Getting to Know… Baby Shakes | Interview 🎤

For the 152^nd interview in our Getting to Know… series, we get great insight from NYC rock n roll-punk band, Baby Shakes.

“We’re pretty friendly and easily approachable so if you’re nice and wanna hang with us you’re gonna have fun!” Who doesn’t wanna hang out with nice people, especially a nice, friendly band like 🎙 Baby Shakes! Baby Shakes are the interviewees in our 152^nd entry in our Getting to Know… series.  As always, we get some awesome insight from the New York City rock n roll-punk band, comprised of 🎙 Mary (lead vocal, guitar), 🎙 Judy (lead guitar, vocals), Claudia (bass, vocals), and the sole male member, Ryan (drums).  So, without further ado, here’s Getting to Know… Baby Shakes: Interview #152!

Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with Baby Shakes, what would you say makes your band distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?  

🎤 We like to think of our shows as a big party. We don’t just hide in our dressing room or backstage, we’re usually out there playing host and hanging out with people in the audience from the beginning until the end. We have fun onstage and we think that comes across clearly. After our shows we drink and dance with everyone. We’re pretty friendly and easily approachable so if you’re nice and wanna hang with us you’re gonna have fun! It’s not just a band playing a show it’s a great time with us and our friends, listening to music, dancing and being festive. That’s what we’re known for around the world.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your Baby Shakes form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?  

🎤 Baby Shakes formed in 2005. Judy and Claudia met at a punk show at CBGB’s when they were teenagers. They both had studded jackets, pink/blue hair and collected UK ‘82 and ‘77 punk singles so it made sense that they’d become good friends. They used to jam out to Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers songs together in their living rooms. A friend of ours (the artist Avi Spivak) knew that we were looking for bandmates so when Mary moved to NY from Seattle, he introduced us at his DJ night. We all got along so well and when we heard Mary sing, we knew it was the perfect style for the kind of music we all wanted to play, and she played guitar too. As for Ryan… we’ve had many drummers in the past, but he was definitely the missing puzzle piece. We met him through mutual friends when we needed a drummer for a show.

When we first started out our biggest goal was to travel and play abroad in Europe, the U.K. and in Asia. We also wanted to play on bills with other bands that we admired at festivals and stuff. Soon, we found out that with a lot of hard work and dedication those goals were attainable. One of our biggest goals right now is to tour Australia and hopefully we get to do that soon.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?  

🎤 Our goals haven’t changed too much. We’re passionate about what we do, and we want to continue having fun doing it. The exciting part is that every year the audiences and shows seem to get bigger so that’s cool. Feel like we’ve earned that.

One thing that we really enjoyed was creating music and jingles for TV shows/ commercials. We’ve had a few song placements over the years like for Lipton tea in Japan and we worked on background music for a series once. That was a lot of fun and it’s cool seeing your songs visually reimagined for something else. It’s also a lot different than touring and gigging and we enjoy the creative process, so we’d like to do more of that regularly.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?  

🎤 #1 influence is the master: Chuck Berry. Obviously for killer guitar riffs but also for his catchy, 2-3 min rock ‘n’ roll songs. We’ve adapted this formula in our music, for the same reason every other band that we are also influenced by has (at least we think they have). We’ve got a wide range of influences but here are just a few of the main ones:

Ramones, Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, NYC and UK 77/ UK 82 punk including The Undertones, Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Clash just to name a few.

Powerpop – Tom Petty, Dwight Twilley, Phil Seymour, Flamin’ Groovies and the like… Bomp and Titan records

Aussie Garage/Punk- Radio Birdman, The Scientists, Fun Things etc.

Glam and Glitter – Slade, Sweet, Hello, Suzi Quatro, Mud, Milk ‘n’ Cookies etc.

R&B and Bubble Gum – The Equals, 1910 Fruitgum Co. Ohio Express

Motown Sounds and Girl Groups- The Ronettes, The Crystals, Go-Go’s, The Bangles

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 Touring China was wild!!! On one of our days off we got stuck in a tornado on the streets of Beijing. This was right after we found out that a woman had been eaten by a tiger when visiting the same part of the Great Wall that we were on our way to. We got to slide down the great wall that day as a band. That was pretty cool!!!!

Wackiest thing that happened during a performance was when the late Genesis P-Orridge hopped onstage while we were playing and grabbed the mic from Mary to express her disapproval that the show was running behind schedule. This was at a benefit gig that we got asked to play for ? (from ? & the Mysterians) after he lost all his belongings in an apartment fire. Needless to say, that was pretty hilarious and unexpected.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?  

🎤 🎵 “Stuck on Blue” – It was the 2^nd single that we ever recorded. And it just had lots of raw live energy. We love everything about the sound. It’s also the crowd pleaser.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?  

🎤 Mary is a multi-talented artist. She’s a professional Graphic Designer/Illustrator and she designs all of our merch. She’s even edited many of our music videos. 

Claudia sews as a hobby and has styled and designed matching Halloween costumes and outfits/ props for some of our music videos. She also likes to follow football (a.k.a soccer. especially the USWNT).

Judy likes to surf when she’s on vacation. 

Ryan spends most of his time on a bicycle when he’s not playing drums, touring or traveling solo to exotic destinations.

We all collect records and sometimes we DJ at home and on tour. We even have our own radio show that airs once a month in Puerto Rico. We started our own DIY record label called Lil’ Chewy almost a decade ago. We’ve had a number of releases and we pack and ship all orders ourselves at Baby Shakes HQ. We’ve recently expanded Lil’ Chewy to an online shop of specialty vintage pieces that we find on tour and from our own wardrobe.

Closing things out, what is Baby Shakes currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure.   

🎤 Currently we have a 45 out on Dimple Discs Records that is one 2 singles from the EP collaboration with Billy and Damian of the Undertones. Right before the lockdown back in February of this year we recorded a couple of songs in Derry, Northern Ireland. Billy and Damian wrote and played on them along with Billy’s nephew Stephen Mailey. It was a really fun project; great team and the songs are rad!!! Damian released it on his label Dimple Discs that he runs with his longtime friend Brian O’Neill. Last we heard it’s almost sold out but there might be a reissue in the works. So, grab your copy now and look out for the follow up coming your way pretty soon, it’s just a catchy as the first one, we promise!!! In the meantime, Baby Shakes are writing some songs of our own new songs and hope to record and release an LP by the time this pandemic let’s up and it’s safe to tour again. Australia we’ll be coming for you as soon as we can!!!!

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward.   

Thanks a bunch!!!! <3

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[📷: Baby Shakes, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype; Icons made by flaticon]