Portland’s The Shivas recently released Dark Thoughts via Tender Loving Empire, a sweet and sinister album about confronting your demons and the growth that comes from fearless self-examination. The quartet just finished a European tour and will be embarking on a US-run starting January 18 in support of their fifth album. Today, they share the video for “Can’t Relax”, the third music video to be released from the record.
View + Share the “Can’t Relax” video at YouTube + Stream Dark Thoughts via your favorite DSP
The group blasted their way through Portland’s storied and unsanctioned mid-aughts house show scene. Since then they have played over 1,000 shows spread over 25 countries, meeting new fans and friends from Belgrade to Mexico City. But The Shivas — Molyneux, Leonard and bassist Eric Shanafelt have all been with the band since its earliest days; guitarist Jeff Boyardee joined in 2017—still speak about their project with a DIY humility that sounds like their native Pacific Northwest. They talk up their own favorite bands, play all-ages shows whenever possible, and they bring a sort of blue-collar humanism to the live performances they relish so much. “We just want to make people feel good,” Molyneux says. “We want them to forget they have to work tomorrow.”
Dark Thoughts is the sound of a tight-knit band whose members have learned not just how to trust each other, but how to grow together. “Being adults now,” Leonard says. “We’re starting to talk a lot more philosophically about why we do what we do. Some of my favorite music came from people needing to find a space. Music is just such a visceral place to find a release.”
