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“I consider the Shams to be the sexiest group in music today. The kind of sexiness you either want to marry or defile or emulate, depending on your personality type. They’re the perfect solution to all the confusion between Madonna and whore.” — Richard Hell (1992)
I spend quite a bit of time scouring the dusty shelves of Columbia’s thrift stores in search of forgotten treasures and hidden gems of the musical variety. In fact, the vast majority of my record collection has come from such searches. It is in these stacks of dusty vinyl that I have discovered my love for the Louvin Brothers, Edith Piaf, Clifford Brown, and Billy Stewart. On one such outing a month ago, I visited a store in Cayce where upon finding little vinyl, I began to comb through the store’s vast array of cassette tapes. In doing so, I discovered a treasure trove of demo tapes from forgotten 80s bands including Raleigh’s Soul Train, Athens’ The Skinpops, the Mitch Easter-produced, A Picture Made, and a little-known girl group from New York City called The Shams.
The Shams’ cassette tape consists of a smartly designed sleeve with the demos recorded on a simple TDK tape in remarkable shape for being 22 years old. Lazily popping the cassette into my car player (yes, I still have one of those), I was delighted to hear the sweet soothing harmonies of Sue Garner, Amanda Uprichard, and Amy Rigby. The first thought that occurred to me was that if the Ronettes had been listening to country music, they could have easily been the Shams. Viewed in retrospect, their sound is quite antithetical to everything else on both mainstream and college radio in the late 80s. I had to find out more.
My detective work led me to discover that the band had released a 7” on Bob Mould’s (Husker Du) label in 1990. Obviously no slouches, they quickly followed up with an album and an EP on Matador Records. Reviewing their full length album for Allmusic years after its release, rock journalist Nitsuh Abebe writes that “there is something decidedly postmodern about the Shams’ approach to music, which combines girl group 60s pop with off-kilter jangliness and a sort of country twang.”
Noted punk musician, author, and one-time boyfriend to Uprichard, Richard Hell wrote in 1992 that “in trying to figure out what makes the Shams so original, what comes to mind is that their songs deal with the things that women discuss amongst themselves…[which] when it’s done with good will, intelligence, humor, and three-part harmonies…the result is really unique.” He’s certainly not wrong, with lyrics like “It’s only sorta 3 A.M. / the baby’s waking up again/ and I just wanna smoke and drink/ and stay out late with men again” from “3 A.M.” off their first 7”. Hell even goes so far as to coin their sound “beauty parlor soul” after a song that I would soon learn is found only on my demo tape called “Beauty Parlor Rag.”
In searching out the origins of my mysterious tape, I soon discovered that Uprichard has become a fashion maven, while both Garner and Rigby have gone on to notable solo careers. Rigby in particular has released a slew of fantastic albums including 1996’s Diary of a Mod Housewife, 2005’s Little Fugitive, and her latest effort, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby from 2008. That is indeed Wreckless Eric of “Whole Wide World” fame who has been married to and making music with Rigby for the past several years.
Through the power of the Internet and Twitter, I was able to connect with Rigby and soon discovered that my tape was quite rare-so rare in fact that she doesn’t even own a copy! I then learned from the lovely songstress that some twenty years ago the girls’ van broke down in the capital city, and they spent several days holed up in a motel room watching TV and eating at Maurice’s Piggy Park. When I quizzed Rigby about how she could remember Maurice’s after so many years she replied, “I never forget a BBQ place.” This is a cool lady.
Though the Shams’s Matador releases are long out of print, their influence on Americana and Alternative Country is clear with writers like Greg Haymes of The Times Union calling them the “queens of urban folkdom” and “riot grrls unplugged.” This is most certainly a band that deserves rediscovery. Intrepid audiophiles can easily track down their releases on Amazon and Ebay. Go to it.
Look for my SceneSC exclusive interview with Amy Rigby coming soon!
Liner Notes is a continuing series of articles about the music that matters to me.
