Shoveljerk Signs Contract With A Major Label New Band Made Up Of Former Black Happy Members

Four former members of Coeur d’Alene’s Black Happy, one of the most popular rock bands in the Pacific Northwest, have formed a group called Shoveljerk and recently signed a major label contract.

This makes Shoveljerk the first Inland Northwest band ever to be signed by a major label, and the fourpiece group hasn’t even played its first gig yet.

Capricorn, a Sony-distributed, Nashville-based label that built itself primarily on the early Allman Brothers catalog, signed the band to a seven-figure multi-album deal.

“It’s pretty much your standard deal,” said singer/guitarist Paul Hemenway. “We’re not setting any records.”

In other words, Hemenway and the other band members - bassist Mark Hemenway (Paul’s younger brother), drummer Jim Bruce and guitarist Greg Hjort - haven’t been shopping for sports cars or dream homes, a common misconception people have of bands who sign to giant corporate labels.

“We’re not competing with Michael Jackson on how much we make an album,” Paul Hemenway said. “The advance isn’t a half-amillion dollars or anything like that. It’s going to be plenty to make the album, but we’re not going to pad our bank accounts with it.

“People think that if you get signed, you get tons of money,” the singer said.

Which isn’t true.

Any advance a band takes from its label, above and beyond royalties and bonuses, must paid be back. Most bands make their money from touring and sales royalties.

Black Happy, which played its last Spokane concert Friday at The Met, broke up over artistic differences. Since forming four years ago, the band attracted thousands of fans to its concerts, and its albums, “Friendly Dog Salad” and “Peghead,” sold in the tens of thousands nationwide.

Capricorn, whose current roster consists of Sordid Humor (a Counting Crows spin-off), the 311 and the highly touted, up-and-coming Cake, signed Shoveljerk based on a January band practice and four-song demo that Black Happy recorded in November.

The music on the tape featured very little of a Black Happy trademark, its two trombones and sax, and had a much harder edge than any other Black Happy release. The tape also showed the direction the new band wanted to go.

“One of the reasons why we broke up was because of the new material … eight pieces wasn’t fitting into it at all,” Hemenway said.

“I can see how some people are going to think, ‘Oh yeah, they dropped the horns to get signed.’ That isn’t the case, for two reasons. Number one, that it simply isn’t true, and number two, we’re not keeping the Black Happy name.”

According to Hemenway, even if Black Happy was offered a major label contract, the band was going to disband anyway.

“The thing I want to clear up - Black Happy was going to stay broken up. They didn’t offer Black Happy a deal. We made the choice to break up before we knew about the deal.

“We didn’t do anything dishonestly,” he continued. “It’s just that the timing is so weird.”

Shoveljerk chose to sign with Capricorn because of the hands-off, do-your-own-thing kind of attitude it has with its bands.

“They’re not going to show up at the studio,” said Hemenway. “They’re going to let us make the album.

“We signed pretty much the same deal the 311 signed, and they’ve been fantastic with the 311. They let the 311 grow, they let them go out and do their thing, they got behind them and helped them out. In the process, the 311 is doing very well now.”

Shoveljerk is currently writing songs for its debut album. So far, the band has come up with 10 new songs.

In May, the band will enter the studio to begin recording the album, which is slated for a fall release.

Don Gilmore, who engineered the Pearl Jam “Ten” and the Temple of the Dog albums and who recently produced the forthcoming X and John Doe albums, will be at the production helm.

“He produced our last tape, and we realized just how much we clicked with him,” told Hemenway. “He and this band are so much alike.”

Once the album is completed, Shoveljerk will tour the country in an effort to get its name out. To do this, it will have to stay on the road for a long time, which can get expensive if the band struggles in a couple of areas.

“Capricorn wrote in our contract to give at least X-amount of dollars to touring,” said Hemenway. “Most labels don’t do that.”

To further help Shoveljerk tour, the label will re-issue the Black Happy catalog.

Having a major label behind the group will afford Shoveljerk the chance to acquire a major booking agent, which means guaranteed payments from promoters and the possibility of big tours.

For those anxious to find out what Shoveljerk sounds like, the band will play Spokane sometime in April. Don’t count on the band to play the old Black Happy favorites.