The Shys

The Shys emerged from San Clemente, California, where childhood friends Kyle Krone and Alex Kweskin first connected. Krone handled vocals and guitar while Kweskin covered keyboards and harmonica, and their brash fusion of 1960s British Invasion, garage rock, and 1970s punk took shape there. Kweskin had already mastered piano and drums by grade school, yet the pair only formed a working band after meeting bassist Chris Wulff, who had just moved to town and gave Krone his first guitar lessons. Performing as a trio with Kweskin on drums, they refined their material through high school, initially under the name Hush Hush before switching to the Gun Shys. Following graduation they kept rehearsing and gigging, even during Wulff’s six-month absence in Spain. Legal conflicts with another act called Gun Shy forced a name change to the Shys, after which the group secured a deal with Sire. They then brought in drummer Mike Walker, freeing Kweskin to focus on keyboards, and landed the support slot on the Subways’ first U.S. tour. Once that trek ended, the band entered the studio with producer Dave Cobb and emerged with their debut album, Astoria, issued in summer 2006. Its lead single, “Call in the Cavalry,” appeared on HBO’s Entourage and MTV’s Fast, Inc., prompting extensive touring across the United States and United Kingdom throughout that summer and fall.