The Shivas released multiple albums on K Records and Burger and recently announced the Oct 25 release of their debut LP with Tender Loving Empire. Dark Thoughts is a sweet and sinister album about confronting your demons and the growth that comes from fearless self-examination.
Today the Portland quartet shares the diaphanous “If You See Me“, sung by and starring drummer/singer Kristin Leonard. The clip premiered today at Flaunt who said, “the video is a collage of starry-eyed nostalgia, soothing loneliness, and rattling grief.”
“The heart of this song deals with all of the intense feelings and emotions I experience, especially in the context in which the song was written,” says Leonard. “Dealing with misogyny, depression, intuition, fears, anxieties, and the release that comes when the figurative and literal clouds part.”
She continues, “It was the first time I was writing honestly about myself – in the context of dealing with intense depression and intuitions, and dealing with the world via all the identities that make up myself: being a woman, being an artist, being on tour, being on tour with a tour manager that treated me as less than human—it was a way for me to break through and work out these feelings.”
“If You See Me” follows “Gloria“, a parable about the elusiveness of success wrapped in sultry, dirgy psych-rock—majestic and sleazy at the same time.
For The Shivas, the show has always been the thing. That thing being a bombastic, explosive and thoroughly communal live rock and roll experience where barriers between the performers and their audience seem to dissolve into the sweat and sound. The band starts a tour this week that takes them down the west coast before heading across the pond through the holiday season.
Though performing is where The Shivas are most at home, recording is less instinctive. Where live shows are ethereal products of the moment, albums last forever. It’s a lot of pressure. Which is one reason it took three full recording sessions to finish their ambitious and mature new LP, but when the stars aligned they took the opportunity to face their insecurities—one of the many reasons the album is called Dark Thoughts.
Pre-Order Dark Thoughts at: https://tndr.lv/darkthoughts
The Shivas Tour Dates
Sept 26 – Pendleton, OR – The Great Pacific
Sept 28 – Spokane, WA – Lucky You
Sept 29 – Moscow, ID – Modest Music Festival
Oct 04 – Bend, OR – Volcanic Theatre
Oct 05 – Reno, NV – Off Beat Music Festival @ St. James Infirmary
Oct 25 – Boise, ID – Neurolux
Oct 28 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
Oct 30 – Los Angeles, CA – Hi Hat
Nov 01 – San Diego, CA – Che Cafe
Nov 02 – Tijuana, MX – Moustache Bar
Nov 03 – Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar
Nov 05 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom Of The Hill
Nov 06 – Sacramento, CA – Press Club
Nov 09 – Eugene, OR – Sessions
Nov 10 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir
Nov 14 – Seattle, WA – Freakout Festival
Nov 21 – Baden, CH – Werkk Kulturlokal
Nov 22 – Schaffhausen, CH – Taptab
Dec 04 – Opwijk, BE – Nosta
Dec 05 – Tilburg, NL – Cul de Sac
Dec 06 – London, UK – Shacklewell Arms
Dec 07 – Hastings, UK – The Piper
Dec 09 – Sheffield, UK – Couch Campo Lane
Dec 11 – Bristol, UK – Mother’s Ruin
Dec 12 – Furth, DE – Kunstkeller
Dec 13 – Varese, IT – Circolo Gagarin
Dec 14 – Rome, IT – 30 Formiche