Hi Dreamers,

Welcome to the latest instalment of Daydream Trash.

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LATEST

New ACTORS material is out! The dark, driving, new single is called ‘CTRL’ and will find a home on our upcoming third album 'Our Love Will Live Forever’ —to be released on Artoffact Records this coming fall.

The new video for said song was directed by our friend Max Train and produced by Ramble Films. Adam has a most excellent cameo behind the bar, watch below:

I also designed a new shirt for the occasion!

We have some tour plans on the books for Europe, the UK, and Canada in September and October, where will we see you? A little birdie also told me that we will be back in the USA spring 2027, so stay tuned for that announcement too.

MEMENTOS

I added a new collectible, signed Polaroid on Bandcamp from the ‘Crash’ video clip. I love how the surface of the glasses came out crystal clear, with no reflection from the surrounding environment. No small feat. Grab yours at the button below.

Take Me To Bandcamp

FASCINATION

The year got off to a rocky start for me and my family so I’ve been allowing myself to drift a little bit while things get back on track. I’ve been getting into some different activities such as:

Polymer Clay! Maybe you remember this crafty medium from grade school, sculpting rubbery figures like Gumby and Pokey.

I had to sculpt a bit of polymer clay for the Head on my Twin Peaks Christmas tree, and I’m kind of addicted now. My Red Room diorama—which includes a hand-painted zig-zag floor and red velvet curtain, was recently adopted by a fellow Twin Peaks fan in Ohio (Thanks so much Colette! ❤️).

One of my current clay projects is to make a name tag for my pup Mary, here’s a blurry but aesthetically pleasing preview. I’ll show you more once I get it baked and installed on her collar.

I had a hard time with my health this winter so my songwriting goals fell by the wayside. Rather than beat myself up for not writing a single song in 4 months, I got serious about a diagnosis and discovered that my blood was almost completely depleted of its iron stores. No wonder! After my treatment, I am feeling much better and more creative as a result. I recently visited Jason’s guitar pedal wall at the studio and selected Keeley’s Loomer pedal to play around with. It sounds fuzzy, swirly, very My Bloody Valentine-esque, (Loomer takes its name from a MBV song, after all) so this feels like a nice place to start. Also—Hooray for iron supplements! I no longer feel like a vampire who has not fed in a century.

I recently had the opportunity to customize my friend Rusky’s denim jacket with the Blade Runner origami unicorn. It’s a little tricky to photograph, but it has an icy cool blue-green colour shift on the design surface. As you can see, Mary is on quality control inspection, and it passed with a play bow!

Lastly, have you tried wearing blue?! I’m usually a black clothes kind of girl, but I’m really feeling the colour blue lately. Someone pointed out that I looked like Steve Zissou from the Life Aquatic and now I can’t un-see it.

NEXT TIME

I’m excited to be launching an accessories brand called, you guessed it—Daydream Trash, and there’s another new ACTORS single on the way next month. Much excite. Until next time.

xx
Shannon

DAYDREAM TRASH is an ongoing newsletter about creativity, songwriting, tour life, late-blooming, and living on Planet Earth 🪐 — share it with a friend.

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Hi Dreamers,

How is January half over already?! Did you have a nice ‘n cozy New Years? Jason and I had Kendall over for dinner, we made a massive pot of spaghetti, and then went to the school yard near our place so Mary could run full speed into 2026. Such wholesome times.

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It is sunny in Vancouver today, thank goodness. Winter has been hard on this sun-lover, I’m feeling like one of those spooky, hollow-eyed Victorian portraits. If you need me, I will be standing in the yard with my hands outstretched towards the sky absorbing all the UV. I can hardly wait for t-shirt weather and ice cream.

I meant to check in with you over the holidays but life here has been a little rocky. Post-tour is always a bit disorienting. The perpetual motion of travelling and playing shows every day comes to a grinding halt at home. I was exhausted but also restless—I knew I needed to shut down but felt guilty for prioritizing rest.

Then there was some health stuff to navigate, a death in the family (RIP Uncle Don ❤️) and I’ve been feeling a bit discouraged with my art and music lately. Since returning home in October I couldn’t seem to get any substantial ideas off the ground. Creativity can be illusive like that—art is work too. Sometimes you have to dig, and dig, and dig some more before you find anything. I had to make friends with the frustration, and keep going.

Thankfully some Warholian inspiration helped rescue me from the dread. I always liked the Coca-Cola paintings, so I put on my thinking cap and designed a Coca-Cola + Dracula mash up. The result is a crisp, cold-blooded Drac-Cola! 🩸

I’ve been wanting to try some at-home printing methods so I can print my own work by hand. Screen-printing seems too messy, and requires more space than I have available, so I began a side-quest into block printing. I was super excited to give this medium a try but unfortunately I found the physical effort needed to carve the linoleum block inflamed an old repetitive stress injury. I am not discouraged though, I hope to try again with some different surfaces and tools. Stay tuned. For now, it’s back to my trusty paintbrush, sometimes you have to go around the block to realize your first method might be your best.

The result! There are three original, very reasonably priced 5x7in Drac-Cola paintings available in my shop. If you’d like one for your collection, you can grab one at the button below.

Gimme One!

Much love, thanks so much for being here.

xx
Shannon

DAYDREAM TRASH is an ongoing newsletter about art, songwriting, creativity, and tour life🪐 — share it with a friend.

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Tell me, what’s your Christmas wish? As much as I find joy in the holiday vibes this time of year, December has a way of making me feel suspended, frozen in ice. In Vancouver today, the ‘sun’ will set at 4:13pm, and under heavy cloud cover, daylight becomes abstract, a distant memory until spring. The nights grow impossibly long. Yet in the darkness, a tiny light has begun to emerge —soft, steady, reminding me that even now, something new is forming.

I’ve been away for a moment; reflecting, recharging, but I definitely haven’t forgotten about you. Moving forward, I’ll be writing you twice a month to share what I’m working on as it comes into focus.

