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New on the Rock Scene, Waiting for Eternity has Arrived With Depth on
"The Long Walk"
"We want to create music to share our story, the story that everyone shares some part of. Getting through hard times, learning who we are (or are not), finding the strength to push on." -Shane Grubb
With Sahaj Ticotin and the guys outside of the studio, while recording latest album (most of the new album was recorded in a house in the middle of a corn field; drums tracked at Soundbar Studios / Crush House Entertainment.).
By Abbe Davis, January 25, 2021
Waiting for Eternity has arrived with their new album “The Long Walk.” This is an unadulterated splash of Classic/Alt and Hard Rock landscapes, the form and lyrics of their songs making it interesting and captivating. Frontman Shane Grubb has a unique, strong lead vocal and his lyrics throw raw emotion on the table. When you hear “The Long Walk” or “Blink” or “Find A Trace,” you want to either cruise down the highway, pump your fist to it at a sports arena, or play one of the tunes to show someone you have impeccable taste in authentic Rock. The songs are that good and take you on a journey. After the interview I wrote this and loved the entire album. It kicks it back to a time when an entire album was a work of art.
The band is from Tennessee, featuring Shane Grubb on lead vocal and guitar. Tony Cook on bass, and Edison Vidro as their new member on drums. Sahaj Ticotin (from the band, Ra) produced and recorded and co-wrote the songs.
"The Long Walk's" lyrics powerfully state, "You know that I can't erase what's wrong, And I can't carry it inside so I kill it, break it, the pain is gone." The production is stellar with gutsy guitar solos and driving riffs. "Blink" features interesting chord progressions, shows off the tightness of the band, and their trademark of original crafting. Shane's vocal power and control runs through these songs like a river, connecting the emotions. "I Don't Know" has a classic, Pearl Jam vibe and another crisp acoustic song is "Trees." When the band tilts into a more Pop/Alternative style on "Weight," it reminds me of how Springsteen used to wane pop, yet his voice was still his unique sound and stylings. Shane Grubb is also an original voice. When you speak with Shane, you instantly understand he is behind the lyrics because in how he explains life and the bands path.
Abbe: How's it going? Where are you?
Shane: I'm in Tennessee today and it's cold and rainy.
Abbe: I hear you. I'm not in that, but hey.
Shane: (laughing)
Abbe: Congrats on "The Long Walk," I really dig that tune a lot. I really like that "behind the scenes" video you guys did about how you wrote the song, and I like the Sasquatch hat you are wearing in the video. Can you tell me about that? Are you a believer?
Shane : Yeah, sure. I'm long time into Pop Culture or geek stuff. My day job is that I own a comic book shop. I've done that for 23 years.
AD: Cool! Wow. Who are your favorites? Which ones did you grow up reading?
Shane: I like Captain America, Dr. Strange, Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos. Teen Titans, but the ones from the Comics. Batman. Those are my guys.
AD: Do you go to the conventions?
Shane: Yep.
AD: Who is the best at creating them, in your view?
Shane: I'm more of a DC guy at this point.
AD: What do you think makes people get into reading comics? Why do you think that is?
Shane: Nowadays it's a lot different than it used to be. Comics are a hard sell for a younger group. Something we struggle with in the industry. I think it's a good escape. For me to see younger kids getting into it, I think it's people who have kids my age saying,"I want my kids to read comics like I did." So, it's the parents wanting their kids to read them."
AD: What is your age?
Shane: Am I too old to be a Rock 'n Roller if I tell you my real age?
AD: (laughing) Noooo. We interview anyone from 20's to 70's and older! It's Rock 'n Roll!
Shane: (laughing) I'm 46. I see people anywhere from their mid 30's to my age reading comics. It seems like those are the people who bring their kids in to read them.
AD: They still have the nostalgia. It's cool.
Shane: It is. Most people want to have a physical collection. For me, I know that what got me into reading when I was a kid, was comics. My mom would always buy me comics. My dad would read it to me and he'd keep trying to pronounce the words.
AD: (laughing) I try to get our kids to read everything, too. They love the "Dog Man" books and "Captain Underpants." I can read "Captain Underpants" all day. I think the references and dialogue is hilarious.
Shane: (laughing) Yeah.
AD: So let's get back to "The Long Walk," do you believe in Sasquatch, or are you just wearing the hat cause it's a thing?
Shane: Man, I just think it's super fun to pursue. We've been to the Sasquatch Museum. It's fun.
AD: Do you think he's really there? Come on, you can tell me if you think he's there or not.
Shane: Ya know, I'd like to believe that he's there. but let's be honest, at this point in time he'd have to be the Hide 'n Seek Champion of the world.
AD: Well, a Megladon washed up on the shore years ago, so you never know.
