Shakey Graves is a little bit country and a little bit rock ’n’ roll. The Austin native has been carving out name for himself over the past 10 years as a singer/songwriter with a uniquely indie edge. And certainly his city loves him for it: The mayor of Austin declared Feb. 9, 2012, to be “Shakey Graves Day.”
Graves, born Alejandro Rose-Garcia, took on the stage moniker to play a bit of a darker version of himself. Certainly, the name suits his delightfully worn-at-the-edges voice and spry Americana.
SHAKEY GRAVES
Where: Republik
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday
Cost: $25-$30
Info: flavorus.com or 855-235-2867
He admits that the name was meant to be “a little tongue-in-cheek,” and the twist fits him. Twists are part of what he’s become known for. His one-man-band shows captivate audiences — and quirky bits of stagecraft, like using a suitcase as a kick drum, have helped set him apart. For this appearance, he’s bringing not just a suitcase but a bassist and drummer.
In a phone interview, Graves talked about his newest album, “And the War Came,” life in Austin as the shadowy edges make way for big business and the notable moments from his year.
Star-Advertiser: How is it to be a musician and live in Austin? It’s known for being a city full of musicians.
Shakey Graves: I really don’t think our city has caught up to its promise. It’s full of musicians, but the infrastructure is becoming more challenging. There are a lot of bigger businesses and clubs coming in and replacing the mom-and-pop shops. We lost a lot of the nasty old original clubs because people would get excited about trying a bigger space, but then you forget that sometimes music clubs are about as arbitrary as the urine all over the floor in the bathroom. There’s no telling: Just because you build a fancy venue, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be awesome or terrible.
But it’s nice, because people focus on the town. There are a lot of opportunities to promote yourself on a national level.
SA: It seems like in the climate of the music industry right now, your path has you really connecting with your fans to keep your career rolling. Why do you think that works so well?
SG: I was raised in the arts. The environment I grew up in was theater and dance. I started to consider those angles early on. Things like, how do I want to be perceived, which I think is a crucial way to look at it. If you want to get a big record deal and tour the globe, there are lots of ways to do that. But what I really always wanted was something that I could sleep happy with. As opposed to just masturbating musically and being like, “Look over here! Pay attention to me!”
I wanted something that would heal other people and heal myself.
You can never tell what’s going to happen. Austin is really great at being super supportive of dead people. You often don’t know how well someone has done until they pass away. There are definitely some local musicians, through no fault of their own, times are different now, who are talked about and celebrated after they pass away, but when they were alive, they were homeless.
It’s important to take all of that into account. Are you comfortable being obscure? Is it important to you to be obscure?
SA: What’s your take on that?
SG: I think it’s important to have goals and not just float around in the breeze, expecting stuff. I think I just want to be respected and be seen as an invaluable asset, even if that just means in my own corner.
SA: Are there any performances from this past year that really stood out for you?
SG: This past month, we did a show at Levon Helm’s house. We did a ramble in his barn. So, I mean, that was a huge honor.
The way we did it, we recorded in the space, it’s basically a barn. And what we did was at the end of seven days, we set up chairs and invited people in to see what we’d been working on. So we got to nest in the space for a week and really get comfortable and really dial in our tone. The audience was so respectful and it was just a magical experience.
That would be the ideal way to play shows. It’s like performing in your house. Rather than getting to a venue, bringing all of your gear, setting up, sound checking for an hour and praying. We had like a seven-daylong sound check.
There were about 300 people at (Helm’s house), and there were people around us, 360 degrees. There were people above us.
SA: Have you ever been to Hawaii before?
SG: No, I haven’t. So when (management) asked me if I wanted to pick up a gig in Hawaii, I said yes, definitely. Absolutely. I want to get in the water. Marine life is one of my jams, so I need to get some marine life action.