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LATEST
I’ve been moving between worlds again capturing photographs, and assembling the bones of new LEATHERS material. The long December nights are reaching into my work too, everything feels a little darker, a little glossier, lit by screens and streetlight.

Btw, there’s a new Instagram account for the darker side of my photographs. If you’re into that Hellraiser × Blade Runner vibe… follow @chromephantom.

MEMENTOS
I’ve been thinking about how certain objects keep returning to my work, like symbols from a dream. A Polaroid freezes the glint of light off a red latex glove; a mask without a face looks back toward the viewer. I wanted to release a little of that analog magic into the world — you can now collect select Polaroids on Bandcamp.

Visit Bandcamp

FASCINATION
This month’s fascination is Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986). A blue bedroom, ocean waves that sparkle like chrome, it’s a dreamscape you can experience while wide awake. Do you recognize the LEATHERS lyrics inspired by this scene?

NEXT TIME
I’ll unveil my Twin Peaks Christmas tree, some fresh photographs, and an adventure in block printing. Much love, and thanks so much for being here.

xx
Shannon

DAYDREAM TRASH is an ongoing newsletter about art, songwriting, tour life, late-blooming, and surviving late-stage Planet Earth 🪐 — share it with a friend.

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Hello Earthlings,

How are you? I hope you’ve had a dreamy summer. I have enjoyed many boxes of popsicles, isn’t that what summer is for? We are getting ready to play music for you; our US East Coast tour with ACTORS, Soft Vein, and Leathers, begins on September 18th in Brattleboro, VT and concludes a few weeks later in Tampa, FL. These are ACTORS and Leathers last USA dates until 2027 so please don’t miss out. Who’s coming?! Let me know in the comments below.

Get Tickets

During the break from touring, I’ll be hard at work on Leathers material. New songs, videos, photos, all of the things. I’m also getting set up to do some stripped down video performances for my subscribers on Substack. An important question for you:

Which Leathers songs would you like to hear me perform?
Maybe you’d like to hear some covers too?

Feel free to make some suggestions in the comments, so I can get an idea of your interest 🩵

Some new images are already starting to come into focus. I was driving through an industrial area on the way to see my family last weekend and decided to stop for a couple photos. I propped up the iPhone on a piece of street debris, set the self timer, and this was the result. I posted them on Instagram in black and white, but here’s the gallery in full colour too.

Oh! And if you’d like to support ACTORS or LEATHERS on Bandcamp but are unsure about confusing landscape of shipping, duties, and additional fees, I wanted to let you know we're now using print-on-demand services for our t-shirt orders within the USA so our American fans are not affected by the ongoing tariff situation. For the time being, CDs and LPs shipped from Canada also remain unaffected.

That is all for now. Hope to see you out at the shows!

Much love,

Shannon

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☁️ Happy Friday Dreamers

It’s a busy weekend and week ahead in Shannon-World™, so I wanted to give you a lightning fast round-up of things going on.

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💁‍♀️ My talk from Creative Mornings / Vancouver is now on YouTube, I hope you enjoy! If you’re interested in reading the script and seeing all the slides, the three part Kool Things series is also available in the post archives.

As promised, outtakes and extra Kool Things are also coming soon.

I’d love to present this talk again in other environments, so if you have an event you’d like me to speak at, you can send me an email or a note using the fancy button below.

🎟️ Next, Leathers will be appearing at Terminus Festival in Calgary on Thursday, July 24th. Terminus is always a lovely time, (imho —one of the best darkscene music festivals on earth!) so come dance with us.

Get Tickets

👕 We’ll have some new t-shirts at the Terminus merch booth! They can also be purchased on our Bandcamp at leathers.bandcamp.com ⭐️

Take Me To Bandcamp

💿 And we found a few more! Signed Runaway flexis are back in stock. Only 10 remain, so if you want one for your collection, now is the time.

Gimme That Flexi!

🎟️ ACTORS is opening for The Damned on Monday July 28th at The Commodore Ballroom. Gonna be a blast, tickets are limited so don’t sleep on this once in a lifetime show.

Get Tickets

📣 For my Pet People, I’m offering made to order tattoo-inspired pet portraits. Great as gifts for the animal lover in your life, or treat yourself to some cute art of your furry bestie. 🎨🐶💖

Order Yours Here

That’s all for the moment, have a wonderful weekend. 🌞

Much love, Shannon

🦋 Hello Dreamers!

Welcome to Part 3 of Kool Things: Punk in Practice—my talk for CreativeMornings / Vancouver.

In this chapter, we’re unpacking creative partnerships, big-picture dreaming, and how the right collaborator can help you see your path more clearly. We’ll also talk about what it means to be a late bloomer (hi, it’s me), and why taking your sweet, sweet time is not a flaw, it’s a feature.

Enjoying this series and want to support my work? You can subscribe below, or send me a coffee to help maintain the ideal caffeination level for creativity. 💙

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🖤 Missed Part 1 & 2? I’ve linked it for you here ⬇️

🧠 KOOL THING #4: SCHEMING + DOING

Every dream needs a blueprint and a hammer.

There are two kinds of creative spirits: schemers and doers. Schemers are big-picture people. They connect dots, make plans, and pull the right people together to make it all a reality.

Doers are the task slayers. I’m a doer. Inbox at zero. Give me a list, and I’ll fucking crush it.

I spent years doing without scheming—and kept getting lost in the weeds. But then I met my schemer (Jason Corbett). He’s probably scheming right now.

Back in 2015, I started posting short clips of me singing and playing guitar on Instagram. That caught the ear of Jason, who would become my bandmate in ACTORS. He started scheming—not just about me joining the band, but about helping launch my solo project too.

Our creative partnership grew out of a shared love for the legendary post-punk band Bauhaus, and of course, our heroes David Bowie and David Lynch.

We’re both dreamers, just wired differently—and together, we’ve become a superhuman creative powerhouse. 💪

Find your schemer. Find your doer. Make kool things together.

