The Shivas

A teenage fixation on vintage garage rock and psychedelic sounds of the sixties gave rise to the Shivas, whose output gradually fused into an indistinct fusion of punk and surf textures through relentless album production and unbroken roadwork. Several of their strongest efforts came via the indie mainstay K Records, among them the 2014 release You Know What to Do, though they later placed records with additional imprints such as the 2024 album Can't Stop Coming Around.

Jared Molyneux launched the group in 2006 while still very young, handling guitar and vocals alongside his brother Colby on drums and Eric Shanafelt on bass. The initial trio refined a style rooted in classic Pacific Northwestern garage and surf traditions, folding in a measure of the area's punk attitude. Over time the roster expanded to feature second guitarist Rob Mannering and drummer/vocalist Kristin Leonard. Even as some members remained teenagers, the musicians launched an intensive cycle of nationwide shows and nonstop songwriting. Their first recordings appeared on the 2008 album Where Have You Gone To?, with Freezing to Death arriving two years later.

During the early 2010s, K Records founder Calvin Johnson discovered the Shivas and issued their third album Whiteout! on the label in 2013, while Burger Records supplied a cassette edition. Johnson again partnered with the band for the 2014 album You Know What to Do, captured straight to tape at his Dub Narcotic studio. He rejoined them to produce Better Off Dead, which surfaced in February 2016; by then the lineup had returned to a trio following Rob Mannering's departure, with Ian Hartley adding guest vocals and percussion. Burger Records put out the cassette-only Turn Me On in 2017, and in late 2019 the Shivas delivered the more cohesive and inward-looking Dark Thoughts through Tender Loving Empire. Pandemic-related tour cancellations left the members in their Portland hometown with unexpected continuity, prompting deeper local engagement; three of the four began volunteering with a Portland nonprofit aiding unhoused residents, and their focus on social justice intensified. These shifts shaped the September 2021 album Feels So Good // Feels So Bad. Subsequent auxiliary projects included a 2022 collaborative single with Carrion Kids plus a covers EP and the live album Alive in the World in 2023. Their tenth album, Can't Stop Coming Around, emerged in 2024 once more on Tender Loving Empire after self-recording at the band's home studio.