Kevin Shields

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Kevin Patrick Shields (born May 1963) is an Irish singer, guitarist, composer, and producer best known as the band's vocalist and guitarist.

With their two studio albums Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991), both of which pioneered a subgenre called shoegazing, My Bloody Valentine would become an influential influence on alternative rock evolution.

Shields' texturized guitar sound and his experiments with his guitars' tremolo systems resulted in the development of the "glide guitar" technique, which became a distinguishing feature of My Bloody Valentine's sound, as well as meticulous production methods.

In 1998, he became a travelling member of Primal Scream.

Shields contributed numerous original compositions to Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation, which received awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA).

Shields and Patti Smith performed together on The Coral Sea in 2008. In 2007, My Bloody Valentine reunited and released their third studio album, m vs. in February 2013.

The album was entirely by Shields and had been in production since the late 1990s, when Shields was rumored to be suffering from writer's block and mental disorders.

Shields has since been included in a number of publications' best-of-lists, including Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists and Spin's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Billy Corgan, J Mascis, and Gustavo Cerati have all cited him as a source of influence.

Early life

Kevin Patrick Shields was born in Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York City, United States, on May 21. He is the eldest of five siblings born to Irish parents; his mother was a nurse; and his father was a restaurant executive. In the 1950s, Shields' parents immigrated from Ireland to the United States, when the couple were teenagers. Shields attended Christ the King's, a Roman Catholic primary school that he described as "a really bad school run by psychopathic nuns" in his word. When Shields was four years old, they lived in Flushing, a suburb in north-central Queens, where they later moved to Commack, Long Island, where he lived until the age of ten. Shields returned to Dublin, Ireland, with his parents and siblings, due to financial difficulties and to their continuing to be close to their extended families.

Shields was born in Cabineely, a suburb of Dublin's Southside. "I went from being concerned about the modern world to some distant past," he said. According to Shields, the main difference between the United States and Ireland that affected him was the attitude toward music culture: "There was no Top of the Pops, there was nothing like that, there was no MTV, and [Ireland] was entirely cater to teenagers." The change, he said, "brought [him] into music in a major way."

Personal life

Shields' left hand has mild dyslexia, "mild to acute" tinnitus, and tendonitis. During the 1991 mixing of Loveless and other creatures, he developed tinnitus. Shields has said he has "come to care for the tinnitus as a friend," despite being initially worried about the illness. It blocks unwanted sounds and actually shields my ears from hearing them. It's your first line of defense against audible stress." "Any pain will vanish" after you begin to immerse yourself in the music, according to Mr.

Shields has spoken out against the corporate clout in the music industry. He has claimed that Sony Music Entertainment deliberately concealed the master tapes of the band's original recordings in an attempt to hold EP's 1988–1991 (2012). Shields threatened to involve Scotland Yard in the shooting, but then revealed the tapes "magically, quickly reappear[ed]" "magically." Since being called "psychopathic," he has called for reorganization of the recording industry, which he has described as "psychopathic." As a result, My Bloody Valentine's third album, m b vs. (2013), was self-released. Shields said it was "great to see the record without any industry contact at all," but it also meant that it was "a bit too expensive to buy, so we're going to try to make it cheaper by consulting with many record shops in the future," even though excluding major labels from talks. Following the unveiling of m b v, he accused the Mercury Prize's organisers of "banning" the album from the nominated shortlist. In a conversation with The Guardian, Shields said that My Bloody Valentine were "banned by [the Mercury Prize]" because the United Kingdom does not have a major digital distribution contract. "We're not on Amazon or iTunes, so it's not a good indicator." Since it's independent, our album isn't really a hit. The corporate presence has to reach a point where we're practically told that we don't exist."

Shields and Bilinda Butcher were in a symbiosis during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The majority of Shields' siblings have achieved varying degrees of fame. Jimi, the founding member and drummer of the indie rock band Rollerskate Skinny, has since formed Wounded Knees and become co-director of TTT (thirtythreetrees), a Dublin landscape design firm. Ann Marie has worked extensively in the music industry and has worked on tours for both My Bloody Valentine and Rollerskate Skinny, as well as being acknowledged for Loveless' coordination. Eileen, his youngest sister, has worked with Bono, Drew Barrymore, and PJ Harvey.

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Music career

Shields' first electric guitar, a Hondo SG, was a Christmas gift from his parents in 1979. Colm Cosóig, a drummer, was befriended by the Shields in south Dublin during the summer of 1978, and the pair responded to an advertisement placed by a 12-year-old musician to form punk rock band The Complex. Liam Maonla from Coláiste Eoin in Booterstown was hired as the lead vocalist, and the band began rehearsing. The Complex had originated from "what all the nerds and weirdos do as opposed to the cool people with the leather jackets," Shields wrote later. The band performed "a handful of gigs" during their brief career, the first of which included covers of songs by the Sex Pistols and Ramones, according to Shields.