🌱 KOOL THING #5: BLOOM LATER

Bloom slow, bloom strong.

Ok, I was not going to tell you how old I am, but fuck it.

I’m 43 🤭

It actually feels pretty punk to say to a room of people that I’m a 43 year old woman and thriving.

Age is still such a taboo in creative fields. I’m what you’d call a late bloomer. I didn’t start touring until my mid-thirties. I didn’t release my first full-length album until my forties.

In a world that glorifies youth, choosing to grow older on your own terms is an act of rebellion. I’m more myself than I’ve ever been—and you can be too.

The older I get, the more fearless I become. Not because I’ve got it all figured out, but because I’ve learned how to live with a little mystery. I’ve stopped needing every answer. I trust myself more.

(I love this quote from Kim Gordon.)

The women in music didn’t just inspire me—they made space for me. As a shy girl with big feelings and no roadmap, their visibility was everything. I’m so grateful for their courage, grit, and artistry.

Getting older in public, especially as women, takes guts. But it’s powerful. You can bloom late. You can bloom again.

Bloom later, bloom louder.

🔄 FULL CIRCLE

In 2010, when CreativeMornings launched in Vancouver, I was just a young graphic designer trying to figure it all out. I sat in the audience and began to dream. I wouldn’t be here now without the people who believed in me early on. I want to give a heartfelt shoutout to a few folks in the room for their guidance and support:

• Johnny Strebly — my design mentor

• Chris Hold — my tattoo mentor (I didn’t get a chance to share my tattoo journey with you today but please feel free to ask me questions in the Q&A period if you’re curious.)

• And of course, Jason Corbett — my music partner and bandmate

💬 KEEP IN TOUCH

Thanks to Mark and the CM team for having me today and thanks for spending your morning with me.

I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface here, so if something created a spark within you—please say hi. I’m nice, I follow back!

I’m @shannonhemmett on Instagram. My bands are @leathersmusic and @actors_the_band. And I write about creativity and tour life on Substack at www.daydreamtrash.com.

I’d like to leave you with this:

You don’t have to be perfect.
You don’t need permission.
And you definitely don’t have to be young.
You just have to show up and remember that PUNK isn’t a phase, it’s a lifelong practice.

That concludes Kool Things: Punk In Practice!
Whether you’re a schemer, a doer, a late bloomer—or all three—I hope this chapter reminded you that it’s never too late to begin, or to find your people.

Also… I’ve got a few stories that didn’t make the final cut, next week, I’ll share the outtakes with you.

Thanks for being here.

xo,
Shannon

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Hello and Happy Monday!

Welcome to Part 2 of Kool Things: Punk in Practice—my talk for CreativeMornings / Vancouver.

In this chapter, we’re getting into the guts of DIY: the photoshoots, the videos, the album art, and making it all yourself. It’s about becoming your own Swiss Army knife—and why your soft spots might be your superpowers in disguise.

🖤 Missed Part 1? I’ve linked it for you below ⬇️

Enjoying this series and want to support my work? You can subscribe below, or send me a coffee to help maintain the ideal caffeination level for creativity. 💙

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Let’s go!

🛠️ KOOL THING #2: DIY OR DIE

Become your own Swiss Army knife.

I’ve worn many hats in my creative life, and every one of those skills are useful in a band. Every project I touched, even on the side, became part of my toolkit.

(Here’s a few of the 200+ custom pedal prints I designed for my supporters during the pandemic.)

For years I designed posters, websites, merch, album covers, and made visual identities—first for others, and then for my own projects. On the admin side, my time as a design studio manager was transferrable to my role with ACTORS as tour manager, and grant writer too.

My band LEATHERS became a way to create an entire visual and sonic universe. I wrote the songs, shot self portraits, filmed and edited videos, and designed album art so I could oversee every aspect of the project.

This was photo below was captured in the living room of my studio apartment. I did my makeup, got dressed, set up one light for the background, and one light for the subject, started the self timer, and got the shot.

My video for the single Day For Night was filmed on an iPhone X then coloured and edited with Adobe Premiere (which I taught myself to use after filming). I had never edited video to this degree of complexity before—it was fun, not to mention absolutely fucking frustrating 😄, and I gained a valuable new skill in the process.

I even made a 60 page lyric book—fully inspired by my love of 90s music mags like Ray Gun and Spin.

DIY means rolling up your sleeves and getting to work. It’s showing up with the tools you have and figuring it out as you go.

(some recent examples of my painting and tattoo work)

🌟 KOOL THING #3: FLEX YOUR SUPERPOWERS

It might not be what you think.

Singing is a kind of magic. Mount Everest-level self-expression. But letting people hear your real voice? That’s sooo scary. But… no risk, no magic.

I struggled for years to find my confidence as a singer.

I loved singing and felt called to do it, but I was so shy that my body would shut down—my throat and my chest were so tight, I had no volume in my voice.

I felt so frustrated and lost. I needed help.

One day my vocal teacher Beau Wheeler, told me something that changed everything: He said “Your shyness is a superpower.” That completely blew my mind.

I’d always seen my shyness as a weakness, but when I started embracing that quiet vulnerability to connect with the audience—I finally let go.

Beau taught me that the things you think are holding you back might actually be your greatest strengths.

Punk is showing up exactly as you are.

Not in spite of your flaws—but because of them.

I’ve always loved this quote from Kurt.

🌈 Next Up…

In Part 3, we’ll talk about creative partnerships, big-picture dreaming, and how finding the right co-conspirator can change everything—plus the power of reaching your potential, on your own timeline.

xo,
Shannon

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👋 Welcome, Dreamers

Last week, I gave a talk for CreativeMornings/Vancouver at the Vancouver Art Gallery called Kool Things: Punk in Practice—a love letter to DIY creativity, late bloomers, and saying yes before you’re ready.

