Note: This is a follow-up to my column from May 17th.
Amy Rigby was kind enough to take time out of her American tour with Wreckless Eric to answer a few questions about her time with The Shams. You can check her out in Raleigh, NC at the Berkeley Café on June 10th and in Atlanta, GA at the Star Bar on June 11th. Their new album entitled, Two-Way Family Favourites is available now at http://www.amyrigby.com/amyshop.html.
WJ: I was hoping you could tell me a little about the conception of the group. I know that you had been in a band prior to The Shams called The Last Roundup.
AR: Sue and Amanda and I were all in the early Last Roundup. There was a big influx of Southerners to NYC in the early 80’s; Sue came up from Georgia (Amanda, from Florida, was a roommate of my brother’s at Parsons School of Design) we were all art students come to think of it. We were all big on old records found in thrift shops, lots of old country and 60’s stuff – after having been into punk and odd stuff too. The name The Shams was a combination of The Shaggs (those outsider sisters from New Hampshire) and The Tams, a great beach music group.
WJ: Were you the main songwriter or did Garner and Uprichard contribute as well?
AR: We played a lot of my songs, but a big song for us was 3 AM, written by Amanda’s friend Fay Hart who was married to Steve Nieve. Amanda wrote some great songs we did in Last Roundup and a simple beautiful song called Ice Tea and Sue had some great songs too. Covers were big for us, a Richard Hell song Time,[also] Do Right Woman, and another big thing was Christmas songs which were how we ended up singing together again after Sue and Amanda left Last Roundup – we’d work up Children Go Where I Send Thee, Winter Wonderland, Christmas In Jail – start nipping at a bottle of whiskey and go around ringing our friends’ buzzers in the East Village of Manhattan. They’d buzz us in and we’d come up the stairs strumming and singing softly. They’d open the door and we’d burst into Winter Wonderland. It was before everyone was sick of Christmas songs – the obscure ones got passed around on homemade cassettes back then…
WJ: What would you say your main influences were when performing with the Shams? Have they changed much over the years? Listening to your solo material, I feel like you run the gamut from punk to pop to country.
AR: I’ve always been in love with harmony and vocal parts – from the Everly Brothers, and Beatles to Louvin Brothers, Beach Boys, Supremes, Ronettes, Temptations, Chi-lites – The Shams never let a possible lack of technical ability stop us from trying out an idea that thrilled us. I guess the main thing that changed for me was having a child to raise and trying to make a living – I began to focus more on writing songs and wanting them to count for something – I felt guilty taking time out from working and being a mom if it didn’t seem like it would at least partly contribute to making a living. In The Shams, we loved to rehearse and to perform, but just as much we liked to find the best thrift shop or BBQ in the world.
WJ: There is certainly something to be said for that.
Thanks again to Amy Rigby for this short but sweet interview. Please check her out in Raleigh and Atlanta if you get a chance and, of course, pick up her new record with Wreckless Eric. Also, don’t forget about those precious Shams still waiting for their due.
Liner Notes is a continuing series of articles and interviews about the music that matters to me.
