Oakland-based band Shannon and the Clams brought a high-energy show to Paper Tiger Friday night, seamlessly blending retro influences into something uniquely its own.
“There are so many people here! Holy shit!” vocalist and bassist Shannon Shaw said before launching into the quartet’s first song, “You Will Always Bring Me Flowers,” from the 2011 album Sleep Talk. Indeed, Paper Tiger was packed, and people were ready to go wild.
Shaw’s vocals are one of the defining characteristics of the band, exhibiting both a growling power and saccharine doo-wop sweetness in a bad-girl beehive hairdo. The result lands somewhere between Wanda Jackson and the Shangri-Las.
Guitarist Cody Blanchard and keyboardist Will Sprot lent additional strength to the group, often joining in dexterous two- or three-part harmonies with voices that sound made for each other.
Shannon and the Clams featured several songs off of the 2024 album The Moon Is In The Wrong Place. Those included “Hourglass,” “Bean Fields,” “Real or Magic,” “Life is Unfair” and “UFO.”
A difficult couple of years for Shaw are evinced in the deep pain and poignant reflection on the new album. She lost her fiancé in a horrific car crash in August 2022, just a few months before they were to be married. This is the band’s first album since the tragedy, and Shaw has said in interviews that the reception has been great for an album so personal.
“I just felt this desperate need to share and get it all off of my chest,” she told Portland paper Willamette Week after its release.
The years since the tragedy have seemed to offer a deepened wisdom and bird’s eye view for Shaw. Perhaps another song from the new album performed last night says it best: “Life is unfair, yet beautiful.”
Despite the heavy source material, Shannon and the Clams were there to entertain, and the crowd was exuberant in return. There was no stage diving as happened on previous tours, but vibrations were still high.
Crowd-pleasing tracks from other albums in the band’s discography included “Midnight Wine” from Year Of The Spider, “Backstreets” from Onion and “Ozma” from Dreams In The Rat House.
During the set, Shaw frequently remarked how much she was enjoying the show, even gushing about her love of San Antonio.
“I want to live here,” she said. “And it has a rich musical history. We love Freddy Fender, Doug Sahm and the Butthole Surfers.”
Local cosmic cowboys Garrett T. Capps and NASA Country opened, bringing a distinctly San Antone flavor to the occasion. They were followed by Austin rockers Being Dead, who provide the perfect complimentary act for Shannon and the Clams on tour thanks to a sound somewhere between the Mamas and the Papas, beach-goth and garage rock.
Shannon and the Clams surprised the audience by closing out the set with Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” a playful contrast between heavy riffs and guitarist Blanchard’s high-pitched vocals. If a band named after mollusks can’t be silly, who can?
For those who have followed Shannon and the Clams for a while, last night was a return to form. It was clear, Shaw had her power back, and her joy. Can a retro act be a retro version of itself? Happily, yes.
