Ari Shine

Ari Shine was born in Pennsylvania but grew up splitting his time between Northern California and Israel where he learned to play guitar. While always a singer/songwriter tunesmith at heart, Ari cut his teeth playing heavy rock and roll as a sideman before embarking on his own journey. As a teenage member of Granite Path, precursors to the current heavy psychedelic boom, a young Ari opened for acts like Melvins, Kyuss and Cathedral before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his own songwriting. While there he partnered Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

Ari Shine was born in Pennsylvania but grew up splitting his time between Northern California and Israel where he learned to play guitar. While always a singer/songwriter tunesmith at heart, Ari cut his teeth playing heavy rock and roll as a sideman before embarking on his own journey. As a teenage member of Granite Path, precursors to the current heavy psychedelic boom, a young Ari opened for acts like Melvins, Kyuss and Cathedral before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his own songwriting. While there he partnered up with L7 bass player and Rock For Choice founder Jennifer Finch forming The Shocker, a girl-fronted punk act which gigged hard in the States gaining coverage on numerous MTV shows. Ari's final stop prior to launching his solo career was a short tenure in The Chelsea Smiles, a Capitol-signed garage act which toured with Fu Manchu, the Seeds, the Von Bondies and X, then a year co-writing with Victor Indrizzo (Beck, Dave Gahan) and Martyn Lenoble (Porno for Pyros, The Cult) and producer Gavin MacKillop (Goo Goo Dolls, The Church, Las). Hitting the ground running with his debut solo release, the 2006 EP Age/Occupation, he immediately earned comparisons to a young Elvis Costello from both Village Voice and Time Out. Tastemakers such as Burbank rock radio institution KROQ and onetime Rolling Stones mentor and producer Andrew Loog Oldham began to enthusiastically espouse Shine's music on their airwaves, and constant touring attracted devoted fans on both sides of the pond. Indeed, Shine quickly racked up sterling pop credentials, performing on bills with such esteemed names as Ian Hunter, Redd Kross, Peter Case, John Doe, Silversun Pickups and more. Such are Shine's pop chops and sensibilities, for example, that his 2007 UK dates included a stop at Liverpool's famous Cavern Club, the reconstructed stomping grounds of fairly popular hometown sons, The Beatles. Shine's 2007 album A Force of One was produced by acclaimed Los Angeles studio veteran and Sparks/Concrete Blonde guitar slinger Earle Mankey (Sparks, Concrete Blonde, Beach Boys etc). Indie bible The Big Takeover subsequently called him "a classic power popster of the stripped-down new-wave tense type"; the Los Angeles Times described him as "songwriter-to-watch in the L.A. power-pop underground." As co-writer of Spanish track "Escondidos," Shine also won Song of the Year honours in the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Press “…sunny songs spiked with punk (the Elvis Costello wing of it) and power pop.” Time Out NYC “Shine is an artist who seems to have an impressive ability to create addictive pop hooks” Subba-Cultcha “an impressive debut” Absolute Powerpop “Shine is a classic stripped down new wave tense type, who sounds a good deal like 1977-1979 Elvis Costello when he was spitting hard into microphones and front rows” The Big Takeover “...the chewy, riffsmart arrogance and sunshine combination prove to be instantly likeable whacks to the gut for fans of early Costello and the Knack/Raspberries school of gritty, radio-friendly guitar pop.” Whisperin’ and Hollerin’ “Ari Shine... can be traced back to the Raspberries and Mott the Hoople.” The Village Voice “...original Sparks member Earle Mankey is the appropriate producer to bring out the phlegm in Shine’s anxious delivery and the gnarl in his post-punk guitars.” Jack Rabid, Big Takeover Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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…shrink me down again