SISTER ACT
Indie folk group SHEL likes having control over music, videos
Being in a band is difficult enough, but when you are sisters, there’s a different dynamic. And the women behind the indie folk quartet SHEL, wouldn’t want it any other way.
The sisters — Eva, Hannah, Sarah, and Liza Holbrook — were home-schooled and raised on a farm. It was there they felt the urge to be in a band.
“We sort of fell into it when we were barely in double digits; we’re all very close in age. But our career began with wedding and church gigs, where we covered popular classics,” the sisters say in an e-mail interview. “That was a little stressful, because if you mess up that Bridal Chorus, every knows it! But music had become a way of life at that point, and we just went with it. When we were in our early to midteens, we began to write our own music. Our mom heard us playing our first original song and started crying tears of joy. That was when we realized we had something special.”
SHEL is touring in support of its most recent album, “Just Crazy Enough.”
The band says its writing is collaborative.
“One of us starts a song or sometimes brings a finished song, then the rest of us orchestrate around and arrange with our instruments and harmonies,” the band says. “Being sisters makes some parts easier, and some can be a challenge. The vocals blend easier and we can read each other’s minds a bit when it comes to picking a direction for our music because we were raised with the same tunes.”
And when there’s a disagreement, it’s civil.
“We try each person’s idea and whichever one gets the most votes wins,”
the band says. “… And when that fails, we usually find a third party to chime in.”
The sisters also enjoy being independent artists. They were once signed to Republic Records before leaving the contract.
They direct their own music videos, and a lot of their music has been used in commercials and TV shows.
“It’s a very wonderful and surreal feeling to walk into a room or a theater and be caught off-guard by a song you’re so familiar with popping up in a TV commercial or on the movie screen,” the band says. “Whether it’s Travis Rice’s epic snowboarding film or a Toys R Us commercial, we’re always surprised when our music comes on. We hope to have many more of these experiences.”