Shane Herrell: Rest In Power(pop) (1980-2025)
The Rocker
I try to live my life with as few regrets as possible. Sadly I never got the chance to hear my friend Shane Herrell karaoke Thin Lizzy’s "The Rocker." As a singing bass player we don’t have enough heroes. It might just be my alcohol addled memory but right now as I write this, I can’t actually think of any beyond Phil Lynott and Shane. I mean, I can think of a few other singing bassists; I just don’t consider any of them hero material. Shane, true to the song, was a rocker. He played in many bands including Hallways, The First Times, and Gazebos, but I will always remember Shane most as the lead vocalist and bass player for Seattle’s Bread & Butter. When B&B first started Shane was also playing bass in Gazebos who were on Hardly Art, along with Shannon and the Clams, so they did a US tour together. The singer of Gazebos was dating Clams guitarist Cody, so they were traveling separately in her car when it broke down, which caused them to miss some shows. Heroically, Shane stepped up and learned all the guitar parts so Shannon and the Clams could finish the tour.
Shane was a magical dude. His stoke was always turned up to 11. Everyone probably knows the old adage that “you catch more flies with honey” but I can think of few people -- and this time it's not just my terrible memory -- who actually lived by this more than Shane. I don’t remember ever seeing Shane without a smile on his face. This alone, beyond the rest of this great band and their catchy AF powerpop, always made it a pleasure to watch Bread & Butter. Even after two tours with them and setting up multiple other shows for them throughout the years, I never got sick of watching Bread & Butter play. It breaks my heart knowing I will never get to see B&B perform again. It's unfortunate for all of us, but especially those who never got to see him play. Shane passed away on February 15th this year.
It’s Banana O’Clock Somewhere
The worst show we ever played together was in Eureka, California. It was my fault as I had confused Eureka with neighbouring town Arcata when I booked it. Arcata is your classic liberal arts college town, a little bit punk but a lot more hippie. Eureka, on the other hand, has a rougher edge, maybe due to its proximity to “Murder Mountain” in Humboldt County where that Netflix documentary series was filmed. The place I had booked us was a biker bar. None of the patrons seemed particularly interested in watching the bands that night except for one. After Bread & Butter’s set a lone, but seemingly harmless, middle-aged man befriended Shane, obviously under the spell of Shane’s luminous smile. The way I remember it, this fellow was convinced that Bread & Butter should play his (or possibly his daughter’s?) upcoming wedding and was not going to take no for an answer. He wasn’t threatening, per se, but it depends how you look at it. My memory of that night, for obvious reasons, is pretty fuzzy.
The most vivid image that comes to mind is about 20 bottom shelf tequila shots lined up on the bar that this man had bought for Shane and assumingly the rest of the band members. Nobody seemed to be drinking them and I hate to see anything going to waste so my next memory after drinking more than my fair share of them is stumbling for the bathroom later that night. I asked Lars, who played with Shane in B&B, what he remembers:
That show was like some David Lynch surreal trip! Yeah, the older Mexican dude with the pompadour and sunglasses buying us all mass well shots totally zeroed in on Shane, saying "your music touched my heart, play my wedding, come over to my house…" We didn’t tho, haha. Those “tequila” shots were muy gnarly but best night of my life!
Shane’s talent was undeniable but he was also such a funny and likeable dude. Following Bread & Butter’s disbandment in 2023, Shane quietly released his final recordings in October last year. For Sorda Pop, Shane recorded and played everything himself. I’m told he even did the artwork. Sorda Pop, of course, sounds not unlike Bread & Butter but maybe more mature and introspective: '60s influenced, garage leaning -- more towards Shannon and the Clams with less R&B and more bubblegum-y with touches of psychedelia like Tommy James & the Shondells.
The World Loses Another All Time Great
Heroes have come and gone in my life but I am very fortunate to have not lost many friends. As I get older I realize this number will only increase. Maybe it’ll get easier but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. At Shane’s celebration of life his B&B bandmate Mason suggested that Shane hid his pain behind that beautiful smile of his. It was a good cover. We see what we want to see. And maybe we hear what we want to hear too. On Sorda Pop I can’t help but interpret the lyrics as a celebration of life as a family man. With songs like “One of the best” and “Little Inez,” Shane wrote about what was most important to him -- his family and friends. It breaks my heart knowing that Shane left behind his mother and sister, his talented wife Maria and their beautiful daughter Inez. He also left us lyrics like, “The worst of times / They were the best we ever had” that will stay with us forever. We will never see a Thin Lizzy reunion with Phil Lynott or a Bread & Butter reunion with Shane but we will always have their music to remind us of the all time greats.
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Check out our special tribute episode of the SPB podcast to Shane here.
