“We were reminded how those simple tasks that consumed your day are such an antidote to the panicked rat race life we tend to lead these days,” recalls Jen Schaffer on Jen Schaffer and The Shiners’ newest single, “Panic Life” — available now!
Pleasantly necessary chores like gathering wood and tending to the fire became par for the course while staying mid-winter deep in the woods near Scugog, Ontario in none other than famed, late artist, sculptor, inventor, naturalist, and filmmaker Bill Lishman’s off-grid tree house.
“(We were) rising at dawn, and retiring at dusk, and heating and cooking with the small wood stove,” continues Jen. “The song that emerged reflects that amazing experience of living closer to a, what we imagined, was a pioneering lifestyle.”
Jen Schaffer and The Shiners’ Games We Play and song “Panic Life” was released this February 2018, less than a handful of months following Bill’s recent December passing. “Bill was the most remarkable renaissance man,” Jen recalls fondly. “I had the privilege of meeting Bill and his family through a friend of a friend who is a close friend of the family. I got to stay at Purple Hill and get a tour of the amazing property from Bill himself, and only a couple of Christmases ago, Simon and I stayed at Bill’s ingenious treehouse in the woods on his property.
“Bill was a teacher to us in that one personal moment, so this song is as much in honour of his inspiring legacy.”
Jen Schaffer and the Shiners (featuring GRAMMY-winner Simon Law of Soul II Soul) released their second full-length release, Games We Play this past February 10, 2018.
// ABOUT GAMES WE PLAY
“The songs are reflections upon the manipulations and machinations of human behaviour,” says Jen Schaffer on her writing process for the album. Containing twelve original songs recorded over the span of 18 months, the band’s take on defiance, delusion, dysfunctional tendencies, as well as contemplation, fear, and foolishness when in love all underlie the central themes throughout.
“But always a hint towards redemption!”
Cases in point…
"Garnet Strand" is Games We Play’s opening track and speaks to a jeweller's daughter's take on transformative love, while ”Lament" — written in 2009 and one of the earliest tunes on the record — is the awakening plea of a mother to her distressed daughter.
"Blood of the Lamb" explores the consequences of gun culture.
“I wrote “Blood of the Lamb” several years ago after hearing about the death of Christina Taylor Green, the 9 year old girl killed during the mass shooting targeting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tuscon, Arizona in 2011,” shares Jen. “That this young girl was born on 9/11 and died in this tragic way inspired the song. Musically, it’s an homage to The Band featuring horn arrangement by Gary Barnacle reminiscent of Van Morrison’s St Dominic’s Preview/Moon Dance era.”
“Gone" is an underlying story of a young girl’s rejection of the confines imposed by her extreme religious sect. “The very struggles that inspired this song are those experienced, for example, by the “yotzes” — or young ultra orthodox Jewish women — in Israel.” This phenomena was more recently explored in the documentary One Of Us and in Deborah Feldman’s book Unorthodox. Jen also drew inspiration from Linda Grant’s book about contemporary and contradictory Israeli life, People On The Street.
"At the very least, I had to write a song about those 'awkward squads’!"
The title track “Games We Play" has its essence captured by the self-damning lyric “can I call your bluff, having never called your name.”
With the help of videographer Evan Trestan, the video tracks the band’s ten year journey, from its inception and maiden voyage gigs at The Cameron and C’est What in Toronto, to Casa Del Popolo in Montreal, Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario, recording at Canterbury Music Company in Toronto, mastering at Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, and finally a performance and photo shoot at their local venue, Dora Keogh Irish Pub.
The song, a lover’s plea to stop the game playing and resurrect a failing love, is delivered with a Cajun rock-inflected swagger, accordion, fiddle and all.
Produced by Simon Law, mixed by Jeremy Darby at Canterbury, and mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, Games We Play is Jen Schaffer and The Shiners’ second full-length album release.
In addition to Jen Schaffer and the Shiners — GRAMMY-winner Simon Law, Astrid Foster, John Teshima, and Jonathan Marks — special guest artists on Games We Play include Lain Gray (Soul II Soul, Wookie, Nu Colours, London West End musicals We Will Rock You, and The Harder They Come), Gary Barnacle, and Denis Keldie.
Lain is Simon’s longtime songwriting partner and is featured vocalist on the song "Jerusalem Fields." “The idea for this collaboration was born when Lain performed with us in the UK in the summer of 2017 on Jazz FM and BBC Radio London whilst promoting Simon’s solo album Look To The Sky — which went to #1 on the UK soul charts!
“We are also honoured to have Simon’s good friend and longtime collaborator Gary Barnacle join us,” continues Jen. “Gary is one of the leading UK musicians of his generation and adds dazzling brass arrangements and his masterful playing to two tunes on the album: "Blood of the Lamb" and "Ominous Change."
Games We Play is notably the first time the Shiners have added horns to their music. “It’s a thrill to hear how Gary’s powerful playing adds fuel to the fire!”
Toronto master musician Denis Keldie joined on accordion, Hammond and Lowrey Organ. “The gorgeous accordion playing on "Lament" and "Games We Play" infuses new and beautiful flavours to the Shiner sound,” Jen reflects. “The driving B3 part he plays on "We Had Our Time" injects the song with jubilant power, and on "Gone" he plays full on ska-style Lowrey organ to this klezmer/ska mashup!”
// ABOUT JEN SCHAFFER AND THE SHINERS
Jen Schaffer and the Shiners hail from Toronto via Montreal, Hamburg, Calgary and the UK.
The band, best known for original, alt-country meets soulful folk rock music bolstered by lush harmonies and heavy bass, is lead by Jen Schaffer, the lead singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist.
Jen’s self-penned works — which have garnered praise from the likes of Ron Sexsmith — speak of love, struggle, and injustice, and are sharply focused through the lens of her own life’s journey.
Montreal-born and raised, her path to the stage is heralded as an unconventional one full of uniquely impassioned insights. Having spent time as a public defender in the Appalachian foothills of Ohio, it was there she discovered songwriting, her love of alt-country music, and heightened sense of social conscience — each of which reflect prominently in her original lyrics and compositions. After working on a homicide case involving a battered woman that proved pivotal in changing the state’s self-defense law, years later the experience resulted in her first song, “For Teresa”, and a four-song EP Angel Ridge.
Grammy Award winning Simon Law — the Shiners’ drummer, keyboardist, background vocalist and producer — was also an original member of Soul II Soul.
The Shiners also include Astrid Foster on bass and sweet background harmonies, John Teshima on guitar — both electric and acoustic — as well as keyboards and background harmonies, and Jonathan Marks on violin, viola, mandolin as well as background harmonies.
Jen Schaffer and the Shiners released their first all-original, full-length recording in 2014, Fate Line, deftly introducing the bands eclectic talents and Jen’s depth and skill as a songwriter. Highlights of the band’s ten year journey include playing the Mariposa Folk Festival, Jen being interviewed by CBC in her hometown of Montreal before a performance at Casa Del Popolo, and gaining kudos from Fred Tackett of Little Feat for their version of “Fool Yourself.”
