Tom Tom is pleased to premiere ‘Let Me Do’ the newest track from SHEL. SHEL is a folk/pop band comprised of the Holbrook sisters. With Sarah(violin, guitar, vocals), Hannah(keys, piano, vocals), Eva(mandolin, guitar, lead vocals), and Liza(drums, beatboxing, vocals), SHEL has knack for making infectious tunes that can brighten any gloomy day.
The video for ‘Let Me Do’ is supremely whimsical; dropping you in an Alice in Wonderland environment. SHEL delivers visuals in this video that will stick with you the same way their music does. Check out our interview with the band, a quick little quote from Eva as well as the video for ‘Let Me Do.’
From Eva on the making of the“Let Me Do” music video:
“I woke up one morning with a vision of my head trapped inside a wearable dollhouse. My first thought was ‘That would make a killer music video, I bet I could build that.’ It took me a week to construct, and as soon as it was finished I began painting my bedroom with Wonderland tones so we could film in there.
Originally there was going to be no performance footage and I would design a park scene for Liza to wear around her neck, but when she showed Sarah and I the massive drum sticks, that was that, Liza had to play drums.
It was a family project by the end, my now husband gave me some killer engineering pointers for the Doll house construction, my dad and brother helped engineer a wall attachment for the floating chair, and our sister in-law let us borrow her cat, appropriately named Dinah.”
What is ‘Let Me Do’ about?
From Eva of SHEL: It’s partly inspired by my husband. I’d started bits of it before we met, but finished it with my sisters just in time to put a love song on the album. The last verse came from a conversation about wanting a plain gold band like our mom; instead of an engagement ring. I always marked that as a symbol of equal commitment to work together, regardless of comfort or circumstances. Both of my parents are artists, now my husband and I are artists. It’s a feast or famine life, for better or worse; this tune just plays on the idea that you don’t need cliche material things to be happily in love.
The video concept for ‘Let Me Do’ came from a vision; do you keep a dream journal? Have any of the dreams you’ve had while sleeping lead to musical creations?
I wake up with melodies in my head often, but they evaporate pretty quickly. I usually only manage to croak the remnant of whatever it was into my iPhone and startle myself when I come across it weeks later. But one melody I did take to my friend Gareth Dunlop, and we wrote a song called ‘Hold On’ that was immediately pitched and placed in a major motion picture called ‘The Best of Me.’ It was a bit uncanny to me because the soundtrack is primarily country artists and in the dream that the melody came form, I was a country artist.
Family members played a big role in creating the set for this video; what did they think of the final product?
They were all very proud of their handiwork! We did a two day shoot in my room, so they watched us film parts of it. We all love to watch Sarah work, she’s a brilliant videographer. Hannah or Liza usually film her when it’s her turn to star, then she and I take turns directing. It’s a wonderful partnership. I love to make puppets and dress people up, and Sarah knows how they should move and behave in front of a camera. All four of us have years of watching The Muppets, The Beatles, and The Marx Brothers together, so we have a deep love for strange characters.
If you could describe the music video in one word, what would it be and why?
Fantastical. Because it was conceived by the efforts of the unrestrained imagination.
Last year you released an EP of covers; what was the process of picking the songs you wanted to cover for the album?
The process varies, but the rules are always the same; it has to be a great song. So great that you could strip away the production, change the tempo, etc. and it would still stand strong and proud. We try to follow the rules that apply to our favorite covers, whether it’s Zeppelin covering Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy, or Hendrix covering Bob Dylan, we want our covers to be a new way of paying homage to the depth and power of the original song. We also say a prayer to the gods of rock when we’re about to step onto sacred ground and cover something by Metallica or Zeppelin.
Any plans for an album this year?
Yes! We’re very excited to be writing and exploring new ideas right now. We’ll likely have something out later this year.
You have some live shows this month, what songs are you most excited to play live?
The new ones, and the reinvented ones, it’s thrilling to play a song for listeners for the first time.
You’ve had music featured on well-known tv shows! What was it like hearing your songs on tv? What was the process of getting your music on the air?
We create the music and our team pitches it for shows, films and commercials. We’re always surprised when we find out which songs end up on TV.
What are SHEL’s plans for this year?
We’re all very excited to have time to create and start touring again. We’ll be performing in Colorado quite a bit which will be lovely. I imagine it will be another year of the things we’re most fond of, studying, writing, recording, filming, traveling, and meeting new friends.
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