Artist Interview: Shallo
Meet SHALLO, the Dublin-based duo composed of Shawn and Willow, blending alternative rock and metal with high-energy live performances. In this interview, they share the story behind their music, their creative process, and what's next for the band.
Tori: Congrats on your new single “Betrayal”! Can you tell us about the story behind it and how it came together?
Shawn: It began with me having an initial idea for most of the song. I knew what I wanted the lyrical theme to be, and the riffs and melodies followed that. Most of our songs begin with that anyway, and I record it all into my computer and send it off to Willow.
Willow: When I got the first draft of the song, one of the first ideas I had was in the bridge. The original version that Shawn sent me did not have any vocals for the bridge, just the riff. Shawn straight up told me "Do something here". This gave me the space to come up with the bridge vocal part that thematically fit the song.
Tori: What was the inspiration behind the lyrics of “Betrayal”?
Shawn: To give a bit of context for the lyrics - we had a mutual friend back in secondary school who we were very close with. But, there was a bit of a personal conflict between me and him. That was essentially the main theme behind the verses specifically. I'm not going to go into too many details, however I fully understand why he was upset with me and I think his feelings were justified. So, that caused the downfall of our friendship, with Willow being in the middle of us. The other sections of the song revolve more around how he acted as a friend to Willow, after we had fallen out.
Willow: Lyrically, the bridge is my 'entrance' into the song, hence the opening line "Hello, it's me". The pre-chorus and chorus are more from Shawn's point of view, but in the bridge the lyrics are from my perspective, where I'm talking directly to this friend, after having to cut him off due to how he was treating me and Shawn. The bridge ends with "hear someone more kind, scream", referring to Shawn as the one who handled the downfall of that relationship much better and didn't shame for being friends with the other person.
Tori: Your sound is described as a blend of alternative rock and metal. How did you land on this genre fusion?
Willow: I was into really heavy music before Shawn was. He was more into alternative rock, and a lot of SHALLO songs start on bass, making alt rock the initial sound. Shawn eventually got into heavier music, which brought us closer to a metal sound, and I was able to bring in more of those influences that I grew up with. Bands like Sum 41, Papa Roach and Avatar.
Shawn: Eventually, I started listening to a LOT of metalcore. I love bands like Beartooth and I Prevail, who have a great blend of melodic and heavy elements. I started to incorporate screaming into my vocals back in early 2024 when I was getting the hang of it.
Tori: How did you both meet and decide to form SHALLO?
Shawn: We've been playing together as SHALLO since 2022, but we actually met back in secondary school, through that ex-friend of ours. That was ONE of the positive outcomes to that friendship..
Willow: I knew Shawn since I was 13, but we only got close when we were 15.
Shawn: To be honest, I had no idea who Willow was until we were 15, when we were put into an Irish class together in Transition Year.
Willow: What!
Shawn: Our mutual friend at the time (who we wrote Betrayal about) wanted to put together a band. He was the guitarist, I was the bassist and singer, and Willow was the drummer. After that whole situation, we were still a band for a bit, even when we entered college together. But, he just sort of vanished randomly. At that point, Willow and I decided to continue playing together as a duo, inspired by the setup of Royal Blood of just bass and drums.
Tori: How does the Dublin music scene influence your sound?
Shawn: I wouldn't say that the Dublin music scene influences our sound necessarily - we find more musical influences from the music we listen to at home. That isn't to say that we don't listen to local music, bands like Kyral, Gag Reflex, Tonedeaf, Orchid Feeder and so many others are absolutely amazing. Instead, I would say that their live performances inspire us to be better performers on stage. Musically though, I find that we want to stand out and have our own sound and vibe.
Tori: You’re influenced by bands like Bad Omens, Set It Off, and Normandie. How do these influences show up in your music?
Willow: All of those bands are rock and metal, however their music includes pop sensibilities on top of a heavier instrumental. Their vocal styles influence both of us quite a bit too, taking bits from Noah Sebastian, Cody Carson and Philip Strand. Overall, it's the vibe of the bands that influence us mostly, rather than anything related to writing parts for bass or drums.
Tori: Your stage performances are described as “fierce and electrifying.” What’s your approach to live shows?
Shawn: As mentioned a bit earlier, there are so many amazing local bands that are such engaging performers. Being a duo can be tough though, as there really is no one to hide behind when we're on stage. Seeing how other bands perform, the way they move and deliver their music, it hypes me up when I watch them. I want to deliver that same feeling to people that watch us, and make them a part of our set. As well as that, Willow and I have such a great and unique dynamic. We basically just act like how we are off-stage, and we love coming up with comedic bits together to try and make each other laugh. If they make us laugh, then I would hope that they make our audience laugh.
Tori: Can you walk us through your songwriting process? How do you balance your different musical roles?
