Interview: Doug Shotwell and The Right Hand Band

by Brian R. Brinkman

I recently met with Doug Shotwell and The Right Hand Band prior to their life-affirming show at BuckleDown Brewing in Lyons, IL. They proved to be an affable and insightful bunch. As wide-eyed as they were wizened beyond their years, eager to tell their story, spit praise of their fans, and muse over what’s to come for them in the next few years. Check it out below.

Brian R. Brinkman: Can you guys give me an overview of the band and where you’re at now?

Doug Shotwell: It started with Steve (Rutledge) and I. We had just moved to the city and didn’t have anyone to play with, so we started playing with each other. When Brian (Sanborn) moved back to the city it was a no brainer, and we already knew Will (Gumbiner) was a great bassist. Originally it was a lot of friendships turning into, “Why don’t we play music together???” I write all the lyrics and some of the melodies, and these guys fill it all in, they put the body on the skeleton.

BRB: The sound you guys have is really organic, it sounds Americana, like you guys are just sitting around a fire, smoking cigarettes, drinking too much beer, too late at night. 

Brian Sanborn: That is, honestly, our origin.

DS: Our band practices consist of nine bottle of champagne a lot of the time. (Laughs) Steve says it best: our band is like “Beers At Noon.” We’re the people’s music.

BRB: So, how long have you been writing songs? 

DS: I grew up in Virginia, and I’ve always been surrounded by singer/songwriters. My Dad was huge into Woody Guthrie and CSNY. I’ve been writing creatively since I was a little kid, but I didn’t start writing songs until junior year in high school. So, like 2009. And then I realized that nobody understands women. Writing songs is my only way of trying to understand a middle ground with them.

BRB: Are you guys professionally trained or did you just pick up your instruments and decide to play? 

BS: The rest of the band are very learned musicians. We’ve all studied music in college. We’re all jazz trained. But, it’s fun to get away from that. We all grew up on Rock & Roll. There’s something I really enjoyed about spending five years of my life studying music on a very academic level, but I’m really happy to get back to music that has no bullshit. None of it’s over my head. It’s all just really simple and fun.

BRB: What’s your songwriting process? Do you write the lyrics and then the music, or does it all come at the same time?

DS: It’s really organic. I live with Steve and Brian, and they’ll tell you, most of my songs are written between 1 and 6 am.

BS: I spend a lot of time with Doug and I barely ever see him writing any songs because he does it when I’m passed out. (Laughs)

BRB: “I Can’t Help You Now” is a song that sounds like a big moment for you guys.

BS: That song is our sound. It is “The Right Hand Band.”

Steve Rutledge: That was one of the first songs where we sounded like a unified “thing”. It sounded like a band had written it, not just Doug.

BS: That was the first song we played with Will. It was the first song where we realized how essential the bass was for us. The thunderbass as we call it.

BRB: At a show last Thanksgiving, you guys handed out a bunch of t-shirts that said: “Doug Shotwell and The Right Hand Band Loves You”. Where did that idea come from? 

DS: It’s just honesty. We are a band who just loves it when people come out and love our stuff and love us. For that, we love everybody.

BRB: So what do you guys have planned for the next year for the band? 

DS: Big things. We have a show at Martyrs’. We’re trying to pass on this campaign of how much we love people.

SR: We’re also playing December 19^th at the Debonair Social Club.

BS: Keep your eyes out for the Whose Kid Is This EP, which we’re going into the studio to work on here soon. It’s a set of tunes that we’ve written since we’ve gotten comfortable as a band and come into our own. We’re really excited about it.

DS: We’re going to play a bunch of that tonight here at BuckleDown. We have a really upbeat set coming here tonight. We really want to bring an uplifting vibe.

Images courtesy of the artist