Let’s Talk: Shane Smith & The Saints
Inspirational quotes on success and hard work can only go so far when you don’t have anything concrete to conceptualize it with. Enter: Shane Smith & The Saints. This is a band that has been together making music and touring since 2011 yet only within the last few years has their fan base and reach been growing at supersonic speeds. Once a popular television show featured their 2015 track “All I See Is You,” they practically began to sell out venues overnight. With a little help from the gritty Paramount drama Yellowstone, Shane Smith & The Saints’ arduous investment paid dividends as they’re promoting their fourth studio album Norther and touring internationally in addition to being featured several times on the show and using their marketing muscles to co-brand merchandise for the partnership.
We spoke briefly to Shane Smith of Shane Smith & The Saints ahead of their back to back shows at the Ryman Auditorium this week, October 24th and 25th in Nashville.
Americana Highways. So to start, can you tell me about your latest album, Norther? I saw that you guys like to take your time with your music and that you also wrote it while touring, but in your ideal world, would you be releasing new music every year or would you still prefer to let it simmer?
Shane Smith: Oh, in an ideal scenario, absolutely… I would love to release music much more often. I’m trying really hard to push myself in that direction right now with the writing process, so we’ll have to see!
AH: Now that you’ve reached a level of success that y’all have been working tirelessly for for years, are you rebuilding your bucket list for venues you want to perform at or artists you want to work with since you’ve been crossing some off?
SS: Yeah, I guess unknowingly so I have been doing that, to an extent. For example, I would love to see us play The Gorge eventually, with some of our favorite bands. However, I think more of our focus right now is actually on shaping our careers, as a long term goal. “What kind of tour schedule and audience do we want to have for the long-term?”… I guess is the question we’re trying to answer right now, and it’s an exciting thing to dream up.
AH: Looking back, with the success of “All I See Is You,” is that the song that you would’ve chosen to be featured at the time?
SS: I would probably say yes, just because it seems to have a very strong, emotional impact on fans, across different genres of music. I think a lot of people are still moved by it that aren’t necessarily fans of country music. We’re just so thankful for the opportunity it was given to be heard, finally. It had been out for almost a decade at that point.
AH: I just saw you guys at Americanafest at the Yellowstone panel. I know it’s probably every band’s dream to sell out huge venues, but with such a sudden and rapid rise in the last few years, do you ever find yourselves missing the smaller and slower days or wanting to sprinkle a few of those in on your tour like the intimate performance in Nashville last month?
SS: We still have those opportunities here and there in certain markets where we haven’t grown as much…especially over in Europe, so we still have a pretty large balance of venue sizes to perform at. It’s a fun thing getting to have that dynamic with the shows and crowd sizes each night. At the end of the day, you’ve gotta treat every single show like it’s your last, or it all becomes something less than it should be.
Thanks for chatting with us, Shane!
This band puts on a SHOW when they play. Their high energy, sincerity, and raw talent simply make this one of my favorite new bands to watch. Like a favorite movie, I could watch them a thousand times over and be just as excited as the first time with each new performance. Shane Smith’s powerful, raspy vocals soar with his rambunctious band backing him, and you never know what’s going to happen next or even how you’re going to feel leaving. Well, you know you’ll be fiending for more, but you also risk feeling invigorated, comforted, reflective, or even inspired. On their website, they have a fun, interactive touring map showing where they will be. Check it out here and be prepared to tag along for the ride: https://www.shanesmithmusic.com
Enjoy our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Shane Smith and the Saints “Norther”