As Maonla's desire to create Hothouse Flowers, Shields, and Cosóig began rehearsing with another bassist, the Complex was disbanded. The trio formed A Life in the Day in 1981, a band that concentrated on a more experimental sound influenced by Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. The band performed at local venues to audiences of no more than a hundred people on a demo tape, which features Shields' first attempts at pitch bending.

A Life in the Day Disbanded In 1981, Lead vocalist David Conway appeared in My Bloody Valentine as the day was born in early 1983. Before the trio settled for My Bloody Valentine, Conway suggested a few potential band names (including The Burning Peacocks). Shields has since stated that he was unaware that My Bloody Valentine was the name of a 1981 Canadian slasher film.

Conway phoned Gavin, the lead vocalist of the Dublin post-punk band, on Shields' suggestion on Friday. In early 1984, the band's contacts in Tilburg, Netherlands, and the band was relocated to the Netherlands. They remained in Amsterdam for a further nine months, squatting in Amsterdam and later in a more rural area, where Shields worked on a farm. Due to a lack of opportunities and correct documentation, the band migrated to West Berlin, Germany, in late 1984, and released their debut mini album, This Is Your Bloody Valentine (1985). The album, which features Shields on bass, was not well-received, and the band briefly returned to the Netherlands before settling in London in 1985.

Debbie Googe, the band's debut extended play Geek, was recruited by bassist Debbie Googe. In December 1985, the country's first female president was named in a newspaper. The EP attracted little interest, and Shields considered relocating to New York, where members of his family were living. Both of the band's two subsequent releases, "The New Record by My Bloody Valentine (1986) and "Sunny Sundae Smile" (1987), reached minor success, peaking at number 22 and number 6 respectively on the UK Independent Albums Chart and Singles Chart. David Conway announced his departure from the band in March 1987 due to his gastric illness, disillusion with music, and aspirations to become a writer. Bilinda Butcher, a singer and guitarist, was recalled by Conway, with whom Shields occasionally split (and often shared) vocal duties. Shields was initially reluctant to play a vocal role in the band, but later revealed that he had "always sung in the rehearsal room..." and "made up the melodies." The band had intended to drop the My Bloody Valentine moniker with the new line up, but the band was unable to decide on a replacement and so kept the name "for better or worse."

Following a string of success, Shields' three-track album "Strawberry Wine" and the band's second mini album Ecstasy (1987) were released, with Shields on lead vocal duties. My Bloody Valentine, who performed in support of Ecstasy, has signed to Creation Records, describing the band as "the Irish equivalent to Hüsker Dü." The EP You Made Me Realise (1988), the band's debut in Creation, was followed by the release of the band's hugely influential debut studio album Isn't Anything (1988), which is regarded as having "fully invented" shoegaze style, giving the band a template from which a number of bands would work off.

In February 1989, My Bloody Valentine began recording sessions for their second album. Creation Records had expected that the album could be recorded in five days, but Shields took over the musical and technical aspects of the recording sessions during this period. Shields moved to 19 other studios and recruited a number of engineers, including Alan Moulder, Anjali Dutt, and Guy Fixsen. Shields and Creation decided to release two interim EPs, Glider (1990) and Tremolo (1991), as the recording was taking so long. The Loveless album was eventually released in November 1991 and was reported to have cost over £250,000 to have bankrupted Creation (which Shields has denied). Loveless' critical reception was almost unanimous with praise, though the album was not a commercial success, peaking at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart but failing to chart internationally. Due to the album's excessive recording time and interpersonal issues with Shields, Creation Records founder Alan McGee dropped My Bloody Valentine shortly after the unveiling of Loveless.

My Bloody Valentine signed to Island Records for a reported £250,000 in October 1992. The band's progress continued into the construction of a home studio in Streatham, South London, which was completed in April 1993. Several technical issues with the studio culminated in "semi-meltdown," according to Shields, who was rumored to have been suffering from writer's block. Googe and Cósóig joined the band in 1995, whilst Shields and Butcher attempted to record their third studio album; Shields had expected that this would be released in 1998, but My Bloody Valentine disbanded in 1997. Shields is the only one of his own words "went crazy," drawing comparisons between musicians like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

Several albums worth of content had been recorded and shelved prior to the band's breakup, according to rumors. Shields had submitted 60 hours of music to Island Records in 1999, but Butcher said that there were "probably enough songs to fill two albums." Shields later revealed that at least one full album of "half-finished" content was destroyed, citing the fact that it was "dead." It didn't have the same spirit or life in it as it had.