Shane: Right. I think that at some point in time there was something. But with all of the heat detection systems where they went over some of these areas, there's nothing putting out that kind of heat signature.
AD: Unless he is some alien type of thing, ya know?
Shane: Yeah (laughing) I don't know how deep you wanna go with this. The idea that they are inter-dimensional. I mean, maybe they do step from another dimension into this one. Maybe that's why they are so elusive. It's a whole thing...
AD: (laughing) You're like, "Can we get to my music now?"
Shane: Nah, I can talk about this crap all day long.
AD: I saw how you guys made your "behind "The Long Walk'" video. Your band, you guys seem like you've known each other for a long time. All joking and relaxed with each other.
Shane: Ryan's no longer with the band, which sucks, but it's no bad split or anything. When we really stepped up and realized we wanted to pursue Music as a career, well, Ryan has some physical issues. At Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt University Medical Center) his personal file is about five to six inches thick at this point. He has the only kind of nerve disorder of its type that Vanderbilt has ever seen.
AD: I'm sorry to hear that.
Shane: Yeah, it's was really debilitating for a while. He was a police officer and he couldn't physically move his hands, and he quit working. One of his arms quit working.
AD: How is he now? How's he doing?
Shane: He's good but he knew that if we would sit and play for three to four hours, it would take him a few days to recover from that. He didn't wanna hold the band back, and I wish there were some other way to make it work, but it is what it is, man.
AD: Aw man, send him our best. Sorry to hear about that. That's tough. So who is in the band?
Shane: We have a new drummer, Edison Vidro. He's in the music business. He's got a recording studio in his home. He helps bands with recording and that kinda stuff. He was going to sit in on lead with us when we went out and played. We had a real serious talk with him, cause he's three and a half hours away. We'll make it work.
AD: Everyone is long distance, so it's not an issue right now, right?
Shane: Yeah. Edison is going to come in and play some drums. He's also a full time musician, and he's super excited about our songs and playing with us. It's kinda weird for me to hear, "I love all your music and your songs, I'm not used to that."
AD: You guys sound great though. How long have you been together?
Shane: Well we've only been together for a year so, it's still kind of weird (laughing).
AD: Whats the name of the drummer you had before?
Shane: Ryan Tyner.
AD: I like how in your video you guys explain your process, and I love the song, cause it is 70's to 90's. And then you mention Elvis and Johnny Cash, and I can TOTALLY hear it in your guitar and bass, and that pedal you do throughout the whole thing. It's so great to hear a fresh sound. Your vocal sounds big on it, really good. What else is going on?
Shane: We are releasing more tunes, working with our management team, releasing songs every 30 days to be sure we have songs we are getting out. "Blindfold" was our first song, and to us, if we had to rank our songs, we'd put that at like number 8."
AD: "Blindfold has the backups, right?" That was nice, how you guys did that.
Shane: Yeah, but in order to get into distribution and prime the pump in social media and everything, you gotta do that to get your apple music set up and cdbaby. So we did the "Blindfold" as a prime-the-pump song. Our first big release is "the Long Walk." We thought it was relevant right now. Our band formed about Jan. of 2020.
AD: So you feel like you're getting it together now?
Shane: Yeah, we weren't really taking it seriously 'til about 2019. I mean, we got set up with Sahaj Ticotin, the lead singer for the band, Ra. He's the guy who produced and recorded and co-wrote these songs. We showed him every song we had ever written for about three or four days. He said, "We can work with this, and that." It's cool that you looked at the "Behind the Song" video. I didn't know if anybody would watch it or not.
AD: I liked it a lot. Good band chemistry. How old were you when you began in Music?
Shane: I started playing guitar when I was 17. I didn't start singing 'til I was 26 or 27.
AD: What, you were at a bar, or on a date, and you started singing, and someone told you it sounded cool?
Shane: So, here's the thing. It might not be hard edged Rock 'n Roll stuff, but, here it is. I was a youth pastor years ago and Ryan was one of the kids in the youth group. I'm like ten years older than Ryan, he was about 16 then. The youth group wanted to put together a Praise Worship band, and they couldn't get anyone to sing, so I was like, "Well I'll sing." Then we were like, "OK, let's take it in a different direction." We started a Rock band outside of that.
AD: Are you a religious guy? How are you about bars and things like that?
Shane: I have no problem with that. We could talk for hours about that, too. I feel like if you're gonna try to help people who are hurting, you gotta go to those people wherever they are. I feel like preaching to the choir doesn't do too much.
Shane: At the end of the day, we try to put some hope and some help into everything we do.
AD: I like how you guys dedicated "The Long Walk" to Veterans, the daily suicide rate being so horrible as it is. Do you know anyone going through that, or have you known anyone who has?
