.png)
Shop Regulars, the brainchild of Portland artist Matt Radosevich (formerly of Honey Bucket), released a self-titled LP back in June that's one of the most unruly and brilliant rock 'n' roll records you'll hear in 2024. Featuring a rotating cast of musicians, the music swings and punches along a mass of endless guitars grooves, distorted and loose chord changes, and psychedelic expositions that are frenetic as ever—the epitome of metallic garage pop. The choppy standout "Off Season Walker" is a charming weirdness that sets it apart from what most everyone else is doing in the "American underground," but that's what makes it so brilliant. We recently chatted with Radosevich all about how the band has evolved from a home-recording project, documenting its live chops across the album, and the highlights supporting Etran de L'Aïr last summer.
First tell me what you've been up to lately? What have you been listening to, reading, watching, or spending a lot of time doing?
Matt Radosevich: Same old really, mostly just working on music and slanging bagels as a day job. I haven't been listening to too much stuff recently, but I did just listen to this weird Derek Bailey thing. Apparently in the 1990s, he used to play guitar along with some Jungle pirate radio station in London to practice and eventually he actually got together and did a record with some drum and bass guy. So its like wild drum and bass music with Derek Bailey playing on top of it. I'm not really a Drum and Bass guy, though I am somewhat intrigued by it, and Derek Bailey isn't someone I can usually get into really at all but something about them together weirdly works. I've also been listening to the newest Emily Robb record a lot this year, it's great. Book wise, my friend got me one of those 33 1/3 books about Can's Tago Mago so I just started looking at that. So far it seems like it might be one of those "my journey with this record" type things, which usually annoys the hell out of me. But we'll see. Speaking of Can, I did read a really good Can book called All Gates Open this past year or so though, definitely recommend that for the Can heads.
For our readers unfamiliar, tell us about the origins of Shop Regulars?
It started in 2018. I was in the band Honey Bucket for a long time and wanted to do something different. The first lineup was me, Stevie [Pohlman] from Mope Grooves, and Raf [Spielman] from The Woolen Men. We were already working together a lot in our other band L.O.X. and on the Mope Grooves records, so it was natural to have them involved. We recorded a tape very quickly then played one show, then I got a new band for the second tape. Since then, it's always been a revolving door type thing, though drummer Patrick has been in the group since tape number two and is a big part of the sound. At first, the project was more of a platform to release tapes but has since become an actual band that plays shows somewhat regularly.
How would you say Shop Regulars is different from your work prior in Honey Bucket? Also what are your thoughts looking back on those HB releases?
Well, in HB I wasn't in charge, it was more a collaboration between me, Jon [Grothman], and Vince [Skelly], the two other guys in the band. So the group was informed by their taste, musicianship, instinct, etc. as much as mine. We also worked pretty strictly within the trio format, especially in the later years, which was a creative constraint that dictated the music in a cool way. Shop Regulars is looser in that sense. I think I was 19 when HB first started, so I'm a pretty different person now, musically and otherwise, as far as what I like and what I want to do. It's hard for me to get past my vocals on most of the HB stuff—I think everyone has to figure out their own way to make it work as a vocalist and lyricist and I hadn't figured it out yet. I was trying though. Thankfully I didn't sing all the songs. I will say that Jon and Vince are both really intuitive and uniquely creative musicians and I was lucky to be in a band with two people like that, and it was basically my education as far as writing, recording, touring, and just how to operate as a band. I had never done any of that stuff before. If someone was curious about HB, I would point them to the live tape we released at the end, that captured the band the best in my opinion.
What's your relationship to Portland? Do you find yourself identifying with the music or labels there or not so much?
Not particularly. There was a time in Portland where it felt like there was a sense of urgency and camaraderie within the bands in my circle, like we a part of something. The pandemic sort of killed that I think. A lot of bands bit the dust and people moved on, or are doing music in a different capacity. Things are more disparate these days—everyone's more on their own tip, myself included. It's okay, it happens. I don't really view the band as part of any sort of larger Portland music tradition or movement, whatever that may be, but know knows. I'm originally from Michigan, just outside Detroit, and the Midwest still feels like home to me in many ways—though obviously were not a Michigan band either.
From the first tape to the most recent LP, how would you say this band has evolved over the years?
