting manager, and her father, Brent Maher (think 6-time Grammy Award winner) is our producer,” says Eva. “They’ve really invested in us over the years. In the past five years, they’ve been with us through everything with the labels, and with the bigger management team, and they’ve been the ones who’ve stuck by us, pushed through with us, and not given up on us. And Dain and Evan at Vinefield are the agents that book our shows.”
Check out upcoming shows at shelmusic.com and catch them at UMS in mid July!
Article: Jenn Cohen
Photos: Art Heffron Photography
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