If you’re a New Jersey native then you might know Shoobies in some form, and if you were an avid fan of the Nickelodeon show “Rocket Power” then you can probably guess what they’re about. These East Coast rockers grew up on the Jersey Shore and have taken their beachside living to heart as they close in on their second year as a band. Despite holding a band name that represents the opposite of who they are, with their surf rock and lightly grunge-influenced sound and a slew of shows along the shore, Shoobies truly embody the place they call home.
Where are you all from?
We are all from a small town called Bayville in the irrelevant suburbs of New Jersey, five minutes from the beach.
How long have you been a band and how did you get started?
We’ve all been best friends our entire life, and we’ve been making music together since we were around 13 years old. We eventually decided to take it seriously, thus came Shoobies circa summer ’16. We originally made music for fun, but we quickly realized we could make a career out of it.
How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard you before?
Our sound, a sonic roar of juvenescence, soft grunge, indie love-rock. We grew up listening to every genre of music — from ‘60s blues, to ‘70s rock, ‘80s new wave, ‘90s grunge, and ‘00s R&B — so we are heavily influenced by a lot of sounds. We make music strictly for dancing.
What was your latest release of music and can you talk about that a bit?
Our latest release is a three-song EP titled Cherry and it was recorded at Lakehouse Studios in Asbury Park. Cherry is completely conceptual; it is a metaphorical take on the parallels of love and drugs and their effect on the human condition. Quite frankly, we hate the final product, and are currently re-recording it in a home studio we just built. We hope to re-release these songs within the month!
What is your writing and recording process like?
Arduous, yet cathartic. Writing a song usually takes days, sometimes weeks. We don’t believe in filler lines, and want every second of the song to bare some sort of significance to us. We all live together, and in our backyard is an old tree house completely submerged in nature and hidden from the world. We typically spend hours in that tranquil, little tree house with acoustic guitars writing our new music.
Recording used to be a very stressful, time-restricting process; we recorded Claude Monet in its entirety in one 10-hour studio session. Now, it is all organic. We spent a small fortune in creating our own home studio, and we couldn’t be happier with the final product. We’ve never had any luck with outsourcing, so we’ve decided to do everything ourselves…including mixing and mastering. Nobody knows how to recreate the music in your head, might as well do it yourself.
What are current projects you are working on?
Aside from recreating our second EP Cherry, we are also recording our third, and final, EP. The title and date have yet to be announced, however, we truly believe it is our best work yet, and will give us the confidence we need to complete our debut album. Our album is going to be our most artistic endeavor yet, and will require every once of creativity we possess.
We are writing a fiction novel; a philosophical take on an all encompassing love, that will be used as a backstory to our music. It will take readers through our demo, Dear June, and then our three EPs. The album will then be written based off of the events that unfold in the novel (post demo and EP backstory). We are nearly finished with writing everything, however, creating the aural embodiment of the novel will be the hard part. We’ve set a release date for now, and we can’t wait to share this project with the world.
Is there any significance behind your band name?
Growing up, we were all a bunch of skate rats, so naturally “Rocket Power” was our favorite show. We learned the word Shoobies from “Rocket Power,” as it was used to describe the kooks who came from out of town and overcrowded the beaches. Growing up on the Jersey Shore, we’ve come to realize that the word Shoobies is indigenous to our area. On an international level, no one will understand the meaning of our band’s name, however, we like that idea. We can make the word shoobies synonymous with whatever we please, while still paying homage to our hometown.
What is your favorite memory as a band?
Despite having millions of amazing memories together, our favorite memory as a band has to come from the recording process of our debut EP Claude Monet. Prior to Claude Monet, all of our earliest music was recorded in our basement, on a sub-par mic, with little to no knowledge of recording. Now, on (our frontman) Casey’s 22nd birthday, we were spending 10 hours together in a high class studio recording songs we wrote when we were kids.
During the session, one event in particular comes to mind that we will forever laugh about. We brought five pounds worth of Popeye’s chicken and biscuits to the studio with us, and it was supposed to last all day. While Casey was tracking vocals for our song Violet, our lead guitarist Kevin, who had eaten pretty much the entirety of the Popeye’s, had sprinted out of the studio. Tim, our engineer, then cuts the mic and proceeds to blast over the intercom, “Hey man, give us a second, your buddy just shit his pants.”
What are your goals for the future as a band?
Our goal has remained the same since we were kids; nothing would mean more than traveling the world with each other. As far as artistic goals, a number one album and a best selling book would be an epistemic reassurance of our hard work. We also hope to continue to perpetuate the effort of relinquishing the dividing line between of artistry and social activism.
What are your plans for the rest of 2018?
2018 is going to be a wild year. We plan on releasing a remastered version of our second EP, releasing our third and final EP, and then we have one East Coast tour and two national tours in the works.
Where can readers find your music
Readers can find our music everywhere! Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, SoundCloud, YouTube, Google Play — you name it! For music, merch, and everything else, check our website, ShoobiesNJ.com!