Not exactly sure. Hopefully we've gotten better.
How do you feel looking back on your catalog? Do you still like or relate to the previous self-released cassette tapes?
The lyrical and vocal approach on the first one bugs me, in the same way as my contributions to the HB stuff. Other than that, they're okay. I'm usually into something while I'm working on it, later on all its faults and weaknesses become clear to me and I move on and try to do something better. I'm not embarrassed by the tapes for the most part, which is all I can ask for really.
What insight can you share about the latest Shop Regulars release and how exactly it all came together?
For a while there the plan was to do tapes until maybe someone wanted to put out a record or it became obvious in some way that the world wanted a record. That never really happened, and at some point I realized that it probably never would happen, and that its dumb to just wait around for someone to hand you an opportunity. Around that time we were just getting into being a live band on a more regular basis, playing songs from the back catalogue, but reworking them to be more suitable for a live band situation. It seemed like a document of the live stuff would be a cool LP so that was the idea going in. It more or less turned out like that. I tried to find a label to put it out, just cold sending it to people basically. No one wanted to do it, so I did it on the Shop Regs label, Merrie Melodies. A decent amount of label people actually listened to it and got back to me though, which I was surprised by.
The cut from it I've been playing the most is "Off Season Walker." What can you tell me about that one and the inspirations behind it?
Yeah, that ones been around a while, there's a version of it on our first tape. I remember thinking I was lifting the riff from some Beefheart song but then I listened to it and it wasn't the same at all, so it was like a free riff. The words are vaguely about being a tourist somewhere and feeling like a dumbass around the locals. I think I was listening to The Seeds a lot at the time.
What's the story of "7 Winds"?
This one was originally our second tape but has been reworked a bunch of times over the years and taken a lot of forms. It's a bit of a pain in the ass to play live. Some songs an ace in the hole, they always work no matter what. The goods are built into their DNA. Others rely a lot more on performance, you have to really deliver for them to be good—unfortunately this song is one of those. Lyrically, there's not much to it. I find that when writing lyrics the more I think the worse they get, so I try to get a whole song down before my brain has a chance to get involved. I think that's what happened here. Patrick does this crazy drum fall-apart thing at a certain point when we play live but he actually doesn't play drums on this recording. I was missing that wild bit so I recorded myself dragging my hand through a tool box to simulate it and it kind of worked.
You worked with eight people on this new record. What's it like working with a rotating cast of like-minded artists in Shop Regulars?
It's great. I'm super lucky to know so many talented people, and that they're down to be involved.
What were the inspirations behind the cover art? It has a mysterious classic pop quality to it.
Someone once described Shop Regulars music as "cartoonish" or something like that and that made sense to me. I remember seeing an old copy of some Henry Miller book somewhere with a similar design, that stuck with me for whatever reason and was on my mind too. I've always been drawn to simple cover art.
What does a Shop Regulars live show look like?
We typically perform as a five-piece—two guitars, bass, drums, and a percussionist. The lineup used to be different for every show but has been more solidified lately, so were a little more seasoned these days. The group being more familiar with the tunes has made things even wackier musically, which is kind of funny.
What were some of the highlights supporting Etran de L'Aïr last summer?
It was great, we're all big fans of theirs so it was a real honor to get to play with them. I saw them when they toured the year before and couldn't get enough of it. The whole Agadez thing is really inspiring in general. Like, sometimes it can seem like everything's been done, but then there's this relatively recent music from North Africa using just guitar, bass, drums, voice, all the normal shit, and it sounds so completely unlike anything I've heard before—even Tinariwen, who is seen as a main predecessor I think. It's still possible, you know? There are infinite possibilities. Its funny though, I thought the bill made a lot of sense going in, like there was some crossover and a lot of Etran fans might also like us, but it was a sold out show at a pretty big venue and I think we sold one record. We played in Olympia right after and did way better merch-wise and we played for like 15 people.
What are some future plans for Shop Regulars?
Right now just working on stuff for another record, doing a little California tour in late November. I'd love to make it out to the Midwest and East Coast sometime next year, I like playing out there.
Thank you for your time. Any advice or last words you'd like to share with our readers?
Punk is about doing your own thing. Also a sense of humor is important.
Shop Regulars is out now on Merrie Melodies.