{"id":43984,"date":"2019-10-16T09:45:41","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T13:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=43984"},"modified":"2019-10-16T09:45:45","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T13:45:45","slug":"on-stage-shepherds-seeks-to-raise-their-profile-with-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=43984","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Shepherds seeks to raise their profile with tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, <\/span>Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shepherds<\/p><\/div>\n

Shepherds is an alternative rock band that has been around for almost a decade \u2013 and is still flying under the radar.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band just released its sophomore album, \u201cInsignificant Whip,\u201d on Arrowhawk Records and is on the road on a two-week, 10-city support tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

The band might have had a higher profile had it released more than one LP and one EP between April 2011 and summer 2019 \u2013 or if it had a better name.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone doing an internet search for Shepherds music or Shepherds band is met with Band of Shepherds (a pop band from Texas), Sheppard (an Australian indie pop band), Shepherd\u2019s View (a Christian Rock band), German Shepherds (an alternative rock band from San Francisco), The Midnight Shepherds (a Southern Rock band from Alabama), The Shepherds (a gospel band from Georgia) or the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band.<\/span><\/p>\n

Somewhere in the mix is Shepherds, the Atlanta-based band fronted by Jonathan Merenivitch. On October 16, Shepherds will visit the area for a mid-tour show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, it would help the band\u2019s recognition factor if it played at a venue with which area fans are familiar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Shepherds will be performing at Anthorna Gallery (5213 Grays Avenue, Philadelphia, <\/span>www.anthorna.com<\/a>), which bills itself as, \u201cLGBTIQx inclusive Healing Arts Collective, Rotating Gallery, Music Venue, & Safe(r) Space.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been together since 2011,\u201d said Merenivitch, during a phone interview last week as the band was travelling to Charleston, South Carolina for the first show on the tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, we\u2019ve been trying to hit it pretty hard. It\u2019s been hard to get time to tour because we all have a lot of irons in the fire. We all have a lot of different influences.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Trying to fit Shepherds into a genre is a challenging if not impossible task.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a Goth aspect along with elements of pop,\u201d said Merenivitch. \u201cThere are also elements of Scott Walker, post-punk and R&B.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith \u2018<\/span>Insignificant Whip,\u2019 we\u2019re describing it as an anxiety record. There is a tension to how we approach post-punk with a pop element.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe recorded it at Chase Park Transduction, a recording studio in Athens, Georgia. We were in the studio on-and-off from 2016-2018. It was produced by Drew Vandenberg and he added a lot to the record. He allowed us to experiment a little more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The minimalism which guided Shepherds\u2019 earlier work has evolved into lush, expansive compositions thanks to founding bassist Peter Cauthorn, who helped flesh out the LP\u2019s identity as a core contributor to the album\u2019s instrumental textures. Vocalist and drummer Adrian Benedykt \u015awito\u0144 also took on a central role in the recording process, contributing his voice and songwriting talents. Other members are Ryan York (drums), May Tabol (guitar, keyboards), and Vinny Restivo (bass).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some core members — me, Adrian and Peter,\u201d said <\/span>Merenivitch. \u201cWhen Peter left, we got Ryan York to play bass and Vinny Restivo on a full kit drums. May was with us but just left recently because she had a baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we added Arthur Cabral. Arthur brings some bossa nova influence. We\u2019re still post-punk and aggressive but we\u2019re moving into stuff slightly softer with some influences of Sade and D\u2019Angelo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fans will get a full dose of Shepherds\u2019 development and current changed when the band takes the stage in Philly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHalf the set will be songs from \u2018<\/span>Insignificant Whip,\u2019 and half will be newer ones,\u201d said Merenivitch. \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing songs from this record for three years so we\u2019re ready to move on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Video link for Shepherds — https:\/\/youtu.be\/z6dXtH7-8JA<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show at Anthorna Gallery, which also features Butterfly and Mesh & the Beeps, will start at 6 p.m. Tickets are $8.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times Shepherds is an alternative rock band that has been around for almost a decade \u2013 and is still flying under the radar. The band just released its sophomore album, \u201cInsignificant Whip,\u201d on Arrowhawk Records and is on the road on a two-week, 10-city support tour. The band might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8457],"tags":[7426,12514],"class_list":["post-43984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-shepherds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43985,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43984\/revisions\/43985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}