“We
can all be Two Beasts at any given moment...” - Chris Shaffer, March, 1998
Melody
is the driving force behind The Why Store. No matter if they boost the
volume and tempo (as with “When You’re High,” “Everybody” and “Working”
on their new disc, Two Beasts), slow things down (“Story Song,” “Two Beasts”)
or groove on a theme for 10 minutes (as they’re wont to do at times), melody
is always right there. “We’ve always put the song first, the melody first,”
states Chris Shaffer, The Why Store’s chief musical architect. “We want
to be able to sing the guitar solos. We like to have our jam sessions during
the show, but we really love to focus on the melody.”
The
Why Store’s roots can be traced to 1989, when Shaffer, Greg Gardner and
Michael Smith, who was a drummer at the time, met as students at Ball State
University in Muncie, Indiana. Initially calling themselves Emerald
City, Shaffer, Gardner and Smith - who’d since switched to lead guitar
- soon outgrew the local circuit, and armed with a showcase in New York
City, they sought out the best drummer in town. That was Charlie Bushor.
Together, the foursome toured incessantly and made enough money on merchandising
to record three albums on their own. Keyboardist Jeff Pedersen, who
guested on the second and third CDs, was made an official member at about
the same time their not-yet-released third album came to the attention
of upstart Way Cool Music (a subsidiary of MCA Records).
The
Why Store signed a deal and spent 1996 amassing solid national radio support
from the mainstream Rock, Active Rock and Triple-A formats. In fact, “Lack
Of Water,” the first single from their self-titled major label debut, ultimately
gave The Why Store a Top 20 track at Rock Radio, a Top 20 album for the
year at Triple-A Radio and a #1single at Triple-A Radio. Sales of roughly
200,000 gave everyone reason to expect big things from the follow-up.
“I
was actually kind of frightened, because we had a lot to live up to,” Shaffer
admits of the expectations as they wrote and culled more than two dozen
songs for the August, 1997, sessions for what became Two Beasts, their
sophomore national release. “Everything was on the band’s and Mike Wanchic’s
(John Mellencamp’s longtime co-producer and guitarist) shoulders as far
as producing this record. So there was a little bit of pressure. I was
confident, but in the back of my mind I was going, ‘I hope we can do this,
man.’ But what was really beautiful was that once we got in the studio,
that all went away.”
Taking
their already impressive record-making skills up a sizable notch, Two Beasts
comes more than two years after their 1996 self-titled debut. One reason
for the delay was that they never really slowed down long enough to get
it done-Shaffer figures they did about 250 shows after they’d finished
touring to support that 1996 album. An imposing figure onstage, Shaffer
is the focal point of Why Store shows, along with the unabashedly flashy
Smith, who lets fly a tasty array of soulful licks, speedy riffs and tuneful
solos that have the capacity to bring musicianship and panache back into
vogue “Michael’s basically a genius freak on guitar,” is how Shaffer puts
it.
At
a time in pop music history when we’re bombarded with a steady flow of
Johnny-come-lately bands who rise and disappear before they even learn
to play their instruments, it’s refreshing to hear a CD like Two Beasts
from a band like The Why Store. Replete with stellar songs played by talented
musicians, Two Beasts is an album in the classic sense, holding up well
under repeated listenings for many reasons, especially that inescapable
melody
.
