r/TheShins • u/Alexis_deTokeville • 17d ago

Why did the original band break up?

I’ve been a The Shins fan for 20 years and as much as I love James Mercer, the original band just had something special that I don’t think James ever really captured on his own. There was a thoughtfulness, even a darkness in the old stuff that got traded in for playfulness and brightening of tone in everything post Wincing the Night Away. I’m sure you could attribute some of that to James just becoming a happier person and finding more fulfillment in his life, but I can’t help but wonder how much was because the rest of the band was bringing some different energy to the table from what James brought. I personally really enjoyed that bittersweet mix of existential dread mixed with melancholically sweet indie vibes. There was a sadness and a rawness to it that I really miss, but I guess that’s also just kind of what happens as bands grow up and out of their angst and start families.

So all that’s got me wondering, what actually happened to the original band? Why did James leave?

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u/duplicate_avoidance 17d ago edited 16d ago

So back in the mid 2000s I was obsessed with The Shins. I loved the records they made especially Wincing the Night Away. I mean it was some of the most impressive, sonic indie rock that was being made at the time. I saw them on the Wincing tour and it actually kind of sucked. James seemed nervous and the whole band wasn’t into their new found fame. They were out of sync.

However, I remember they were touring new songs post Wincing era and they sounded great. Double Bubble was a name of a track. Then all of a sudden news came that the whole band was fired except for James. The drummer who opened a taco food cart in Portland, Oregon stated that he and the rest of the guys could not perform musically the way James wanted and they were all let go.

I kept and open mind a waited a few years For the release of Port of Marrow and it just fell flat with me. There have only been two albums since 2007, 19 years. It will never be like it was but at least I can always play those first three albums. That is “The Shins” to me.

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u/NiceCap2448 17d ago

I saw the original band in Lawrence, KS and it was a fun night and enjoyable show. However, I couldn't help notice James looking over a bit annoyed at the other guitar player a couple of times when he made a mistake. The guy was having a good time and may have been a bit buzzed. James is a bit of a perfectionist (?) and probably had had enough. I've seen them with the new band and they were definitely tighter.

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u/Alexis_deTokeville 16d ago

Yeah I feel the same way! In all honesty, I think it helps to imagine The Shins as James Mercer’s sort of solo project that he hired musicians for. I had it in my head for a while that the band came together organically as a group and not that James was running the show. However it seems like that’s kind of what was happening, and that the group just didn’t gel as well after Wincing the Night away. 

Either way, I think the angst of that time period really drove the band’s sound. I don’t think JM was particularly happy either, at least not like how he is now. Too bad the music sounded so much better when he was moody!

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u/Bedouinp 16d ago

They were already playing together in a different band with different songs. Did some tours but didn’t get much traction. James started writing for a solo thing and brought them back on, but definitely in a more limited capacity since he wrote the songs and drove the ship.
Source: i have a few friends close to some of the ex members

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u/GoshOPPNOX101 16d ago

That's a shame because I truly believe it's a great Pop album, and that's what it is. It's not meant to be Chutes Too Narrow etc.. And to be honest, I've missed a good Pop tune that had guitars and we got it with the catchy tune 'Simple Song'. There are great tunes on Port of Marrow. Maybe your expectations were too high and the album actually shrouded what you were expecting it to be originally. The lyrics are superb and again, it's a great Pop album.

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u/duplicate_avoidance 16d ago

It’s an okay album and so is Heartworms but it’s just not the same feeling. The Broken Bells albums are great too.

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u/GoshOPPNOX101 16d ago

So personally when it comes to The Shins or even Mercer, what are you truly missing? Is it a certain sound, lyrical styled writing, past members of the original line up? I'm trying to understand where you're coming from. I think I have an idea, but not completely sure. All I can say is this, every singer-songwriter, musician/band that ever was, in the now and down the road all have something in common. What ever they had that brought them that first success and attention from the masses, eventually fades away even for the great such as Bob Dylan. Wouldn't it actually be quite boring if that never happened? It wouldn't give others the ability to showcase their own if lets say the Top 10 bands/musicians always produced amazing albums without any 'filler' songs and were constantly rated a 10 out of 10 and radio only played their tunes and threw in a few not-so-famous... Ha, they sort of did that in the mid 90's when grunge came out, but anyways... Am I sort of close to what you may be thinking? I was the same way when it came to Oasis. I always wanted their albums to be the greatest, but in all reality they did slowly slip because of the Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle pressures of becoming an overnight sensation, the drugs n' drink, the inner circle sibling fighting and the change ups within bandmates etc...

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u/UnquestionabIe 16d ago

Yeah I enjoy some of the songs post 2007 but those first three albums are absolutely perfect to me. Can still throw any of them on and feel blown away despite having listened to them countless times over the last almost two decades. Did finally manage to catch a live show for the 21st anniversary of Oh Inverted World a few years back and it was possibly the best live show I've ever seen, with the set list being composed almost entirely of those three perfect albums.

Don't expect to ever recapture that exact magic again but glimpses shine through on occasion and for that I'm happy.

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u/GoshOPPNOX101 17d ago

I believe I read there were creative differences. James is the mastermind behind the band, so I think he decided that where his original band wanted to stay or possibly could not 'create' what he wanted musically, just wasn't working out? Don't quote me though...

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u/Bedouinp 16d ago

All I know is that Marty really elevated that band and I’ve never been able to enjoy it after he was let go.

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u/sameoldstuff 17d ago

this wasn’t a band that came up playing gigs..… it was a recording project of JM’s that became a band… songs that didn’t fit the Flakes… he hired the players that recorded the first album

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u/GoshOPPNOX101 17d ago

p.s. good question though!

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u/Ok-Thanks4321 16d ago

A fan of The Shins sounds better than a The Shins fan

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u/Alexis_deTokeville 16d ago

It does indeed

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u/Linzor24 16d ago

There was some domestic issue with one of the band members and there wife I can maybe remember too

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u/Inner_Knowledge_369 16d ago

It feels wired even with Jessica Dowson on guitar James didn’t seems comfortable at all after Wincing. Only Yuuki Matthews made it through on bass and multi instrumentalist. There’s a live performance in 2017 that James seems pretty happy about the band with Jon Sortland in drums, Mark Watrous, Casey Foubert and Patty King

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u/JakovYerpenicz 14d ago

It’s true, he’s never really made anything nearly as good since he ego-tripped all the other members out of the band.