Pretty Rye For a White Guy

A fortnight after the great man’s death, and Aaron Shanley is still feeling a little cut-up about J.D Salinger.

A self-confessed ‘bedroom boy’, it’s perhaps no surprise that the lure of Cornish’s most famous/invisible resident would prove strong; just how strong, however, is worth pointing out.
“I was supposed to be doing my A-levels, “ Shanley admits sheepishly, “but was kinda obsessed with Catcher In The Rye at the time and dropped out without telling my folks and made my way down to Dublin. I was skint. I was staying in €6 a night hostels and living on whatever I made during the day busking and selling home-burned CDs. It was a pretty mad time.”
Indeed. But one that taught young Mr. Shanley much.
“I came away from it knowing that it was possible to make a living from making music. It was scary, but brilliant too. I met a lot of songwriters from all over the world. It was really inspiring and pushed me completely out of my comfort zone. There was no way round it: if you don’t get out on that street with your guitar, you’re sleeping in the park that night. It was a great way of establishing a work ethic. Even now, if I’ve no gigs booked, I’ll hit an open-mic night.”
Shanley is a bundle of intriguing complications. Still precociously young (he’s just turned 20), he writes songs suited to a seen-it-all old campaigner. And although raised on a diet of prime mid-eighties hardcore (Husker Du, Minor Threat, Big Black, Black Flag), he’s now more likely to be found in possession of Gram Parsons, Whiskeytown and Fionn Regan LPs. Also – despite eulogising about the old school method, by making his first three singles (‘Coming Down’, ‘Tell Me’, ‘Oh, My Girl’) all available on free download, it’s clear he’s had no trouble keeping up to speed with the new order.
“I can see it both ways,” he smiles. ” Practically, a lot of stuff is now more accessible and it’s easier to get things done and more cost effectively than it’s probably ever been. But the old approach – hire a studio, spend a couple of weeks recording tracks, releasing an album, then touring it – proved itself to be a great way of connecting with people. That said, I’m on Twitter all the time, I use MySpace a lot, and they’ve been good for me too. It comes down to what you want out of it. It’s very easy to be one of those MySpace artists who never play shows or put our records physically. That’s a dangerous road to go down.”
Shanley’s work to date has been so markedly self-assured, it sounds like the byproduct of someone who has been flying solo for decades. Most musicians only go off on their own following an in-band apprenticeship, but the Lisburn lad has never been in any doubt that he wanted to row his own boat.
“Even when I was very briefly in a band, I was the singer and main songwriter, so it was always going to happen I think. I’ve written things all my life. It’s become an addiction. But I found that I couldn’t really do it with other people. I couldn’t open up. So, it was for the best that I just got on with it myself.”
Do you not think you missed out on something there – the camaraderie?
“Maybe,” he says. “There are times when you’re sitting in a hotel room in some town you don’t know, when you do hanker slightly for a bit of company. And it would be great to take off on a tour with all your mates. And I’ve spent a lot of time experimenting with different styles – punk, folk, country. Maybe if I’d had someone to knock ideas around with, I’d have found my sound a bit quicker. But I’m happy with where I am now and wouldn’t change things. I think it’s worked out for the best.”
With an album getting readied for the end of the summer, and spring-time skits to LA and Nashville on the cards, 2010 looks set to be a busy (and sociable) time for Aaron.
All that said - the Salinger-fan is never too far from the surface.
“I go through phrases where I imagine I’ve written and recorded loads of albums, but only pressed a single copy in vinyl of each and then hung them all on my walls without letting anyone else hear them. But it’s only fleeting. I still write little punk songs that I only listen to myself, but I like to share. When I think of all the writers and musicians who have written songs that have enriched my life – how crap if they’d never put it out.”