The video will be out soon, but I wanted to give you early access to the full talk through a mini-series of posts. Below we’ll dive into Part 1: The Origin Story. I hope you enjoy! Please comment below to continue the conversation.

As always, thanks for being here. You can support my work by subscribing to Daydream Trash (free or paid), or if subscriptions aren’t your thing, I just set up a Buy Me a Coffee page, linked below—a little caffeine goes a long way and fuels the late-night writing sessions from me to you.

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🧬 The Shannon Starter Pack

Good morning everyone. Thanks for waking up with me. I’m glad they fed us this morning because usually this is my breakfast 😄

Ok let’s begin, I’m Shannon. I’m a musician, tattooer, and visual artist.

I was born in Vancouver and grew up just outside the city in Richmond.

I’m a reformed shy girl that found my voice in music; first behind the camera…

Then as a graphic designer…

and eventually at the front of the stage.

Today, I lead the dream pop band LEATHERS, and play synth and sing in the acclaimed post punk band ACTORS.

When I found out this month’s theme was PUNK, I was excited. Not just to talk about a moment in culture—but because punk’s DIY principles have always been at the heart of my creativity.

In Kool Things: Punk in Practice we’ll dive into how the spirit of punk pushes us to create with guts, heart, and without apology.

A *small* PSA before we continue… there will be some cursing. Sorry, punks swear.

Let’s do a brief history, I present The Shannon Starter Pack. We have a lot of bread and cheese, iced coffee. There’s Kleenex for the crying. We’ve got a stack of amazing 90s music mags, Polaroids, traditional tattooing. Oh and that ‘79 Trans Am was our family car! That’s not my dog and cat though.

This is my dog Mary.

And the cats; Bob and Dale…

And Frank. They are my creative familiars.

Let’s go waaay back. I come from a super blue-collar family. We’re blue collar as fuck!

This is my grandpa in his machine shop in Kelowna, BC, he made real deal steam engines. A literal SteamPunk. In my family, the women are nurturers. The men are makers and mechanics, with grit under their nails. They’re resourceful, patient, and incredibly hardworking. That DIY work ethic runs deep in my genes.

I’m an 80s baby and the only girl-child among boy grandchildren. Here I am—looking a little rough in my first photoshoot. (But don’t worry...)

I had a brief glow-up as a toddler before entering an awkward phase that lasted about 30 years.

Even though I was a shy kid, I’ve always been curious, and adventurous with my interests. In those three decades, I tried approximately one million things to figure out what I truly wanted from life.

There was a brief punk panic in the ’90s, but my folks were pretty cool with me being a little bit weird.

I went to concerts. Dyed my hair pink. I listened to records and pored over the album art and liner notes.

Fell in love with a little band from Seattle called Nirvana. And I learned to play guitar.

📷 From Darkrooms to Design

My high school had an incredible darkroom program, where I learned how to use cameras, develop film, and print images the old-school way. I started photographing bands and live shows.

After graduation, I studied photography at Langara College in Vancouver and later worked on staff at The Georgia Straight and CBC Radio 3 capturing portraits of bands on location and in-studio. Eventually, I moved into graphic design and worked at a boutique design studio here in Vancouver for almost 15 years.

Then in 2017, I was ready for change. And the universe called.

Well —Jason called! My now-bandmate in ACTORS literally phoned me at work one day and asked if I’d fill in on keyboards for a few shows.

See, I had secretly dreamed of being in a band. But I was super shy. I had no idea how to get there. I was scared.

I hadn’t touched an instrument or sang much since I was a teenager. (I spent a winter in hell working at the GAP to buy this Yamaha keyboard.)

But I said yes—and what started as a few shows turned into something I never could’ve imagined.

Since then, ACTORS has taken us on the greatest adventure of our lives.

In 8 years—we’ve logged over 400 shows in 20 countries, and I got to experience it all with my besties, my band family—Jason, Kendall, Adam, and our photographer/merch/tour assistant extraordinaire Houdah. 🖤

And it started with one yes. That brings us to our first KOOL THING:

💥 KOOL THING #1: JUST SAY YES

Even when you’re scared. Especially then.

With ACTORS underway we began to develop my solo project Leathers too. We released a couple of singles—and with just three songs in my catalog, I was offered a record deal. That’s it. Three little songs. And nothing else in my back pocket for later.

I remember the fear creeping in. It was a three-album commitment—how could I possibly finish my first album, let alone two more? But I said yes anyway.

Fuck the fear—I uppercutted it. I didn’t have a master plan, but I was ready to get to work. Signing the deal gave me deadlines, encouragement, and a goal to work towards.

Saying yes doesn’t mean you’re ready. It means you’re brave enough to find out what happens next. Sign the deal, take the leap.

Here’s the album.

🌈 Next Up…

In Part 2, we’ll dig into the art of DIY: how making your own album art, zines, and music videos can build an entire creative world from scratch.

xo,
Shannon

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Hello Dreamers,

We are packing our suitcases once again and heading to San Francisco tomorrow for a run of ACTORS shows leading up to Cruel World next weekend. We play San Francisco tomorrow night at DNA Lounge, Santa Cruz at Moe’s Alley (Leathers has also just joined the bill!), Las Vegas at Swan Dive, and then Cruel World in Pasadena at The Rose Bowl Brookside. Let me know in the comments if you’re coming out to any of the shows. Can’t wait to see you soon! 🥳

It all starts with coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. You can now support Shannon by sending her a caffeinated beverage to keep the posts coming.

Send Shan a Coffee

In other news, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be speaking at CreativeMornings/Vancouver on Friday, June 13th, at the Vancouver Art Gallery. If you're not familiar, CreativeMornings is a free monthly breakfast lecture series designed to foster creativity and community among professionals from all walks of life. Founded in 2008 by Tina Roth Eisenberg in Brooklyn, CreativeMornings has since expanded to over 240 cities globally, including Vancouver (since 2010). Which got me thinking, where does the time go? I actually attended the very first Vancouver lectures as a young-ish creative, 15 years ago!

