Alternative band SHAED has been making music together ever since they all became friends back in high school. Hailing from Washington, DC, the group consists of twins Max and Spencer, and their best friend Chelsea, who is now also Spencer’s wife. The band is first and foremost best friends and their love of the same music is channeled into their creation of music. Chelsea answered some questions for us about their new music, their recent feature on an apple commercial, and more about what we can expect.
Cliché: How did the three of you decide to start making music together? Was there a specific moment when you knew that this was the right fit?
Chelsea: The instant we became friends is the moment we started writing songs together. We were in separate projects for the first couple of years of knowing each other which prevented us from working together officially until SHAED was born in 2016.
How does your songwriting process work? What inspires you to write your music the way that you do?
We all live together in a small house outside of DC. We try to write together as much as possible. Our inspiration can be as simple as having the ability to walk into our studio every day and freely create.
I was first introduced to your music last year when you were on tour with Bishop Briggs and Manatee Commune and I’m very happy that I was! How much has changed for you since that tour?
A ton has changed. We all moved into a house together. Spencer and I got married. And we released our EP Melt.
Your song, “Trampoline,” was recently featured on an apple commercial and it’s one of your most popular songs on Spotify and itunes. How important has that exposure been for you? Do you feel you’ve gained new fans you hadn’t reached before?
The Apple commercial has been a dream. The amount of exposure we’ve received is unbelievable – we have gained so many new fans, especially internationally. It has opened a lot of doors for us which we are incredibly thankful for.
You’ve gone on tour a few times now. What has been your favorite city or cities to play and why?
We get asked this question a lot and we always struggle to answer. We are so happy that we have the opportunity to travel and each place we visit is wonderful.
When performing live do you try to make it sound just like the recorded versions or do you ever like to get creative with the composition or instrumentation when performing? What’s your favorite song to perform live at the moment and why?
We definitely like to change things up. We totally strip down “Just Wanna See” to just electric guitar, drum pad and vocals. That’s our favorite song to play live at the moment.
Your latest EP, Melt, has been out for a little while now. I read that leading up to it you were writing every day. What was it about the songs that are on it that they made the final cut?
We wrote a lot of songs for this EP but we picked tracks that were especially special to us. “Melt” was the first song we wrote in our house, “Trampoline” followed after, and “You Got Me Like” and “Keep Calling” were a result of being snowed in during the winter months. Every song we chose just felt like us.
It was recently announced that you’re going on your first headlining tour this coming February which must be really exciting! What are you most looking forward to?
It’s going to feel super special knowing that everyone there came to see us 🙂 Seeing and hearing people sing along to our songs is our favorite thing.
Apart from your upcoming tour, what can listeners expect from SHAED coming up in the near future?
New songs soon 🙂
Read more Music Articles at Cliché Magazine.
SHAED Talks New Music, Upcoming Tour, and Their Recent Feature in an Apple Commercial Featured image credit: Nicole Mago