Willow: It depends on the song - usually it starts on bass, which means that Shawn generally starts it. Sometimes, there are vocal parts laid out first, other times, I just fuck around on drums and see what sticks. Luckily, it always seems to work out. A lot of the process happens in rehearsals, jamming together, coming up with ideas and also changing or adjusting previous parts to accommodate new ideas.
Shawn: I generally begin the process with an idea I have, because it's much easier to start a song with bass and vocals than drums and vocals. However, Willow plays lots of different instruments, and can come up with a song idea on bass herself. There are also times where she provides a drum beat for me to play over and write with.
Tori: What hobbies do you have outside of music?
Shawn: Playing video games is probably my biggest hobby. I've been playing games since I was a kid, and still do. I got a Nintendo Switch from my girlfriend last Christmas, so that's been my main console, but I go between that, computer games and my Xbox. Badminton is also a hobby of mine, I try and play every week with my girlfriend. It's a really good physical outlet for me, I find.
Willow: I've always been big into video games ! If you've been to a SHALLO gig, you'll know from our song 'Tism Rizz' that I'm big into Pokémon and dinosaurs. If you couldn't gather, I'm autistic so my interests are few but intense.
Tori: What does a typical day of crafting a song look like for you?
Shawn: We've touched on this in a previous question, but generally we work everything out in a 2/3 hour rehearsal. One of us always comes in with a basic idea of a song to build on top of, and we work together to shape it into something we're both satisfied with. It's a very collaborative process, and also tends to be quite efficient. Recording the song at the end is also a very important step - both for social media content purposes, and remembering what the song sounds like.
Tori: How do you handle creative differences within the band?
Willow: We don't really have creative differences, we both think pretty similarly. In terms of songwriting, there's nothing that Shawn does that makes me go like "hmm, I don't like that" and vice versa. When it comes to making things for social media, sometimes we have different ideas but we always come to an agreement in the end. We just talk about it and see how we can incorporate each other's ideas.
Tori: What’s been the most challenging part of your musical journey so far?
Shawn: Finding gigs to play has been a pretty big challenge for us when we were starting out but I would say that's a big challenge for lots of local bands. There's only so many gig promoters, and oftentimes they might not get back to you, for one reason or another. Whether that's being picky or being overwhelmed with messages from other bands. On the technical side of things, Willow is a left-handed drummer and is also a vocalist. This can sometimes cause issues for sound engineers, if they're not informed in advance.
Willow: The biggest challenge for me was not feeling welcomed in a lot of spaces and venues due to me being trans and neurodivergent, especially around an older demographic. We can be quite busy preparing for our performance on the day of the gig, so sometimes I don't get the chance to clarify or correct people about my gender. Majority of the time, I don't think it's intentional on their behalf though it is very noticeable when it is intentional. Regardless, it's still a challenge for me to feel welcome in these places.
Tori: You’ve played iconic venues like The Grand Social and Whelan’s. What’s been your favorite venue experience to date?
Willow: It's gotta be Workman's Cellar. I've played there a few times, both with SHALLO and my other band Raining in December. The vibe is always good, the atmosphere is always good and the sound is always good. I've never had a bad experience there, so when SHALLO got to play there for the first time, I was excited.
Shawn: I would have to say the same thing. Other venues that we've played in have been alright, had their positives and negatives, but Workman's has been nothing but a good time. The people we've worked with there have been super, super lovely, and there's something about being so close to people that make it feel really personal.
Willow: An honourable mention goes out to Whelan's upstairs, because we found the sound engineer Declan Beare there. He's in a duo himself called True Home, and he helped us record the drums for our upcoming EP.
Tori: With your music often touching on feelings and struggles, what message do you hope your listeners take away from your songs?
Shawn: The lyrics of our songs tend to discuss experiences that I've had with my mental health, which really lets me use our music as an outlet to express them. Other times, we touch on the experiences of being a minority in Irish society - whether that's being a racial minority or queer.
Willow: Our song 'Tism Rizz' is kind of a fun and silly song but it's very important to me. It celebrates sexuality and neurodivergence which is often overlooked as autistic people are often infantilized. Treating it as something that is funny normalizes it.
Shawn: We take the band and our music seriously, but we don't take ourselves seriously. I think that's an important part of who we are - we are able to discuss topics that are both serious and un-serious, and we enjoy both sides of it.
Tori: Looking ahead, what can fans expect from SHALLO in the next year? Any singles, performances, or perhaps an album we can look forward to?
Willow: We're currently working on an EP. The drums have been recorded, thanks to the previously mentioned Declan Beare and with help from Vinny Liu of Raining in December. You can expect more content and gigs around and leading up to that.
Shawn: Now that we're out of college, we have a lot more time and energy to dedicate to making this band the best it can be. We're hoping to play a lot more shows, write a lot more music, and put out a lot more music releases for you guys to listen to. We're also planning on putting together a social media content schedule and being more creatively free in the type of content we do, like music videos. We want to strengthen our aesthetic and band identity even more.
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