This month’s theme is PUNK, and I’ll be sharing my talk titled “Punk Is a Practice” where we’ll uncover how the DIY spirit of punk shaped my approach to music, art, and life itself. The event is free to attend, and registration opens May 23rd—don’t worry, I’ll remind you when it’s time to register. If you can’t make it in person, it will also be live-streamed on YouTube. I’ll let you know more details about that soon too.

Ahead of my upcoming talk, I sat down for a quick interview about creativity, and the messy, magical path of making art and music on your own terms. Here’s a little preview before I hit the stage:

For June's theme of 'PUNK' we are excited to host musician, tattooer, and graphic artist, Shannon Hemmett.

Hemmett, a former shy girl turned frontwoman, leads the dream pop project LEATHERS and plays keyboards in the acclaimed post-punk band ACTORS. With a background in photography and graphic design spanning two decades, Shannon brings a bold, pop-art sensibility to her tattoo work, merging classic tattoo imagery with modern style. Beyond the stage, she shapes the visual worlds of her bands—crafting album art, photography, and videos that embody her Blade Runner meets Blue Velvet aesthetic. Now a seasoned touring musician, Shannon documents her experiences in Daydream Trash, a tour diary on Substack that captures the strange, beautiful, and gritty moments that unfold on the road.

Each month we ask our speaker some probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into their life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define and apply creativity in your life and career?
For me, creativity is like a jewel box. Mine is black and shaped like a coffin because I’m a goth at heart, but yours can look however you like. Inside are all the things that captivate me: favourite films, songs, books, colours, scents, tastes, memories, and moments that have left a mark. These inspirations live together in this tiny coffin. Every day, I open the latch. A few bats might fly out. I let a little light in. I touch the crushed blue velvet interior. I spend time with what’s inside, getting curious, letting ideas spark, and then I make something of my own. Creativity isn’t just something I do; it’s how I live. I eat, breathe, and sleep it. From a young age, I knew I would be an artist in some form, my head has always been on fire with the need to create. Honestly, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
I do my best work when I’m half-awake, meditating, or drifting between dreams. I’m an over-thinker, so I have to sneak around in my subconscious. When I’m in a dreamy, restful state, my inner critic quiets down and my mind is free to wander, that’s when songwriting feels most natural. Music demands honesty, but the trick is not to chase it too hard. If I look an idea in the eye, I can scare it off, so I try to capture it gently. That subconscious honesty is where the truth lives.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Until recently, I really struggled to find my confidence as a singer. I loved singing and felt called to do it, but I was so shy that my body would physically shut down—I had no projected volume in my voice, no presence. Then one of my vocal teachers, Beau Wheeler, told me something that changed everything: your shyness is a superpower. That completely blew my mind. I’d always seen it as an obstacle, something to overcome. But when I started to embrace that part of myself, seeing it as a way to connect with the audience, I finally came out of my shell. The things you think are holding you back might actually be your greatest strengths.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?
Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
I didn’t realize it at the time but quitting my day job and joining a band was probably a pretty risky decision.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?
We have some post-tour traditions and one of them is eating a box of Lucky Charms cereal when we get home. I can’t remember how it started but it’s such a fun treat…

What is the one movie or book every creative must see/read?
"Catching the Big Fish" by David Lynch.

What practises, rituals, or habits contribute to your creative work?
I sleep in, stay up late, laugh a lot, cry a lot, read a lot, write a lot.

Where is your favourite place to escape?
I love the beach. The band had a couple days off in Portugal last year and the beach in Ericeira was such a highlight. The sun and the waves were life-giving, I felt so recharged afterwards. At home, l like taking my puppy Mary to my parent's house in Richmond. She launches herself off the deck about 20 feet into the air, landing in the yard, doing zoomies, chewing sticks, and rolling in the grass. She grins with her tongue hanging out the whole time. It makes me happy to see her so happy.

What music are you listening to these days?
Lately, I’ve been listening to Luster, the new record by Maria Somerville, and the latest singles from yeule. We fly a lot for the band, and on long flights I usually switch to audiobooks. I just started Neuromancer by William Gibson, the cyberpunk classic I’ve been meaning to read forever. I also recently listened to Serving the Servant by Danny Goldberg, who managed Nirvana during the height of their career. It was fascinating to hear about the business side of one of my favourite bands of all time.

Thanks for being here, see you at Cruel World 🦋

Hi Dreamers,

How are you? Our cherry trees are blooming, little birdies are singing, the neighbours are waving, Mary’s got the zoomies—Spring has definitely arrived. Our Vancouver winters are so grey that when we start to see shadows on the ground from actual sunlight, it’s a glorious occasion.

This spring, I’m introducing a new perk for Founding Member subscriptions. As a thank-you for your support, I’d love to send you something special: a handwritten lyric sheet for any LEATHERS song of your choice.

If you’re not yet a Founding Member and want to be, you can upgrade your subscription today at 20% off the regular price using this magical button below.

Get 20% off for 1 year

p.s. This discount also works for regular annual subscriptions—just note that only the Founding Member option includes the lyric sheet offer 🖤

We’ve put on some miles in 2025. The band has taken us to Europe, Mexico, the USA, home, and back again. Most recently, we were in Seattle and Portland for a pair of ACTORS and Leathers shows. Our families and friends have been curious, and a little unnerved, about the atmosphere down south towards Canadians, and I’m happy to report that in our experience, the feeling towards us wandering minstrels is exactly the same—they’re happy to see us because, unlike the raging dumpster fire of current events, live music actually makes people feel good.

Our experiences at the border have been business as usual; easy breezy with some standard terseness. On our way to Texas in March the gruff customs officer at YVR tells me that our P2 visa is “NOT A VISA, IT’S A STATUS”. Okay, thank you Officer, good to know. I remained polite, albeit a tad confused, and we were allowed through. Once we arrived at our gate, I reviewed our paperwork again, which I can confirm says visa all over it. Hmm.

