Shapiro Speaks Out About Local Shows, Upcoming Album and Touring

Shapiro’s catchy indie rock melodies have given the band success outside of the local scene. (Photo: Huong Nguyen)

Indie rock band Shapiro return to their native Harrisonburg on Thurdsay Nov. 29 to entertain local fans with their blend of classical and jazz influenced classic rock and indie pop.

The show, which starts at 7 p.m. at Guzman’s Nightclub, also features national recording artist mewithoutYou as well as local favorites Yours for Mine and Maple Union. Shapiro, comprised of EMU alum Jeremy Teter, brothers Nathan and John Granofsky, and Carl Shapiro, have been a favorite with EMU students since they formed in 2003. I caught up with Shapiro guitarist Nathan Granofsky to discuss their latest studio efforts, touring schedule and to find out why they haven’t played at EMU lately.

Tyler Grove: So what’s new with Shapiro, recording wise?

Nathan Granofsky: We’re working on a new album down in Nashville, Tennessee with a producer by the name of John Mark Painter. He’s worked very closely with Ben Folds [and] he’s done some things with Death Cab for Cutie. Right now we’re just down in the studio down there. No definite date about when the album’s gonna be out, its just that studio time is a slow process.

TG: Do you have any of the new music available for fans to sample?

NG: Nothing from Nashville. Now we do have a three song collection that we did with a friend of ours Alan Beaver down in Roanoke, which we recorded right before going out on our last tour in September, and those are actually available online via a download card, which is pretty sweet. The cool thing about it is that it cuts out the middleman; you’re not buying a cd because most people just have mp3 players. So you buy a card at our show, it has three songs on it right now. One card has five credits, you go to our site and you put in your special code and you download the three songs. Now, its one credit per song and each card has five credits so if we put up any more songs on the site, then people that bought the card can download those songs as well.

TG: You’ve been touring a lot recently. Any plans to start another tour?

NG: Yeah actually after [Thursday’s] show were heading out for a short two week stint. We’re going mainly up North, Michigan…We’re mostly doing block dates right now. We used to do “weekend warriors” while everyone was in school, doing their jobs and whatnot. Jeremy recently moved to D.C. so that forced us to go out for longer periods of time. In September we toured an entire month: just went up and down the east coast. [We] hit New York, Boston, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Nashville, Georgia…

TG: How has the crowd support been on tour?

NG: It’s been good now. Hopefully sometime in the near future we’re gonna be getting on with some bigger bands and touring around, opening up for bigger names. It’s been good for going out ourselves without any support.

TG: Your first release was the “You Are Alone” EP. Has your music changed much since then?

NG: Definitely yes. Our musical taste is always developing, you know, we’re always learning new things and getting new inspiration. I mean, if you listen to the “You Are Alone EP” and then listen to what we recorded in Roanoke on the download card, there’s a drastic difference. They’re still very accessible, catchy songs, but they have more of a um… I don’t know how to put it. I won’t say indie, but the recording is very indie. It’s a bootleg recording. We recorded it in our house…

TG: Do you have any shows scheduled for EMU in the future?

NG: EMU shows? Not as far as I know.

TG: I’ve noticed that you haven’t been playing as many shows at EMU. Was that a conscious decision, you know, trying to break out of the local scene?

NG: Not at all. I think we, more or less, when we were playing at EMU we were playing at a coffee shop, you know, and that started getting a little bit packed. Actually fire codes were broken. I really can’t say, I don’t think its anything like “we never want to play there again,” I think its more or less when we have a show in Harrisonburg its rare. We pretty much take any venue we can get.

TG: Would you like to say anything about the show at Guzman’s [Thursday] night?

NG: Yeah I want to say something about the show! I’m really, really excited. It’s not very often we get to play with a band that’s so…that I respect so much as mewithoutYou. Honestly I’m probably more excited to see them than I am to actually play. I’m ecstatic, and to be able to play with them is an added bonus. Playing with them is one thing, but also playing with Yours For Mine and Maple Union. We’ve known those guys for a really long time. It’s just…it’s going to be a great show. There’s going to be a lot of good energy at the show. I should say this: we’re playing a lot of the new stuff tomorrow so…

TG: How has the new stuff been received?

NG: Very well very well. Of course for us it’s nice because its always nice to play something new. We’ve been playing stuff off the EP for…how olds that thing now? Three years? I don’t know man, and its definitely…its been received very, very well. And it all takes some getting used to, I mean our new stuff is much different than our old stuff. I think its better. Its been received just as well as our old stuff.

Nathan and the other Shapiro guys will be playing at Guzman’s Nightclub on Thursday Nov. 29 with mewithoutYou, Yours for Mine, and Maple. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the cost is $10 at the door.