Kicking with The Shins

Sometimes overnight success ain’t exactly what it seems. Just ask The Shins. Despite a history that has lasted nearly a decade, the two members sitting down to talk to hotpress, James Mercer and Marty Crandall, find themselves in the slightly odd position of being considered as this year’s bright young things.
They are, however, sanguine about it. “We only toured over here for the first time in April”, says James, “so I think it’s understandable. In the States we’re not really considered a new band at all.”
But is there not a part of them that gets cynical about all this, that wants to ask these people where they’ve been for the past nine years?
“I think I’m very cynical about the music industry as a whole so none of this really surprises me,” James replies. “It’s not that we’re jaded or anything, just that we went into this knowing how fickle the whole thing is. It’s the weirdest industry that exists, besides the porn industry.”
The band’s experience works in their favour in this respect too, since it means they’re certainly not going to get caught up in believing their own hype. They also benefit from being signed to the Sub Pop label, a set-up used to dealing with this kind of transformation.
“We’re certainly not going to be made to jump through certain hoops that other major label acts are forced to”, agrees James, “but it probably means that there’s a certain limit to the size that we’re going to get (laughs).”
Then again, look what happened to Nirvana.
“That is sort of the way they look at it, I think,” James reflects. “They know that if a band grows beyond their means they’ll have to leave the label and go to a major. I don’t know if we’re ever going to do that or what our plans are. We owe them one more record and then we’ll start thinking about that”.
Does an even higher profile and mainstream success beckon?
“Can’t see it, can’t imagine it,” says Marty. “It’s difficult to picture us getting any bigger than… well… this. I imagine that we could work our way up to better slots at festivals but I don’t see it getting much bigger than that.”
As their new album Chutes Too Narrow shows, The Shins inhabit that middle ground so often favoured by left field US guitar bands – ticking all the right pop boxes but still unwilling to let go of the quirky template laid down by the likes of Pavement. It is, to be honest, the kind of record that tends to mean an awful lot to a few people rather than provide a pleasant background for millions. But, as the experiences of current no 1 fan Gary Lightbody have proved, things can change in the blink of an eye.
“We’re doing OK” says James. “Do we want it to get bigger? I don’t know. Maybe thinking like that puts a cap on your ambition though.”

The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow is out now on Sub Pop.