Shields embarked on a number of projects after My Bloody Valentine's disbandment, both as a guest musician and producer, as well as mixing and remixing other acts. Shields' Beyond the Pale (which was shot at Shields' home studio in Streatham and credits him with "extra thanks" on the album's sleeve) and 1997's The Köner Experiment were among his guitar loops on two Experimental Audio Research albums. He was a frequent collaborator with Indie rock band Dinosaur Jr. (1997) and Ear-Bleeding Country: The Best of Dinosaur Jr. (2001), as well as frontman J Mascis' More Light (2000) and The John Peel Sessions (2003). Shields has lent his services as a guest musician to Russell Mills & Undark, DJ Spooky, Curve, Manic Street Preachers, Le Volume Courbe, Gemma Hayes, and Paul Weller. Shields has performed with La La Human Steps, a Canadian contemporary dance company (contributing the song "2" to the 1995 premiere of the same name), Gemma Hayes, The Charlatans, and Spacemen 3 (appearing at their 2010 reunion show).

Shields has also worked as a producer outside of My Bloody Valentine: his first film appearances were "How Do You Do It?" by The Impossible's 1991 album "How Does It?" "Real" and "Tunnel," a track from GOD's remix album Appeal to Human Greed (1995). He has also produced Afterglow (1997)), Joy Zipper's American Whip (2003), and The Beat Up's Blackrays Defence (2005). The Go! has mixed and remixed content by The Pastels, Yo La Tengo, Damian O'Neill, Mogwai, The Go! Bow Wow Wow Wow and Wounded Knees.

Shields became a regular collaborator and semi-permanent tour guide with Primal Scream between 1998 and 2006. On two of the band's studio albums, XTRMNTR (2000), and Evil Heat (2002), he played guitar, mixed, and mixed tracks. Bobby Gillespie, a Primal Scream frontman, has said, "[Shields] has something that no one else in the world can bring. He plays guitar in a way that no one else in the world plays guitar," adding that Primal Scream considered Shields to be "part of the family," as shown by the guitarist. Following his departure in 2006, Shields has remained close to the band, remastering Primal Scream's third studio album Screamadelica (1991) in 2010 and performing guitar in "2013," More Light's lead single. Since being absent from Shields, Gillespie has written a post remark on his absence, saying that "there is always room for Kevin Shields—always."

In 2003, Shields performed four original compositions to the soundtrack of Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation. After being approached by filmmaker Brian Reitzell while in Tokyo, Japan, Shields became involved with the film. Reitzell and Shields began performing early jam sessions in London, where the two "adopted a late-night recording schedule" resulting in the single "City Girl." The Lost in Translation soundtrack, which was released on V2 Records in August 2003, featured three other ambient tracks by Shields: "Goodbye," "Ikebana," and "Are You Awake?" Shields received an award for Best Film Music, an Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) award for Best Film Music, and an Online Film Critics Society award for Best Original Score for his film contribution.

Shields collaborated with American singer Patti Smith to release the live album The Coral Sea on the PASK label in July 2008 (which the pair had also founded together). The double album features two performances at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, which Smith reads the book of the name same (which she wrote in honor of her friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe) over Shields' instrumental accompaniment.

According to reports, My Bloody Valentine will reunite in August 2007 in Indio, California, United States; this was later announced by Shields, along with the news that the band's third studio album (which he started recording in 1996) was nearing completion. My Bloody Valentine performed two live rehearsals at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in June 2008, their first public performances in 16 years. They began a large world tour in summer 2008 (their first since their 1992 tour in favor of Loveless), including appearances at yafestivalen in Oslo, Norway, Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Ireland, and the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata, Japan. According to reports, the band spent £200,000 on their world tour.

Shields and Le Volume Courbe frontwoman Charlotte Marionneau formed Pickpocket in October 2011, and the pair discussed releasing a collaborative "ten minutes of chaos" single on the imprint. Remastered versions of Isn't Anything and Loveless were released in May 2012, as well as the EP's 1988-1991 collection, which included the band's Shields-remastered Creation Records extended plays, singles, and unreleased tracks.

Shields revealed plans to unleash My Bloody Valentine's third album online before the year's end, before a warm-up show at Electric Brixton in London on January 27th, 2013. The m b v album was eventually released through the band's official website on February 2nd, 2013, crashing the website due to high traffic. M b v received "universal acclaim," according to Metacritic, and the band began a worldwide tour shortly after its debut.

Shields has since confirmed plans to publish remastered analogue cuts of My Bloody Valentine's back catalogue, as well as two new pieces of new content that were most likely to be published in 2019.

In April 2018, Shields released The Weight Of History / Only Once Away My Son, a double A-side with Brian Eno, for Record Store Day.

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