Gabriel Shaw is one of the hardest working members of the industrial music community, having toured with bands with VNV Nation, Chemlab, Imperative Reaction and Ayria. Also a roadie with Nitzer Ebb, Combichrist and others, Gabriel discusses his experiences with some of the bands he's worked with and life on the road.
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Brian Backlash: Your most recent gig was as a roadie for the Nitzer Ebb tour that just ended. What was your most memorable experience during those weeks?
Gabriel Shaw: My most memorable experience would probably be having Bon Harris teach me how to use the music software program Ableton Live. I had been trying to learn it for awhile and it turns out that Bon uses it for most of his work in Ebb. So, during our long drives, he would take time to answer my questions on how it works and give some brief lessons. It was very cool to learn from a pro.
Brian Backlash: Had you met either Bon Harris or Douglas McCarthy prior to the tour? Did you have any expectations regarding what kind of people they are?
Gabriel Shaw: I met both Bon and Douglas once before at the 2006 Movement festival in Detroit. Nitzer Ebb were headlining the same night that I was there playing guitar for the band Chemlab. I didn't have time to talk with them long, but they were very friendly. I think that show was the very first gig they had done in 11 years or something like that.
Brian Backlash: In the past couple of years, you've done a lot of roadie work, including the bands Armageddon Dildos and Combichrist. How did you begin your work as a roadie?
Gabriel Shaw: Well, the roadie part came later actually. First and foremost, I'm a musician and my first tour was as keyboardist for the Armageddon Dildos on their first US tour in early 2007. A mutual friend heard they were looking for someone and put me in touch with them. I was ready to quit my day job anyway and was just sick of the 9-5 office life, spending every waking hour in a cubicle doing work I don't enjoy. I needed a serious change. It was a short tour, but a great experience. My next opportunity was with Combichrist a few months later, where I was hired as a drum tech for Joe Letz. Joe was a friend of mine and we had planned to work together in Chemlab, though that never ended up happening. Joe came to me and I think his exact words were "Hey, I need someone to pick up after me on stage". Little did I know what I was getting myself into when I accepted the job. (laughs)
Brian Backlash: Does the work load change considerably from tour to tour?
Gabriel Shaw: Sure does, though the basics are pretty much the same. Load in, load out, pack the trailer, unpack the trailer, set up the instruments, break down the instruments, repair and maintain the instruments, ignore the idiots in the audience yelling at you to give them the band's stuff (laughs). With Combichrist, the drum tech's job is not really what would be considered normal. You have to run around the whole show, fetch all the drum flying sticks and drum parts hurtling around stage and set them back up as quickly as possible. It's a demeaning and often thankless job, but I was able to travel all over the world and make some great industry connections.
Brian Backlash: What's been the most surprising thing you've discovered about this line of work so far?
Gabriel Shaw: Groupies. (laughs) They don't exist in Europe. It's strictly an American phenomenon. I mean, no one really cares about the roadie anyway, so I don't have much "experience" with groupies, shall we say. It could also be the kinds of bands I'm with. I've heard much more impressive stories from other bands I haven't toured with. But I've seen some crazy things backstage that I can never repeat without getting people in trouble. As they say, what happens on tour, stays on tour. You especially never rat out the guy who's paying you. But there's usually some sort of alcohol-fueled backstage shenanigans ensuing. People want to party and when you're trapped with the same 12 guys 24 hours a day in a cramped van or bus, you have to let off some steam.
Brian Backlash: What would you say is the most difficult thing about life on the road?
Gabriel Shaw: Being away from your home, friends, family, and loved ones for weeks and months. It kills your relationships. You're just gone all the time. I've had to make some huge sacrifices to keep going in this industry. So that, and the sleep deprivation and lack for 3 square meals a day. You usually get a few hours of sleep every night and maybe two meals a day, sometimes just one. Some promoters seem to put no effort at all into the catering and provide some really bad crap. There is also the fact that you're often traveling 8 hours or more everyday. So you're in a constant state of jet lag. It all wears on you after awhile and that is usually when tempers start to flair. It's a recipe for tour disaster, but something we all have to deal with.