The land border, which we will cross on this trip, is usually a more time-consuming procedure. I think it depends on the officer, but if they haven’t encountered the musician’s visa before, we get brought into secondary processing which can add hours to the trip. With that possibility in mind we decided to head to Seattle a day early to account for any delays. Well, after a mere 10mins in the vehicle line, I’m happy to report there was no delay at all. Our officer was cheerful, understood the assignment, and we were States-side once again.

At a rest stop just outside of Seattle, a man sees our BC plates and apologizes to us profusely on behalf of his country. He tells us he’s a gay married man, and feels deeply concerned and vulnerable about the future. This kind of conversation is becoming a regular occurrence in each US city we visit. He asks us about the band, our show, (we’ll play The Crocodile the next night) and he tells us he met his husband at a popular new wave night in Belltown, a gay club affectionately named “Tugs”. I love this love story!

Back in the van, we carry on towards the city, check into the hotel, and grab dinner together. I notice it’s almost 7pm so I jet over to the Sub Pop Records store to grab a few things before closing. They have a lovely collection of books and vinyl, but I have my heart set on a particular item. I have been wanting their classic “LOSER” shirt for years, and yesssss, they have it in stock. Fist pumps! The shopkeep tells me his friend is really looking forward to our show tomorrow—what a nice feeling. I pick out a couple of gifties for the band as well, and then scurry back to the hotel room. I have a sparkly daydream, a premonition maybe, that one day we will be signed to the label. I say this out loud to Jay, to inform him and the universe of my plan. I keep dreaming.

Back at the hotel, it’s actually super nice to have an overnight to chill before the show. To my endless delight, Kendall has started watching Twin Peaks for the first time, so we get cozy with some snacks and knock down three episodes of Season 2. Despite having seen Twin Peaks so many times, I am still discovering things in the series. On this viewing, two boys on a bunk bed are spellbound watching a faceless girl dance in the dark with a flashlight. I don’t remember this scene at all, yet it radiates that special Lynchian magic. It feels plucked right from Lynch’s own memory palace. In a few days we’ll be in Twin Peaks country, and we make plans to stop in North Bend to visit some of the locations on the way home from Portland. It’s getting late. Bedtime. We turn off the lights, but like bunk bed boys, we end up talking deep into the night about art, life, and everything in between before drifting into dreams.

Our return to Seattle and The Crocodile is a full circle moment for us. The first time ACTORS played in the USA it was at The Crocodile’s Back Bar in 2018. I clearly remember stepping inside and seeing Charles Peterson’s famous photographs on display, feeling the echo of Seattle music history all around us. It was a modest first appearance, I think I told you before, we played for about 10 people, and were paid in pizza (although, it was very good pizza!). This time around we are booked to play the main room, with about 500 people expected. We’re excited, really excited. We arrive at load-in to find out that our sound engineer Tyler is actually the same engineer from our first show at Back Bar! How cool. It’s an unexpected and welcome reunion. We soundcheck both bands, and wow, it sounds amazing—definitely one of the best sounding stages we’ve ever played on.

The show feels electric and is a career highlight for both bands. I’m so proud of us, we have travelled a long way to get back here. For Leathers, these recent shows feel so powerful. I’m singing stronger than ever before and it’s been such a pleasure to perform these songs live for you. As a reformed shy-girl, being a front-person feels so right, I’m really embracing it.

On the way to Portland, we stop for lunch at the World’s Nicest Subway Restaurant. Seriously, it radiates with sunny pleasantness and top tier sandwich artistry. The owner tells us that Sean Penn and The Chameleons rolled through here recently too. After soundcheck in Portland we visit Powell’s City of Books. Kendall scores a copy of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise and Houdah surprises me with a pocket book of Kurt Cobain’s lyrics. We return to the venue, it’s almost time to play.

The shows are always good. After the Leathers set, I sit outside for a moment to recharge, and a cat struts out of the shadows and sits on my lap. Her name tag reads: Princess Sarah. I feel like I have been visited by The Queen. 👑

In the morning we fuel up at Stumptown for coffee before our pilgrimage to Twede’s Cafe; Twin Peaks’ diner. As we roll into drizzly North Bend, the Douglas fir trees extend their branches to hug the road closer and closer. We cue up the Twin Peaks theme on Spotify to set the mood. We’ve arrived.

At Twede’s we’re seated in the back booth with a photograph of Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton RIP). I love diners. My go-to order is a BLT and a Cherry Coke. The food hits the spot and we share several pieces of ‘damn fine’ cherry pie (plus one slice of apple for variety). I excuse myself and I slip out of the booth to snap a few photos around the diner before we drive up to the Falls. At the lookout, the rain pauses just in time for a group photo:

It seems I’ve run out of space for now, I promise to write again soon soon soon. I still have tons of photo to share from our recent tour travels and beyond.

Thanks for being part of this journey. XO

Hi Friends,

I just wanted to send a huge thank you for being a founding member of Daydream Trash. I’m so grateful you’re here.

As a small thank you for your support as a founding member, I’d love to send you something special: a signed, hand-written lyric sheet for any LEATHERS song of your choosing.

Just reply to this message with your song choice, your…

Read more

Hi friends,

We’re home! The shows were incredible—it was our most successful tour to date, and an absolute pleasure to play with our Artoffact Records label-mates Soft Vein every night. I missed my animals so much. Mary is soooo happy we’re back. In the middle of the night, the cats poke their pointy little paws in my face as if to say, “Is it you? Is it really you?” Five weeks away is a long time, but TourTime™ is a strange space where the days go by fast and slow, and then you blink and the plane touches down in Vancouver again. I always get a little stressed at Customs because the officer will ask where we are coming from and/or where we are going and it’s no small feat to remember where we are on any given day. Let’s take a quick tally: On this trip we visited 10 countries, played 17 shows—our first ever appearances in Romania, Italy, and Belgium. We missed a few dates due to illness, which we hate to do, but trust me when I say that the rest days saved the tour. We didn’t have to press eject and fly home early, so that’s a win for everyone involved.