Shane: Yeah, unfortunately, one of the guys I played bass with in the past was in the military, and he committed suicide five years ago. I lost a friend late last year, another one of the kids who used to come into the shop all the time committed suicide last December.
AD: And he had been in the military?
Shane: Yeah, but I'm not saying its because he was in the military.
AD: I get that, yet was it a Post Traumatic Stress thing?
Shane: One of them probably, and the other just his personal life experiences; where the military could have been the only thing that might have kept him from that path, but he had a pretty crappy life.
AD: Tony is an Airforce veteran. Does he get to fly you around anywhere?
Shane (laughing) No, he's on the ground.
AD: Boots on the ground. Does he ever talk about it?
Shane: No, he doesn't get into it.
AD: So, you have "The Long Walk," what else is coming up? Check out Bandivious.com for the promotion linked to the magazine, ok? This year you guys have good management now, right?
Shane: Yes, we have good people, Sarah with World of Music AM, and Rick Barker. He and Taylor Swift have a way they worked social media, so he helps musicians learn about that. We will be working with some other musicians.
AD: Do you feel your new music is going to be good, cause you mentioned on that video about how "We won't ever write a song as good again." (about "The Long Walk") Did you mean that?
Shane: (laughing) Naw, at the time I was just.... I mean, we have some acoustic tunes coming out this year. We have about two other songs harder than "The Long Walk," and the other tunes are along the same lines. One of the bands I always enjoyed was Pearl Jam, because they can do an acoustic song, and then go right into a Hard Rock tune. They have this wide range, and I've always wanted to be able to do that with the band, too. An acoustic and then screaming your gutts out, (laughing). I think one of the things, and with Sahaj, too. He felt like each song we had didn't sound like one of the other tunes. They stand up on their own as songs. I think people will dig it. Feb 15th we will release our next single, the song "Blink." Some people have all of the songs from a kick-start fundraiser. Some people have already gotten limited editions.
AD: How are you guys planning the next six months, any idea?
Shane: Once we get set up with our new drummer, Edison, then we will do Facebook Live shows. Yet putting twenty people in a house to do house shows, well no.
AD: Are you a pastor?
Shane: We did small group studies at my building but with COVID we stopped. The last thing we wanna do is to get labeled as Christian Rock.
AD: Yeah, like look at Godsmack, they got pushed into a corner and all. (laughing)
Shane: (laughing)
AD: Look, I think people care about your music, and that is what they wanna hear.
Shane: I don't talk to people about it a lot, but I don't want it to be the first thing they think about before they hear our music. I mean, Sahaj, when we were recording he kept asking me what our tune was about, "This song is about Jesus, right?" And I said, "No, it's not about Jesus. Get that out of your head."
AD:I know, right, just because you kept saying the word, Jesus, Goddd. (laughing)
Shane: (laughing) I just hate someone coming in with that idea. For example "The Long Walk, " I would never have expected that would mean anything about a veteran, the way it happened in the video they did.
AD: I hear you. Up for interpretation. Because you seem like a deep thinker, I wanna play a quick game for some fun, while we have time. Just say whatever pops into your head when I say the one word, but, ya gotta let it fly! Don't think about it beforehand. Just let it fly.
Shane: OK. Let's go.
AD: Stockings
Shane: Christmas
AD: Lingerie
Shane: Victoria's Secret
AD: Life
Shane: Monopoly
AD: Metal
Shane: Spoon
AD: Purple
Shane: Melissa, that's my wife's favorite color.
AD: Forest
Shane: Gump
AD: Kelly, Jamie, Bill, Just Kidding! Drummer
Shane: (laughing) Dave Grohl
AD: Arrow
Shane: Flash
AD: Hero
Shane: Batman
AD: And I didn't even know you did comics, isn't that cool?
Shane: That is.
AD: I like when stuff like that happens. It's been great talking to you. You're a good guy, and I love your voice, man. I can't believe you started at 26, did you have lessons?
Shane: I have had one lesson with Jaime Vendera from Myth Busters. He's the dude who busts glass with his voice.
AD: (laughing)
AD: I think you'll be able to carry your voice far then. Should we be concerned when we go to your shows, that you'll break stuff?
Shane: No, I don't think that I can get to that level.
AD: Ha. Well thanks so much for the interview.
Shane: Thank you very much, too.
INFO:
Abbe Davis, Editor / Musician
Abbe Davis is Editor of TRR. She is also co-MC of The Tru Rock Show, and singer/songwriter of the Hard Rock band, Sordid Fable. She has done Blues/Rock shows alongside legendary Blues artist, Buddy Guy. Her past includes writing and performing standup, opening for Otto and George. Abbe's other passion includes interviewing musicians, promoting bands, and supporting Rock Music. She is currently recording with Sordid Fable for their album release in 2021.