Homegrown Talent

By Nate Seltenrich

As a musical genre, punk rock is often mistakenly dubbed as superficial and narrow. Not every punk musician sports a mohawk, tattoos, and tattered black clothing. And not all punk music is fast, angry, and simple. In reality, there are far more exceptions to this stereotype than there are adherents.

One such exception is the vibrant young pop-punk group Shafter, who have made it a mission to carve their own path. The five guys of Shafter may look like ordinary students, but when they get on stage together, a united personality comes to life that is all their own.

Although members of the band are interested in and/or influenced by other pop-punk bands like the Ataris, Homegrown, Unwritten Law and MxPx, they make a conscious effort to craft their own sound.

"I think the mark of a good band is not really sounding like anyone else," says Michael Shifflet, who plays bass and sings in Shafter.

Featuring Santa Clara junior Seth Cummings on guitar and vocals and non-Santa Clara students Shifflet, 19, Doug Streblow, 18, on vocals, Sam Brunswick, 19, on guitar and Sam Johns, 19, on drums. Shafter's five-man arsenal further distinguishes them from most other punk bands, since the norm is usually three or four members.

This not only creates a fuller sound, but also adds more opportunities for vocal harmonies and interplay.

Perhaps the most striking element of their unique punk style is the choreography that they incorporate into some of their songs during live performances.

Shafter's distinctive approach can be traced to August of 2000 in Napa, CA, where they all went to high school together.

However, because all five members are now in five different places, practices and performances usually occur in short stints. This has placed a limit on the band's progress, and over the past three years they've only played 30-35 shows. This is about as many shows as a similar band with all members in close proximity to one another might play in one year.

Despite this constraint, the members of Shafter, who were originally called the Dalesmen, have always done all they can to advance their band. For example, just three weeks after forming, they recorded a four-song demo.

"We weren't ready to record, but we did anyway," says Cummings.

In 2001, the band recorded and produced a nine-song album called "Hey That's My Stereo...!" that came complete with a CD sleeve and custom CD art. An unfortunate experience during the recording of that album influenced not only its title, but also the change of the band's name to Shafter. While recording at a hole-in-the-wall studio in Oakland, some 400 CDs and a car stereo were stolen from the band. After passing a street called Shafter Ave. on the way home, the band had found their new name.

In 2002, Shafter recorded another four-song demo. Since then, they have written, but not yet released six new songs.

Cummings, Streblow, Shifflet, Brunswick and Johns have recently been more adamant about performing as often as possible. Over the past two weeks, they've played at a UCLA frat house, Claremont McKenna College, Napa, and at Santa Clara both on the campus radio station and the popular student venue The Bronco.

Their most memorable performance came on April 17, 2003, when the band opened for Sum 41 along with The Starting Line and No Use For a Name at Santa Clara's APB Spring Concert. Despite the fact that the band ended up having to construct the whole stage and put up all the lighting the night before the show, their weary hands got the job done well and they succeeded in "warming up" the young crowd assembled in the Leavey Center.

"I was impressed by how much the crowd got into their set," says junior Ed Bayley. "They definitely got some people to get out of their seats and onto the dance floor."

Although that performance was certainly a high point in their career thus far, they have no intention of slowing down. Their plans for the coming summer are even more ambitious. The band is currently organizing a five-state tour that will move through California in July and make stops in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington in August. Not all of the summer dates are finalized yet, but they expect to play about 25 or 30 shows in total. The band also has an informal arrangement with an agent at Creative Arts Agency in Los Angeles who will help with some of the booking.

Before summer rolls around, they'll be back at UCLA on May 29 and Napa on June 12 and 13.

"We're gearing up right now for this summer. We're on tour right now. We get together and do these gigs and we're just trying to build up and get a little bit going before this summer, when we're gonna hit it hard," says Streblow.

The time and money that the members of Shafter have devoted to the band has been a worthy investment. They are all dedicated to this project and hope to stick with it for as long as they can.

"We're gonna do as much as we can, wherever we can," adds Streblow. "Hopefully it's gonna be the best it can be. We want to have a really good summer and see where it goes from there."

The band is currently trying to raise funds to purchase a van or bus for their summer tour and to release another album, both of which will be critical to their future success.

The goal is to get as many people as possible to hear their music, which could best be described as fun and upbeat. It's also quite dynamic and innovative for such a young band. Sometimes they play straight-up pop-influenced punk as in "Worlds Apart," while sometimes their songs introduce elements of funk and ska, such as "Let the Music Rock." Their adeptness at both styles further distinguishes Shafter from many of their pop-punk counterparts.

True to their form, Shafter is not content to leave things as they are. "Our songs are always changing. There's always potential for more," says Shifflet.

To keep tabs on Shafter's progress, go to their Web site at www.shafterband.com.