Unashamed

Shed are the future of metal/funk

by Joe Longone

Shed are chunk-o-licious! I caught them last week at the lighter and more breezy looking Sir Morgan's Cove (nice paint job, guys!). And I was rocked off my bar stool. I didn't expect much but, boy, was I surprised. Their metal-core/funk music has had a strong hold on local undergrounds for years, but they are so much more. In one brief 40-minute set, Shed not only distinguished themselves in my eyes, but showed me, quite clearly, where the best of the genre is headed in the near future.

I've tried to understand bands like these guys who have taken the stage in the past. The typical example is of a lead singer who has a screaming hemorrhage while the band around him make as much noise as possible, literally raping their instruments. This nondescript display of anger continues until the lead singer shouts "Peace" to the audience and hops off the stage. At this point, I'm asking myself, what in the hell was that? Shed have explained, if only to me, how to balance anger with silence -- a dynamic missing in other bands. There is a sense of soul and rhythmic melody that gives their songs a special power.

The band's success, in part, comes from their lead singer and songwriter, David Lysik. He is the consummate frontman who orchestrates each number by bringing out every ounce of his emotional integrity. Nearly half of their lyrics are delivered in a calm, yet dry, fashion. It reminded me of the way Lou Reed sings. The other half of the words are delivered by Lysik in an all- out scream. But at least you understand where the rage comes from.

I don't want to exclude the other members; they show a powerful cohesion that is hard to miss. Bassist Mario Fantasia and drummer Ricci Fantasia are brothers; guitarists Fred Pearson and Dino Paolantonio have been friends since childhood. The four started in Providence about three years ago, recruiting Lysik soon after.

I call Lysik up to tell him how impressed I am with his band. I ask him what makes Shed different from so many other bands.

"If we didn't have soul, I wouldn't want to be a part of it," he says. "I've always liked James Brown; sometimes I think of myself as the James Brown of metal music. If the audience can connect with the soul on stage, the songs will come across so much more real and solid."

Lysik wears his heart on his sleeve on Unashamed (their self-released debut). On "Home," their opening track, Lysik sings, "We go through the motions through our lives bound up, ripped up, revved up." In the chorus, he speaks in a quiet and vulnerable tone, "The machine is me" before screaming, "I'm, going home." He doesn't admit that "home" is death, but in the band's song "Y.A.D.C." he does say, "I'm not afraid to die."

A line in their song "Lullaby" defines the overriding message in the nine selections offered on Unashamed. In it Lysik sings, "In order to be totally pure and clean I must cleanse." For Shed, the songs could be their catharsis. Each number is riddled with pain and grief -- maybe performing them is cleansing.

Lysik wrote all the material for their record, but he closes up when I ask about his wounded past, saying only, "I see these songs as my redemption. People don't have to know particular names to know what I'm singing about. The times that I'm on stage and the 10 minutes after are the high point of my life right now."

Shed will be going back to the studio later this summer to start recording a new 12-song collection that could be out as early as Christmas. According to Lysik, the new record will be even darker but more danceable. Local bands and other noise lovers shouldn't miss these guys when they appear with Nothingface, 7th Rail Crew, and Staind next Friday, August 8, at the Espresso Bar.