.Shannon and the Clams

Shannon and the Clams have long been a fixture of Oakland’s rock scene, and their garage-pop tunes are rife with nostalgia for the doo-wop harmonies of Sixties girl groups and warbled surf guitar licks of the Beach Boys. The band incorporates these influences into its music through a grittier, more punk-influenced filter: Its distorted instrumentation and Shannon Shaw’s robust, guttural vocals lend the music a darker edge. Earlier this year, Shannon and the Clams released their fourth album, Gone by the Dawn, which critics lauded for its savvy use of retro sounds to cobble together a novel aesthetic. Cody Blanchard’s guitar playing on the album has a noticeable Americana influence, though it often evolves vintage-sounding, country-western arrangements into psychedelic instrumentation that adds an experimental dimension to the record. Before they head out on a national tour, Shannon and the Clams will ring in 2016 at Great American Music Hall with the influential San Francisco pop four-piece Sonny and the Sunsets.

Gone by the Dawn by Shannon and the Clams