Shawn Fogel

Inspired by his mother's old Beatles LPs, the New York state native began his musical career early, tackling piano while in the third grade and then moving on to clarinet and tenor sax. Now an instrumental chameleon, Fogel is as comfortable on those as on the bass guitar, keyboard, harmonica, drums, and numerous other musical tools. Virtually playing all the musical instruments on his four solo albums, Fogel's one-man-band style came from an unlikely source. "I can trace my first desire to record as a one-man-band to Stevie Wonder's 'Innervisions' album," he states, "It blew my mind how one person could create such an amazingly skilled and tight sound all by himself." While he's quick to admit his musical stylings are far from Mr. Wonder's, "he inspired me to play all of the instruments on my own recordings."

Focusing on drum and guitar-based rock music at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; Fogel honed his singer/songwriter skills. In-between classes at the quaint New England college, Fogel played with the likes of The Billy Ripken F*ck Face Card and The Lonely Robots (now JP05, for which he still plays drums). Eventually, along with members of Billy Ripken and Lonely Robots, he formed his own solo-project back-up band entitled "Shawn Fogel: Rock Music!", changing the name to "The Shawn Fogel Rock Music Orchestra" after adding a three-piece horn section.

"My time at Hampshire really formed me as the musician I am today," he says, "because I forced myself to do 'everything'. I recorded my album 'Millions Of Miles Away' as my final year project, and over the course of two semesters I wrote, engineered, recorded, and mixed the entire album myself. It was a long and at times frustrating process, but in the end it was something that was all mine; no one else's hands or ears touched it at any point of the process. This really allowed me to sharpen my skills not only as a multi-instrumentalist, but as an audio engineer and producer."

Between juggling instruments and attending class, Fogel worked hard interning at an entertainment company which owned and operated three local concert venues. For three semesters, he dabbled in all aspects of the music business. An invaluable experience, he used this time to his musical advantage. "This experience gave me a wide perspective on what people like me were submitting to venues, and what it takes to stand out in a sea of similarity. It also gave me a clear vision of the inner workings of a concert venue, and what their expectations from artists are."

Now a seasoned recording artist, Fogel has toured the nation solo and with many of his musical peers, including Guster, Clem Snide, Ben Lee, Adam Green (of Moldy Peaches), Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth) and comedian Eugene Mirman (Suicide Squeeze Records). He also counts The Zambonis (North America's Favorite All Hockey Band) and The LeeVees (Reprise/JDub Records) among his musical partners, often putting his manifold-musical talents to good use playing with them.

As someone who prefers music over celebrity, Fogel shies away from the bright lights of the glamorous life, happy to play for and be heard by those who love music as much as he does. "All I know is that creating and playing music makes me happy, and if I can achieve an equal return in happiness from other people who listen to my music, then that's as good as it can get."

An affable combination of Americana spunk and genuine musicianship, Shawn Fogel plays a little bit of everything and has a little something for everyone. Look for his EP, "One Day in the Desert", released through recordhead on September 18th, 2007.