South Carolina’s band of amplified roots-rockers E.Z. Shakes play songs grounded in epic Americana, shimmering twang, swooning pedal steel, atmospheric guitars, and rolling reverb. Collectively, they turn frontman Zach Seibert’s autobiographical folk songs into dark, moody anthems honest enough for a bar and dynamic enough for an arena.

Zach Seibert grew up in small-town Illinois, raised on the sounds of heartland rock & roll, hard-hitting punk, and old-school country/gospel music. His parents were hippie Christians who bounced from church to church, searching for a congregation that suited the family’s countercultural ideals. Seibert developed an appetite for diversity that he put to use in E.Z. Shakes with his raspy, genre-defying vocals.

Decades after Sunday services with his parents, Seibert still grapples with his faith, past missteps and new horizons. Much of The Spirit deals with his past and present worldsand with the absence of loved ones. “The Pretender” is a good example, and Seibert told Elmore the genesis of the story in detail:

“I wrote ‘The Pretender’ a few years back, following some severe anxiety issues my wife was having, that lasted for over a year. The song is as much an observation as it is a story. I think most people who have loved ones that suffer from anxiety and/or depression can relate to watching up close and feeling helpless.

Is there something I should be doing? Is doing nothing enabling? All the while the person suffering is just trying to ‘pretend’ everything is normal, that they’re normal.

“The words to the chorus are what my wife would say to me during that time: ‘I don’t want to stop you from being what you ought to/I don’t want to be the one that keeps you from the sun.’ She felt like I’d be better off without her, like she was holding me back, or that it was her fault because she was ‘sick’ and I had to ‘take care’ of her. My hope is that the song—if nothing else—brings awareness to the fact that everyone has issues and no one should feel shame or guilt for seeking help for mental health issues.

“Coming back and reimagining this song, after initially writing it 5 years ago, made sense for this record because of the common theme throughout: one of brokenness and the desire to be whole. We also wanted the new record to be more musically diverse than our past recordings and ‘The Pretender,’ among others, fit that bill perfectly. We traded some of our spacey psychedelia for a hard hitting pop hook with hair on it… add a splash of yacht rock and you’ve got E.Z. Shakes’ 3rd single from our forthcoming record, The Spirit.”

E.Z. Shakes are Zach Seibert (vocals, guitar), Todd T. Hicks (pedal steel), John Furr (electric guitar), Stanford Gardner (percussion), and Jim Taylor (bass guitar).

Learn more about E.Z. Shakes HERE

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