Here’s a journal entry from Berlin as the sickness loomed:

Halfway to Berlin it started to snow. Our van is not fit for the weather, so hopefully it will clear up by morning. We’re two weeks into the tour and Jay is sick with the flu/cold that’s been on our tail since we arrived in Europe. The show must go on. At Frannz Club he pauses mid-set to tell the crowd that he’s sick and having trouble singing, but didn’t want to let anyone down by cancelling. I guess I’m overtired because his vulnerability hits me in the feels and my eyes well up on stage. His cough sounds ominous, similar to the time he had pneumonia in Spain. Jay spots a spaced out woman in the crowd and asks if she’s having a good time, and she says “I’m sick too…”. This is touring in winter.

In the morning, Jay is in even worse shape, so we make the difficult decision to postpone the Dresden show. People will be disappointed but it is the necessary thing to do. After the announcement, a fan criticizes us online, annoyed that we couldn’t make the 2hr drive to Dresden to play, but most are super supportive, and agree that health and well-being is most important. We’ll be back one day. What many don’t realize is that when you cancel a show, you don’t usually have the luxury of taking the day off to get better in your hotel room. We still have to travel at least 500km south today to keep up with the driving schedule and hopefully we will resume the tour in a couple days. At 11am we’re back in the van, Berlin in the rearview.

We try to keep the long drives fun. We debate if hot dogs are considered sandwiches or burgers—the jury is still out. Adam tells us a story about Dave Parsons, an influential friend of the Beastie Boys, who, through a series of kismet circumstances, becomes The Charlie Chaplin Estate’s official Chaplin performer (some days later we do a double-take as a street performer dressed like Charlie Chaplin walks past us in Valencia). We discuss how hard tour can be; the exhaustion, getting sick, the lowest lows, and then the dark humour takes hold—we wonder, if you expire on tour does your ghost stay where you drop dead? Like tour purgatory? Do you haunt venues? Green rooms? Other bands? We decide that ghost density is pretty high in Europe due to World Wars, so they’ll probably have to send your spirit home. Houdah distributes Liège waffles to each of us which helps maintain van morale a little while longer. We stop for coffee several times, and our collective caffeine saturation point is at an all time high. At about 8pm, I find a comfy hotel where we’ll crash for two nights. In the distance, we see a medieval walled city with a tower drawbridge and a moat. Is this a winter mirage? Tour madness? Where are we?! Thankfully it is real; we have entered the charming Bavarian village of Dinkelsbühl, located along the Romantic Road. Outside the hotel, a light snow has dusted the rooftops making the fairy tale houses look like they are built from gingerbread and icing sugar. Checked in, exhausted, we fall into bed, and visions-of-sugar-plums dance in our heads.

After a much needed sleep-in, I creep downstairs for breakfast and gather a breadbasket of riches for Jay in the room. It’s a 10 out of 10. There’s countless breads, pastries, pancakes, yogurt, granola, cereals, cakes, amazing coffee, and a full spread of fruit, veggies, cheese, meats, plus bottomless Nutella. I drop off the buffet in the room for Jay, and then decide to pop into the gothic cathedral next door to take a few pictures before he wakes.

It’s Saturday, we only have a few hours until everything is closed on Sunday and Monday, so it’s time to get to work and find Jay a doctor. Kendall and I sleuth out the next steps and get him on a tele-health call. Our doctor is awesome, he understands the assignment and prescribes the antibiotics Jay needs to mend fast (we learn the doctor’s wife is also a professional singer). Tour is like The Amazing Race, with our next assignment in hand, we rush to the pharmacy before it closes and obtain the magical healing elixir. The pharmacist on staff is so helpful and wishes us a pleasant visit in his hometown (two days later, we run into him at the hotel restaurant, and he stops by our table to personally check on Jay’s progress back to health, so sweet). Back at the hotel, treatment plan administered, and pasta dinner on the way, Jay jokes that the medieval setting makes him feel like Barry Lyndon bed rotting in Stanley Kubrick’s film of the same name (see photo above). Things are looking up, and mentally we move from cancelling the tour, to rejoining Soft Vein for our next show in Turin.

Let’s pause there for now, next post I’ll have a massive album of photos to share from the tour. Thanks for subscribing, thanks for being here. XO

Hello from my cozy hotel room in misty Münster, Germany. There were a few bumps in the air from Athens to Brussels yesterday but it was a pretty smooth journey overall. I like to think of turbulence like wiggly sky-Jello, blue-raspberry flavour, which makes it cute and fun.

Seven days into the tour, I think I have finally chased away my jet lag. Our first stop was Bucharest, a 10hr time difference from Vancouver. Transylvania, home of Dracula 🦇. I felt pretty rested after a big sleep-in post-travel—even enjoyed an art museum visit, and some sneaker shopping on our day off, but the following day, my vitality tanks.

At our pre-show dinner, struggling to exist, I whine pathetically “Urrrghhhh I’m dyinggg!!!!!” with my jet-head in my hands at the table. Dinner and RedBull helped recharge my vibe a little, but when it’s time to play, and the stage is so dark, I’m having trouble knowing what’s what on my synth. As the lights strobe, the white keys flash like an x-ray image and then disappear into the shadows. I feel haunted, uneasy. I’m a ghost, my head is leaving my body. Where am I? I’m on stage in Bucharest? The lights flash. The songs are galloping along and I’m just barely hanging on to the reins.

A quick turnaround finds us back at the Bucharest airport early and in Athens by noon the next day. On the drive from the airport, we find out our next hotel is named the Jason Inn, and Jay jokes that he has purchased a hotel, and will assign everyone a new role upon arrival.