Brian Backlash: For a long time, you were keeping an online tour diary, documenting the day to day activities of yourself and the band you were with. One of the things I've noticed you mentioning on several occasions was hitting up whatever music stores that were accessible to you at the time. When you're out shopping for music, are you looking for anything in particular? What sort of albums do you tend to walk away with?
Gabriel Shaw: Yeah, I really love CD shopping for some reason. I have over 1300 CDs at home, though I'm not buying very many these days. Mp3s are just much more convenient, especially on the road. My iPod has my entire CD collection on it and I love that. I tend to download albums more these days and try them out first. If I really dig it, I hunt down the CD in a store. I'm a collector and I love having the actual product with full artwork and whatnot. But if I'm really just not into the album I've downloaded, I'll simply delete it off my computer and that's that. I love the ability to try stuff out first. But as far as what music I'm looking for, it could be pretty much anything. I try to discover new music whenever possible, usually listening to Last.fm. I almost never buy something without hearing the whole album first. It's just a smarter way to shop, I feel. I'm a musician and I respect the artists, so if I really dig the album, I will go buy the CD. But I just can't get into buying mp3s yet. I've been burned by the iTunes store before, where the mp3 quality was terrible and I should have just bough the CD for the same price. And again, I'm a collector, so I want a tangible product.
Brian Backlash: What bands or specific albums influenced you when you were just starting out in music? Do you still feel that way towards those works?
Gabriel Shaw: Oh man, this could take a while. I heard electronic music as far back as I can remember growing up as a child. My dad would listen to Jean Michel Jarre, Gary Numan, and The Cars. It was the keyboard sounds in that music that had us hooked. I also really loved the electronic theme music to the TV show Dr Who back then. From there I got into Genesis, Pink Floyd and Rush. In 6th grade, I suddenly discovered heavy metal and it became my noise of choice all through junior high and high school. Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, pretty much anything metal I could get my hands on. Another turning point came in the summer of 1990, where I heard 4 very important albums: The Cure's Disintegration, Depeche Mode's Violator, Ministry's Twitch and Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. Nine Inch Nails changed my life forever. A friend told me it was called "industrial music" and that was it, I was obsessed with the music style. I quickly got into Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Chemlab, 16 Volt, Machines Of Loving Grace, Sister Machine Gun, etc. You name it. At the same time Alternative music was also making a big impact on me with bands like The Pixies, Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Tool, and Killing Joke.
So in the mid 90's, I stared writing my own music using keyboards and a cassette tape 4-track recorder I borrowed from a friend. After awhile industrial music got pretty stale and got more into electronic stuff like Underworld, Orbital, The Prodigy, Future Sound Of London, etc. Most of the music I was writing was instrumental at this point. It wasn't until 2000 that I found industrial again with bands like VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, and pretty much anything on Metropolis Records. In 2004, I released a collection of demos called mindFIELD Singularity that was directly influenced by the industrial and electronic music I loved. Since then, I've been mixing my influences from all these different genres together.
Wow, sorry, that was kind of long winded. (laughs)
Brian Backlash: Has it been hard keeping up with mindFIELD and Ionnokx? Are you planning any shows or new releases for these projects?
Gabriel Shaw: Yes. I need to. It's been far too long since I've made music. I've been working for everyone else's band and have completely neglected my own projects. So I plan to get back to that asap. I have no idea what it will sound like though, since so much time has passed and my influences keep changing. I guess we'll see what happens. I want to release music for both projects this year.
Brian Backlash: What have been some of your favorite cities to visit? What cities seem to have the best music stores?
Gabriel Shaw: I really like the cities on the west coast in the US. San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle are all really cool. I always have fun there. In Europe, it's much harder to pin point exact cities. The European tours are such an adventure and each city is so unique. I'm usually more comfortable in German cities for some reason, even though I don't speak any German.
Brian Backlash: Do you have any horror stories stemming from your touring experiences?
