Interview with Shawn Pander
By Lori Kozlowski

Among singer-songwriters, only the ones with real soul stand out from the pack.

Shawn Pander, a Houston native, has already impressed quite a few people. He
has been on the Dr. Phil show twice, featured as upcoming talent and has taken a trip to Nashville to record a demo. His bluesy-folk-acoustic guitar-jazz-influenced sound has won him comparisons to John Mayer and Dave Matthews.

Though he currently resides in a Los Angeles suburb, his songs like "Simplicity," "Apples and Pancakes," and "The Tire Company" make it clear that he has never forgotten his middle American roots. "Simple life," as he calls it, is something he longs for.

"Soundtrack to Life," Pander's debut album, was produced by Dickie Malone. It's got an all-star musical cast performing on this album: Bruce Hughes, bass player for Bob Schneider, Dave "Snizz" Robinson, drummer for the Scabs, Patrice Pike, Michael Hale, drummer for Patrice Pike, Kevin McKinney, singer/guitar player for Soulhat, Joel Guzman, accordion player for Joe Ely, Lanier Greig, founding member of ZZ Top, and Marion Aquilina, guitar player for La Mafia.

Being Here, his second album was released this week.

On an L.A. afternoon, sitting down for coffee, here is what the artist had to say:

LK: Tell me first about how you started out, your beginnings as an artist, where you grew up and what your inspirations were.

SP: I grew up in Texas and I was always around music. My father was a musician—a 70s bass player. So there was always some kind of jazz or southern rock kind of thing going on in the house. So I always listened to music. I always knew that was what I wanted to do. And then when I was about fifteen I started playing drums, and that led to, you know I went through bands—garage bands. And that led to playing jazz in college. And after I got out of college and was heavy into jazz, I realized that I wanted to write music. That I was really more melodic. And rhythm's been a great tool for writing. And so then I started to write music and formed a band and then became a solo artist.

LK: Out of curiosity what was the name of your band?

SP: The last band I was in was called Soular Slide. Dumb-ass name. The first band name was Love and the Ugly Monster. Now, I thought that one was cool.

LK: Beside your father, who were your influences? The artists that made you want to make music?

SP: Well, the things that moved me have always been soul music like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway. Jazz has been a giant influence—Coltrane, Parker, Gilespie. Of course The Beatles, Paul Simon. Bob Dylan is huge. Listening to old country again like Hank Williams and old folk like Woody Guthrie.

LK: What about your CD that is coming out this June?

SP: Most recently I was on the Dr. Phil show for upcoming talent type of thing and they sent me to Nashville to record a song. So I went and wrote a song and recorded it. So I took a combination of my first record (that he self-released) and my EP and the single I wrote in Nashville and I re-mastered it.

LK: In terms of songwriting?

SP: I have a lot to say about people and places. I write like I'm writing in my journal a lot. I went to Nashville and I was sitting at a bar, and there were these people there sitting next to me. And I was sitting by myself. And there were these two couples and I heard these women talking about how they had moved some product around in Wal-Mart and where the sales were this week and all that. And I thought that's fucking beautiful. That conversation is great because you don't hear that in Hollywood. I thought man, I want to get back to that simple thinking. That real life. That middle-American life.

LK: Tell me, on your upcoming CD, is there any particular song that has a special meaning for you?

SP: Well there’s a song called "Apples and Pancakes." It's a "what if" song. You know the record is sort of a compilation of wild thoughts when I started writing, trying to hone in my writing ability. It's a lot of introspection. Songs about drinking, songs about breaking up, songs about shit, and then songs about hope—something to look forward to. And that song is one of those something-to-look-forward-to songs, a song about questioning.


LK: About your Dr. Phil recording, is there any stand-out moments for you?

SP: When he said he was going to give me a demo deal with this label in Nashville, I started shaking. I don't know why, I wasn't nervous. I mean I was excited, but I know what that means. I'd have to go prove myself. So that was a moment. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact I was working as a dishwasher 18 hours a day at the time, I don't know.

Shawn plays "Room 5" in Hollywood, California on Saturday, June 4 and we have a feeling he won't have to be working as a dishwasher again anytime soon.