Kevin Shields
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Kevin Shields (born Queens, New York City, USA on May 21, 1963) is a singer, guitarist, and producer who fronted the London-based band My Bloody Valentine in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He has also played for Primal Scream since 1997, played and produced with Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis on Dinosaur's Hand It Over (with Bilinda Butcher) and J Mascis + The Fog's More Light, and recently contributed music to the motion picture Lost in Translation.
Although holding a USA passport, Shields spent his adolescence in Dublin, Ireland after moving there with his family as a nine-year-old.
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[edit] Technique
Shields' unique guitar sounds lies in his approach to playing the instrument. Using Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters, he manipulates the tremolo arm while strumming chords. The effect is of chords being constantly bent in and out of tune, a style of playing only possible smoothly and easily on Jaguars and Jazzmasters due to their unique floating tremolo systems. He combines this playing technique with excessive playing volumes (to produce better sustain), open tunings, modulation effects (tremolo pedals), and reverb effects (specifically, reverse reverb). Many have tried to replicate the guitar sounds found on Loveless, with some bands coming close. Shields even had trouble reproducing the sounds himself, as his live guitar sounds varied greatly from those on the record.
[edit] My Bloody Valentine
When creating My Bloody Valentine's album Loveless, Shields became a relentless perfectionist. He went through 14 recording engineers before finishing. Other eccentricities included not allowing the engineers to hear him or Bilinda Butcher singing while recording. These drawn out, expensive sessions nearly drove Creation Records bankrupt.
After Loveless Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher, the then "remaining" members of My Bloody Valentine, signed the band to major label Island Records. Island ended up empty handed after years of financing the band (amounting to £500,000), forcing them to terminate the contract in 2001. In the meantime Shields wrote some songs but never released them.
[edit] Solo work
He also did remixes and recording/mixing for other artists. After having worked with and remixed Primal Scream, Kevin joined them on tour and has contributed some guitar work on their 2000 record, XTRMNTR. Since then, he contributed some solo tracks for the Sofia Coppolla movie Lost in Translation. In 2005, he appeared at London's Meltdown Festival with Patti Smith, providing accompaniment to her reading of her book The Coral Sea. (Available for streaming at http://www.inkoma.com/pages/my_bloody_valentine.html) He co-wrote, performed on, and produced Le Volume Courbe's debut album. He has remixed two songs for The Go! Team, "Ladyflash" and "Huddle Formation", which can be found on the "Ladyflash" single. The band have also expressed their desire for Kevin to produce their second album [1]. He has also remixed two songs by Bow Wow Wow, which are to appear in the soundtrack for the Sofia Coppolla film Marie-Antoinette [2].
Shields has a younger brother, Jimi Shields, who has been a contributor to the bands Rollerskate Skinny and Lotus Crown.
[edit] External link
| My Bloody Valentine |
|---|
| Kevin Shields | Colm O'Ciosoig | Bilinda Butcher | Debbie Googe |
| Albums |
| Isn't Anything | Loveless |
| EPs |
| This Is Your Bloody Valentine | Geek! | The New Record by My Bloody Valentine | Sunny Sundae Smile Strawberry Wine | Ecstasy | You Made Me Realise | Feed Me with Your Kiss | Glider | Tremolo |
| Compilations |
| Ecstasy and Wine |
| Labels |
| Creation Records | Island Records | Sire Records |
| Related articles |
| Shoegazing | List of songs by My Bloody Valentine |