Gabriel Shaw: Oh, of course. Can I talk about them? Not really. (laughs) I'm kidding... sort of. Let's see. Quite often, while touring with Combichrist in Europe, the band didn't have their own drum kits. So we would always have to have the local promoters for each show provide them. And if you've ever seem a Combichrist show, they're pretty rough on their instruments. So every night, the band would trash the stage as they always do and then run off backstage, leaving me behind to deal with the irate promoter and venue staff. I had to get use to saying stuff like "oh my god, I had no idea they were going to do that! Wow, that sucks, I know. I'm so sorry.
I had no idea they were
going to throw the floor tom across the room. And it belonged to your
grandfather, you say? Wow, yeah, I'm so sorry, that sucks that it's
broken now" (laughs) I mean just stuff like that. It got exhausting
and I really did feel bad for these people who had no idea what was
about to happen to their stuff. Quite often they wanted to kill me
even though I had no part in the destruction. Not fun, let me tell
you. Lots of threats to call the police on us over years. But I think
the band has all their own gear now in Europe.
Brian Backlash: A few years ago, you hooked up with Jared Louche of Chemlab, and you're largely responsible for getting a live version of Chemlab back into performance condition for a 2007 tour. What was your motivation in becoming part of that particular band?
Gabriel Shaw: My motivation? I love Chemlab and I've just been a huge fan forever. I bought their first EP "Ten Ton Pressure" on vinyl when it came out. Jared, the singer, was in Boston in 2004 for a solo show and needed a live keyboardist. My roommate at the time was the promoter for the show, so he hooked me up with the gig. After that I then presented Jared with the idea of putting together a live version of Chemlab again. I got to work making backing tracks for it, put together a band, and we made it happen. It was a lot of hard work, but a very rewarding experience. I felt a little weird about doing it at times, since Dylan, the guy who made all the music for Chemlab originally, wasn't interested in doing the band at all. But we also couldn't get a hold of him, so we just proceeded forward without him. My motivation mostly was that I really wanted to see Chemlab live again, so this was even better.
Brian Backlash: Chemlab is going on tour later this year, and there's a lot of talk regarding new recordings. What are the details concerning the future of Chemlab?
Gabriel Shaw: That's a question that Jared could answer much better. Unfortunately, I won't be able to playing in Chemlab on this next tour. Jared has a new lineup for the band this year and I haven't really heard anything about new recordings. It's weird, but this is just the way things worked out.
Brian Backlash: Of all your different tours and projects to date, which has been the most exciting or rewarding to be a part of?
Gabriel Shaw: Each and every one. Such a cop-out, I know (laughs). No, I've really enjoyed working in bands that I've been such a big fan of. I prefer when I get to be a musician on stage with the band rather than a roadie behind the scenes. I think the tour I had the most fun on was Imperative Reaction "Minus All" tour in 2008. I played guitar and keyboards and just got to rock out really hard every night. Playing keyboards for VNV Nation has been a great experience as well. We played the Mera Luna festival in Germany in front 22,000 people, which is just an awesome sight looking out from the stage. I've also really enjoyed my time with Chemlab, which really started it all for me. Each tour has been a really rewarding experience and I always look forward to the next one.
Brian Backlash: What other bands do you expect to work with this this year?
Gabriel Shaw: At this time, the only tour I know I'll be on is VNV Nation in the US this spring... if it happens. There are a lot of factors involved in planning a tour and any number of reasons why it may get canceled or postponed. So we'll see. I usually get offers to tour about a month in advance of the first show date. Though sometimes I'm only given a few days notice. It's a crazy life.
Brian Backlash: Ultimately, what is the most satisfying thing you've accomplished in your career so far?
Gabriel Shaw: The most satisfying thing I've accomplished is that I've actually done it... I've made a career out of this. I was like anyone else working in an office and now I'm here, playing in front of thousands of people all over the world. I'm now in bands that I've been a huge fan of for years. It blows my mind sometimes. But the only way I've done it is by not thinking about it and just getting the job done. Playing it cool, basically. I put my heart into it 100% even when it's thankless and I'm exhausted. I've given up a sensible job with a comfortable salary and all the things that normal people do in their mid-30's. No retirement fund and no real plan for the future, other than to keep doing what I'm doing now. I have to keep reaching for the next level each time and set new goals for myself constantly.
mindFIELD's Official Website
mindFIELD on MySpace
Gabriel Shaw's Tour Blogs
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Brian Backlash: Your most recent gig was as a roadie for the Nitzer Ebb tour that just ended. What was your most memorable experience during those weeks?
