Our new music feature Origins provides artists the outlet to share unique insights into their latest track. Today, Shannon and the Clams read the signs of “Year of the Spider”.
Shannon and the Clams are set to follow-up 2018’s Onion on August 20th with their sixth full-length, Year of the Spider. After dropping the lead single, “Midnight Wine”, last month, the Bay Area garage rockabilly quartet are today previewing the effort with the title track.
“Year of the Spider” puts a ’70s doo-wop spin on some troubling experiences lead singer Shannon Shaw went through over the last two years. As Shaw tells Consequence,
“‘Year of the Spider’ is essentially the summation of my 2019 and 2020. I was being stalked by a peeping tom for months and months all while my dad was going through radiation treatment while the mountains around us were being ravaged by wildfires. It was an extremely intense time in my life and just could not dampen the desperate desire to feel safe. I became really obsessive and was seeking comfort wherever I could find it.”
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The track comes with a playfully psychedelic video from director Loren Risker. The clip finds Shannon and the Clams wondering the woods while a creepy dude in a leather cap and way-too-long fingernails creeps in the shadows.
Check out the “Year of the Spider” visual below, followed by Shannon and the Clams’ Origins of the song.
Year of the Spider was produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and is coming via his Easy Eye Sound label. Pre-orders are available now.
Durga:
I have pretty extreme arachnophobia and my anxiety was giving me phantom sensations of whaat felt like spiders crawling up my body throughout the day. I had a memory of my badass astrologist encouraging me to study goddesses, find one I felt inspired by and channel her strength when I felt weak and powerless. She told me about Durga, a Hindu goddess who has 8 arms, rides a tiger and has a weapon in each hand and is a demon slayer. It felt like a good fit, I liked to imagine her chasing down and the slaying the peeping tom for me. At some point I was a full circle moment when I realized that she has 8 arms like a spider! I was looking at spiders all wrong, I could reframe my biggest fear in the world and view them as my protectors, my creators.
Charlotte’s Web:
I watched Charlotte’s Web and reconnected with those characters. Her big sleepy blue eyes were just as I remembered, I knew I needed to flip it and find comfort in spiders by writing a song. I had to find a way to present the duality I was experiencing with fear and comfort. The song is upbeat, a singalong. It’s kinda tasty and scratches all the itches.
Disco Floors:
I needed to compartmentalize my personal issues and repackage them in a brighter form to show my reframe. I wanted it to be danceable, get out all the stress of these years and boogie it out. I kept imagining those light up disco floors and how delightful and satisfying it would be to be dancing your stress out and have light beam up your body from your feet with each step.
The Muppet Show:
I kept imagining the Muppets from the original Muppet Show singing backups. I know I know — I am often inspired by Muppets, but for the bridge I could just hear them harmonizing the falsetto through those little light up balconies.
Os Mutantes:
Cody really wanted to get this kind of fuzz tremolo guitar sound on this track. I’m not sure if we did it, but this is where our heads were at. We might’ve actually gotten pretty close to this organ sound by accident though.
