Shane: It was an idea I had in college and it stuck. Where did it originate and what does it mean? BACKMASK is the summation of all of these influences.īackmask is certainly a very unique and intriguing name. I love growled vocals, but melody is very important to me. – but I never lost sight of my old-school metal or classic rock roots. Shane: Van Halen, Def Leppard, AC/DC, King’s X, and Extreme were bands I became a huge fan of when I was about 13, and through these bands I got into heavier and heavier music, which ultimately led me to death metal, black metal, etc. How did you find your way into harder music such as metal even though you were raised being around classic rock? I wrote and recorded a full length CD in about 3 months, which I used as a tool to recruit musicians for my band. Needless to say, I had a lot of things to process and a lot of time on my hands. Shane: I had just graduated college in the Summer of 2000, and the same week that I graduated, I got fired from my job at a tech firm, and my girlfriend at the time dumped me. How and when exactly did the group come to form? You started and front a metal band called Backmask. Let’s now focus on your own musical career. If there’s anything I inherited from this legacy, it’s the persistence to accomplish my goals with music. I had to overcome the same hurdles that most beginning musicians do when I started actually playing. Shane: Well, in spite of all of that, I don’t consider myself a natural at music by any means. What was it like growing up surrounded by music? Having been conceived in the very house where some famous Led Zeppelin tracks were written and recorded you were immersed in music almost from day one. It was then that my dad became a major role model and ally, and I continue to learn new things from him all the time! I didn’t consider going into music until I was about 14 (my main interest was computers up to that point) but as I got into metal and guitar by way of becoming a huge Van Halen fanatic, music took over in a big way very quickly. I knew he was a great guitarist and musician overall, and I always understood that his playing was on a level of its own, being that he can play virtually any style of music as well as (if not better than) the heroes of that particular style. Growing up, I didn’t think much about the unusual line of work my dad was in, or his unusual level of success in it. Shane: I think he’d be very flattered to be considered “legendary,” he’s very humble about his substantial musical accomplishments. Growing up was your dad a big role model for you and what is it like being the son of a rock music icon? Your father is legendary guitarist John McFee of the Doobie Brothers and Clover. Now with an EP behind him and huge plans forthcoming, I was lucky enough to get Shane to take some time out of his busy recording schedule to answer questions relating to his father, his musical upbringing, and more importantly, Backmask’s future. Determined and ambitious, it only took Shane three months to write an entire album and by 2001 Backmask was playing it’s first live show. In the year 2000, after a series of unfortunate incidents, Shane ended up with a ton of time on his hands and began writing his own songs. Having been conceived in a large 18th century English manor named Headley Grange (which was leased to renowned groups such as Led Zeppelin and Genesis), it is safe to say that Shane has been immersed in music literally since day one. Incidentally John is also Shane’s father and it’s overwhelmingly apparent where Shane got his musical genes. Instead McFee is the last name of legendary guitarist John McFee of the Doobie Brothers. If you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name McFee before, rest assured that it’s not some trendy new McDonald’s meal. But in this case, Shane McFee, lead singer of the metal band Backmask, is exactly that. It’s not every day that a former scholar of classical music and an avid fan of Beethoven, Bach, and Vivaldi is also a long-haired metalhead.
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