Gabriel Shaw: My most memorable experience would probably be having Bon Harris teach me how to use the music software program Ableton Live. I had been trying to learn it for awhile and it turns out that Bon uses it for most of his work in Ebb. So, during our long drives, he would take time to answer my questions on how it works and give some brief lessons. It was very cool to learn from a pro.
Brian Backlash: Had you met either Bon Harris or Douglas McCarthy prior to the tour? Did you have any expectations regarding what kind of people they are?
Gabriel Shaw: I met both Bon and Douglas once before at the 2006 Movement festival in Detroit. Nitzer Ebb were headlining the same night that I was there playing guitar for the band Chemlab. I didn't have time to talk with them long, but they were very friendly. I think that show was the very first gig they had done in 11 years or something like that.
Brian Backlash: In the past couple of years, you've done a lot of roadie work, including the bands Armageddon Dildos and Combichrist. How did you begin your work as a roadie?
Gabriel Shaw: Well, the roadie part came later actually. First and foremost, I'm a musician and my first tour was as keyboardist for the Armageddon Dildos on their first US tour in early 2007. A mutual friend heard they were looking for someone and put me in touch with them. I was ready to quit my day job anyway and was just sick of the 9-5 office life, spending every waking hour in a cubicle doing work I don't enjoy. I needed a serious change. It was a short tour, but a great experience. My next opportunity was with Combichrist a few months later, where I was hired as a drum tech for Joe Letz. Joe was a friend of mine and we had planned to work together in Chemlab, though that never ended up happening. Joe came to me and I think his exact words were "Hey, I need someone to pick up after me on stage". Little did I know what I was getting myself into when I accepted the job. (laughs)
Brian Backlash: Does the work load change considerably from tour to tour?
Gabriel Shaw: Sure does, though the basics are pretty much the same. Load in, load out, pack the trailer, unpack the trailer, set up the instruments, break down the instruments, repair and maintain the instruments, ignore the idiots in the audience yelling at you to give them the band's stuff (laughs). With Combichrist, the drum tech's job is not really what would be considered normal. You have to run around the whole show, fetch all the drum flying sticks and drum parts hurtling around stage and set them back up as quickly as possible. It's a demeaning and often thankless job, but I was able to travel all over the world and make some great industry connections.
Brian Backlash: What's been the most surprising thing you've discovered about this line of work so far?
Gabriel Shaw: Groupies. (laughs) They don't exist in Europe. It's strictly an American phenomenon. I mean, no one really cares about the roadie anyway, so I don't have much "experience" with groupies, shall we say. It could also be the kinds of bands I'm with. I've heard much more impressive stories from other bands I haven't toured with. But I've seen some crazy things backstage that I can never repeat without getting people in trouble. As they say, what happens on tour, stays on tour. You especially never rat out the guy who's paying you. But there's usually some sort of alcohol-fueled backstage shenanigans ensuing. People want to party and when you're trapped with the same 12 guys 24 hours a day in a cramped van or bus, you have to let off some steam.
Brian Backlash: What would you say is the most difficult thing about life on the road?
Gabriel Shaw: Being away from your home, friends, family, and loved ones for weeks and months. It kills your relationships. You're just gone all the time. I've had to make some huge sacrifices to keep going in this industry. So that, and the sleep deprivation and lack for 3 square meals a day. You usually get a few hours of sleep every night and maybe two meals a day, sometimes just one. Some promoters seem to put no effort at all into the catering and provide some really bad crap. There is also the fact that you're often traveling 8 hours or more everyday. So you're in a constant state of jet lag. It all wears on you after awhile and that is usually when tempers start to flair. It's a recipe for tour disaster, but something we all have to deal with.
Brian Backlash: For a long time, you were keeping an online tour diary, documenting the day to day activities of yourself and the band you were with. One of the things I've noticed you mentioning on several occasions was hitting up whatever music stores that were accessible to you at the time. When you're out shopping for music, are you looking for anything in particular? What sort of albums do you tend to walk away with?
