Kevin Shirley Issue 36

Kevin ‘The Caveman’ Shirley Miles Roston hooks up with Kevin Shirley to chew the fat about his studio work with the giants of the world of Rock and learns what makes ‘The Caveman’ tick. first met Kevin ‘Caveman’ Shirley in a bar called on the equipment, and never has been. He listens to Rupert’s on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. We the sound, the song and the performance and matches Iended up drinking together and yakking until four them as efficiently and beautifully as he can. I caught o’clock in the morning… and continued to do that for up with the Caveman recently and we talked about quite a few years. Back then, Kevin had moved over music, recording, his career, the industry and anything from Australia to the United States for the first time, else we could shake a stick at. As always, the Caveman and had already recorded and engineered the highly was entertaining, dead on, and provocative. successful Baby Animals’ album which was sonically (and otherwise) a fantastic record, especially Painless. How Does One Become a Caveman? Like a lot of us trying to make it in New York City, he Miles Roston: So Caveman, how did you learn went through his ups and plenty of downs, all this while engineering and producing? having umpteen credits in Australia and South Africa, Kevin Shirley: I was always interested in the sonics and raising a son on his own. Then Kevin got the call of things. Growing up in South Africa, when I was to engineer a Rush album; later still, when the work at school, I was in the band to avoid doing military seemed to dry up again, he moved back to Australia, training. And I continued that by enrolling in the music and within a few years produced Silverchair’s debut school in Cape Town to avoid conscription. Music was album Frogstomp; then back to The States, where his really what I wanted to do, and I always liked to be in career has been on an upswing ever since. The man charge. I was the conductor of the school orchestra, has recorded, mixed and/or produced some of the and later, at university, I conducted a lot of forays… to most enduring hard rock artists: Aerosmith, Journey, the pub. After about 18 months of university and not Bon Jovi, Slayer, and recently, the previously unre- really achieving anything, I went to work for the South leased live recordings of Led Zeppelin. But he’s also African Broadcasting Corporation, the SABC, a govern- mixed and/or produced a variety of artists, from my ment-run, very tightly controlled and manipulated radio own band’s record, Miles station. That’s where I High, to Jonathan Butler learned audio engineer- and Olivia Newton-John. “I can’t make a Britney Spears album. I ing and it wasn’t long His main recording would much prefer to do The Datsuns” before I had my own tools are a Neve 8068 studio there, compiling console, a Studer all the music A800 tape programs. machine, Urei I left there 1176 compres- after 13 months sors and now and went travel- ProTools. The ling around Caveman (what Europe for he calls himself) a while, and doesn’t believe in when I headed a lot of the hype back to South that goes into Africa I got a recording – that job at a studio you have to use called Spaced this particular Out Sounds. ribbon mic or After about five that old tube records there, compressor to I moved to get a great sound. Australia where They're fascinating these knobs... Kevin 'The Caveman' Shirley at home behind the console. His focus is not my parents had 36 already settled. all that time? MR: So apart from the KS: First and foremost, radio station you had I don’t care about no formal training? the market. I don’t KS: That’s right. I care what people produced my first are listening to now records early on because tastes are without any training. so fickle. I mean, I In South Africa, I can’t make a Britney learned on-the-go, by Spears album. I would listening to records. much prefer to do The When I moved to Datsuns than Britney Australia in 1986, it Spears any day. So I was very tough to get don’t get burned out work. But I finally got on what’s hip and a job at a 16-track happening. I don’t studio in Newcastle listen to the sonics called Rock City, making “I don’t care about the market. I don’t of records that are records for minuscule money happening now. for bands like Vegemite care what people are listening to.” MR: So what do you Reggae, the early stages of listen to? The Screaming Jets, DV8, KS: I listen to jazz; I Tony Johns and a couple of other things. Then I started listen to classics. Every now and then something comes doing some records for an independent label in Sydney out that I really like. I really liked the Norah Jones called Timber Yard. We did a lot of punk bands: The record that came out recently. It was really fresh. It’s Dubrovniks, the Lime Spiders, lots of independent indie got a sexy take, which makes it a little bit different – it’s acts. Then I hooked up with a young band called the not hard edged. Baby Animals and did live sound for them. MR: You listen to jazz, but you’re considered a hard Around that time The Angels had a single coming rock producer. How does that work? out from a new album, and on the B-side they wanted KS: Yeah, I’m a hard rock producer, but it’s a job. I to have a couple of bonus tracks from unsigned Aussie understand rock really well. It’s like being a house bands. I suppose they were doing their bit for Aussie painter; a painter doesn’t have to like all the houses music, so I went into the studio and recorded the Baby he paints, but he can still make them look good. A Animals’ B-side single called Break My Heart. Soon mechanic who’s wonderful at repairing Ferraris doesn’t after that they got signed to Terry Ellis’s (Chrysalis have to drive a Ferrari. He might prefer a Volvo. The Records’ founder) new label, Imago Records, in The point is you don’t have to be married identically to the States. They sent all their demos to the producer Mike job. Music is music – whether it’s jazz or rock. If it’s Chapman (Blondie) who liked the sound enough to hard rock, it’s a matter of capturing a different energy, keep me on the project! So I came to The States to which I’m able to do. And it’s that energy that’s the dif- do the Baby Animals. That was 1989. For the next ference between country and rock, because sometimes few years I travelled back and forth to record various the instrumentation can be identical. I mean, a band bands. I did a Bon Jovi single. I did a Divinyls track. I like Iron Maiden is called a heavy-metal band, but to did a Rush album in '92. I did your record, Miles High. me they’re just a pretty melodic band that likes distor- And then when poverty set in deeply enough, I moved tion, really. back to Australia where I could have my house on the beach and go surfing every day and have my son in Gear Envy school and have a whole lot less money than I needed MR: As an engineer/producer, I’ve never known you to survive in NY. And then Silverchair! to go on and on about how you need this piece of MR: And that marked the next stage of your career. gear or that. Do you get caught up in that side of the KS: Silverchair sold bucketloads in the United States. process? And that’s the way it goes because The States is about KS: There’s equipment that I like to use that I’ve sales. John Kalodner, the ultimate A&R guy, thought I gotten comfortable using. But I try to capture the was perfect for doing Journey and Aerosmith, and I did performance, capture the song. It’s not about gimmicks a couple of punk bands like Rocket From The Crypt, and fads. I still like the sound and the music first and and the Black Crowes, who I really enjoyed working foremost. with. Since then it’s been a plethora of acts, culminating MR: Do you have specific miking techniques that in Led Zeppelin – my all-time favourite band. you use or special outboard gear that you can’t work MR: How did you keep your ears tuned to the market without? 37 KS: No I don’t. I think, in many respects, engineering is KS: I just find what’s driving it – the essence of the an overrated gig. I think the basic concept of engineer- song. An example is the Divinyls track I’m Jealous, ing is that you capture the source sound, and that’s where Chrissie Amphlett’s voice was mixed really dry usually as simple as putting a microphone in front of to complement the delivery of her venomous, sad and the thing you want to record. There are some people bitter story.

Load more