Gabriel Shaw: Yeah, I really love CD shopping for some reason. I have over 1300 CDs at home, though I'm not buying very many these days. Mp3s are just much more convenient, especially on the road. My iPod has my entire CD collection on it and I love that. I tend to download albums more these days and try them out first. If I really dig it, I hunt down the CD in a store. I'm a collector and I love having the actual product with full artwork and whatnot. But if I'm really just not into the album I've downloaded, I'll simply delete it off my computer and that's that. I love the ability to try stuff out first. But as far as what music I'm looking for, it could be pretty much anything. I try to discover new music whenever possible, usually listening to Last.fm. I almost never buy something without hearing the whole album first. It's just a smarter way to shop, I feel. I'm a musician and I respect the artists, so if I really dig the album, I will go buy the CD. But I just can't get into buying mp3s yet. I've been burned by the iTunes store before, where the mp3 quality was terrible and I should have just bough the CD for the same price. And again, I'm a collector, so I want a tangible product.
Brian Backlash: What bands or specific albums influenced you when you were just starting out in music? Do you still feel that way towards those works?
Gabriel Shaw: Oh man, this could take a while. I heard electronic music as far back as I can remember growing up as a child. My dad would listen to Jean Michel Jarre, Gary Numan, and The Cars. It was the keyboard sounds in that music that had us hooked. I also really loved the electronic theme music to the TV show Dr Who back then. From there I got into Genesis, Pink Floyd and Rush. In 6th grade, I suddenly discovered heavy metal and it became my noise of choice all through junior high and high school. Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, pretty much anything metal I could get my hands on. Another turning point came in the summer of 1990, where I heard 4 very important albums: The Cure's Disintegration, Depeche Mode's Violator, Ministry's Twitch and Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine. Nine Inch Nails changed my life forever. A friend told me it was called "industrial music" and that was it, I was obsessed with the music style. I quickly got into Skinny Puppy, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Chemlab, 16 Volt, Machines Of Loving Grace, Sister Machine Gun, etc. You name it. At the same time Alternative music was also making a big impact on me with bands like The Pixies, Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Tool, and Killing Joke.
So in the mid 90's, I stared writing my own music using keyboards and a cassette tape 4-track recorder I borrowed from a friend. After awhile industrial music got pretty stale and got more into electronic stuff like Underworld, Orbital, The Prodigy, Future Sound Of London, etc. Most of the music I was writing was instrumental at this point. It wasn't until 2000 that I found industrial again with bands like VNV Nation, Apoptygma Berzerk, and pretty much anything on Metropolis Records. In 2004, I released a collection of demos called mindFIELD Singularity that was directly influenced by the industrial and electronic music I loved. Since then, I've been mixing my influences from all these different genres together.
Wow, sorry, that was kind of long winded. (laughs)
Brian Backlash: Has it been hard keeping up with mindFIELD and Ionnokx? Are you planning any shows or new releases for these projects?
Gabriel Shaw: Yes. I need to. It's been far too long since I've made music. I've been working for everyone else's band and have completely neglected my own projects. So I plan to get back to that asap. I have no idea what it will sound like though, since so much time has passed and my influences keep changing. I guess we'll see what happens. I want to release music for both projects this year.
Brian Backlash: What have been some of your favorite cities to visit? What cities seem to have the best music stores?
Gabriel Shaw: I really like the cities on the west coast in the US. San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle are all really cool. I always have fun there. In Europe, it's much harder to pin point exact cities. The European tours are such an adventure and each city is so unique. I'm usually more comfortable in German cities for some reason, even though I don't speak any German.
Brian Backlash: Do you have any horror stories stemming from your touring experiences?
Gabriel Shaw: Oh, of course. Can I talk about them? Not really. (laughs) I'm kidding... sort of. Let's see. Quite often, while touring with Combichrist in Europe, the band didn't have their own drum kits. So we would always have to have the local promoters for each show provide them. And if you've ever seem a Combichrist show, they're pretty rough on their instruments. So every night, the band would trash the stage as they always do and then run off backstage, leaving me behind to deal with the irate promoter and venue staff. I had to get use to saying stuff like "oh my god, I had no idea they were going to do that! Wow, that sucks, I know. I'm so sorry.
I had no idea they were
going to throw the floor tom across the room. And it belonged to your
grandfather, you say? Wow, yeah, I'm so sorry, that sucks that it's
broken now" (laughs) I mean just stuff like that. It got exhausting
and I really did feel bad for these people who had no idea what was
about to happen to their stuff. Quite often they wanted to kill me
even though I had no part in the destruction. Not fun, let me tell
you. Lots of threats to call the police on us over years. But I think
the band has all their own gear now in Europe.
Brian Backlash: A few years ago, you hooked up with Jared Louche of Chemlab, and you're largely responsible for getting a live version of Chemlab back into performance condition for a 2007 tour. What was your motivation in becoming part of that particular band?
Gabriel Shaw: My motivation? I love Chemlab and I've just been a huge fan forever. I bought their first EP "Ten Ton Pressure" on vinyl when it came out. Jared, the singer, was in Boston in 2004 for a solo show and needed a live keyboardist. My roommate at the time was the promoter for the show, so he hooked me up with the gig. After that I then presented Jared with the idea of putting together a live version of Chemlab again. I got to work making backing tracks for it, put together a band, and we made it happen. It was a lot of hard work, but a very rewarding experience. I felt a little weird about doing it at times, since Dylan, the guy who made all the music for Chemlab originally, wasn't interested in doing the band at all. But we also couldn't get a hold of him, so we just proceeded forward without him. My motivation mostly was that I really wanted to see Chemlab live again, so this was even better.
Brian Backlash: Chemlab is going on tour later this year, and there's a lot of talk regarding new recordings. What are the details concerning the future of Chemlab?
Gabriel Shaw: That's a question that Jared could answer much better. Unfortunately, I won't be able to playing in Chemlab on this next tour. Jared has a new lineup for the band this year and I haven't really heard anything about new recordings. It's weird, but this is just the way things worked out.
Brian Backlash: Of all your different tours and projects to date, which has been the most exciting or rewarding to be a part of?
Gabriel Shaw: Each and every one. Such a cop-out, I know (laughs). No, I've really enjoyed working in bands that I've been such a big fan of. I prefer when I get to be a musician on stage with the band rather than a roadie behind the scenes. I think the tour I had the most fun on was Imperative Reaction "Minus All" tour in 2008. I played guitar and keyboards and just got to rock out really hard every night. Playing keyboards for VNV Nation has been a great experience as well. We played the Mera Luna festival in Germany in front 22,000 people, which is just an awesome sight looking out from the stage. I've also really enjoyed my time with Chemlab, which really started it all for me. Each tour has been a really rewarding experience and I always look forward to the next one.
Brian Backlash: What other bands do you expect to work with this this year?
Gabriel Shaw: At this time, the only tour I know I'll be on is VNV Nation in the US this spring... if it happens. There are a lot of factors involved in planning a tour and any number of reasons why it may get canceled or postponed. So we'll see. I usually get offers to tour about a month in advance of the first show date. Though sometimes I'm only given a few days notice. It's a crazy life.
Brian Backlash: Ultimately, what is the most satisfying thing you've accomplished in your career so far?
Gabriel Shaw: The most satisfying thing I've accomplished is that I've actually done it... I've made a career out of this. I was like anyone else working in an office and now I'm here, playing in front of thousands of people all over the world. I'm now in bands that I've been a huge fan of for years. It blows my mind sometimes. But the only way I've done it is by not thinking about it and just getting the job done. Playing it cool, basically. I put my heart into it 100% even when it's thankless and I'm exhausted. I've given up a sensible job with a comfortable salary and all the things that normal people do in their mid-30's. No retirement fund and no real plan for the future, other than to keep doing what I'm doing now. I have to keep reaching for the next level each time and set new goals for myself constantly.
mindFIELD's Official Website
mindFIELD on MySpace
Gabriel Shaw's Tour Blogs