I’ve been reassigned from Tour Manager to Hotel Manager, Kendall is now our Restaurant Manager because she always selects excellent food options for us on the road, Adam is our Head Porter because he’s super strong and skilled at packing gear, and Houdah is our Reception Manager because she is our spreadsheet whiz and keeps our data tight. We arrive at the Jason Inn, and score a parking spot for the van right out front. This is Jay’s hotel after all. We’re also greeted by two cute and friendly cats at the lobby doors. It feels like home already. It is always a pleasure to return to (c)Athens! 🐈‍⬛

Greek food is a favourite for us on tour, so we can hardly wait for our next meal. We grab a bite before soundcheck and Adam orders a chicken Gyro, which we name Mt. Gyro because the portion size is a literal mountain of meat. The rest of us have chicken souvlaki and salad; all the food is simply prepared and delicious. Tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta; it all tastes better here. More cats snooze nearby in the afternoon sunlight.

Post-lunch we return to the hotel to get ready for the show. I shower to remove the airplane from my pores. There is a bidet in the hotel room, and I shyly admit to Jay I’m afraid to use it because I don’t really know how it works. He gives me a little tutorial, and I’m like hmm okay, I’ll try… I get the water going, and suddenly the water goes from gentle stream to pressure washer against the toilet bowl and splashes my face and hair. I scream in horror. It soaks my pants, there is water all over the floor. I show Jay the carnage and he is howling!! Athens Bidet 1 - Shannon 0. No time to linger in my embarrassment. It is soundcheck time. Showtime. What a lovely time.

Day off. Athens is such a cool, vibrant place, it’s so nice to be able to enjoy some of the sights. We sleep well and then roam the market with coffees in hand. Everywhere we look, cats sit like proud lions at the entrance to the shops.

We browse alabaster busts of Apollo and Athena hand-painted in radiant neon colours. Jay does some recon on a shop that sells band shirts, and we find some keepers among the racks. Entombed, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fear Factory, Type O Negative, Christian Death. Outside the shop we spot a poster for a Death Disco event with my image on it! Such a neat surprise. So far from home, yet here I am. A fan online tells me it’s a sign that I am walking the right path.

Again we fill ourselves with sunlight, and Greek salads. Back to the hotel for a rest, as I wait for the afternoon light to change. In the blue hour, I wander through the Ancient Agora of Athens. Up to the Temple of Hephaestus, to catch the sunlight on the columns. It is otherworldly, so special to see in person.

I wander deeper into the Agora, and film a kitten playing with its parents, and the moment is so adorable, a woman runs over to ask if I can AirDrop the video to her. Of course I do! Now you can see it too:

Time to load in for our show in Münster. Thanks for being here, I hope to see you at some of the upcoming shows. I’ll check in again with you soon. XO

Hi Everyone,

First of all, I want to send love to my friends and followers in the Los Angeles area affected by the fires. Los Angeles has always been good to me and the band(s), so when you are hurting, we feel it too. Anything I could write to console you seems insufficient, so I just wanted to let you know I’m thinking of you and wishing for the safety and wellbeing of your family, friends, and animals.

It is bright and sunny here today, a rare blessing for a winter’s day in Vancouver, and I can feel my bones waking from hibernation. It is my Dad’s 77th birthday, so I will call him soon to say hi and send birthday wishes. I am taking a moment to appreciate the coffee in front of me, the sunlight warming my face, my dog Mary snoozing against my back. I noticed for the first time since maybe… October?, that the sun rose earlier this morning. The days are finally getting longer and I am thankful for that too. From another room, Jay calls out to me to say that David Lynch passed away.

It would be difficult to name another artist who has had a greater impact on me than David Lynch. Too young to get into Twin Peaks when it originally aired, my first encounter with Lynch’s work was 1997’s surrealist neo-noir, Lost Highway and I was forever a fan. In it, I discovered that Lynch’s imagination was a magical, and sinister place; equal parts beauty and horror—somewhere between a soft-focus daydream and the cruel, blinding light of reality. And that soundtrack! Bowie, NIN, Manson; basically pure catnip for teenage Shannon. The film even made a cameo appearance in my lyrics for Runaway, some 20 years later: let’s runaway / on a lost highway…

Lynch’s oeuvre continues to touch my life in unexpected ways. Many years after viewing Lost Highway, bedridden with fever and flu, I finally watched Blue Velvet—which by the way, is ideal viewing conditions for such a strange and beguiling film. His book Catching the Big Fish has pulled me out of spiritual and artistic dread more times than I can count. I learned to meditate. I learned to paint. One of my favourite memories on tour with ACTORS is driving after dark in North Bend, WA, one of the locations on Twin Peaks. Just like the show, we travelled a narrow winding road through deep forest, our headlights barely penetrating the darkness, the yellow centre line blurring out on the black concrete. We could feel something supernatural in the air. Once we arrived at our Air B&B for the night, I laid in bed, and listened to the owls murmuring in the trees. I can tell you, Twin Peaks is a real place. In the morning we had coffee and cherry pie at the Double R. I’ll see if I can find the pictures. Or maybe it was all a dream.

Although Lynch shared a lot with us about his creative process through books and interviews, he preferred to let the films and their meaning speak for themselves. Making things make sense can be its own kind of cleverness, but he never seemed too concerned with providing answers. As a developing artist, Lynch inspired me to follow my artistic curiosities without knowing exactly where it would lead or what it might mean. That’s a later problem, or maybe you don’t ever need to know.

In two weeks ACTORS will be arriving in Bucharest for the first time, probably quite jet-lagged, but very excited to play music for new people in faraway places. We will be in Europe for 5 weeks. Will I see you out there?

As for this journal, my plan for Daydream Trash in 2025 is to update frequently with shorter entries so you can be a fly on the wall during our adventures on the road this year. Let me know below if there’s anything in particular you’d like to me to cover and I’ll do my best to make it happen.

Until then, take care of each other, and stay wild at heart.

XO

Shannon

I wanted to take a moment to welcome our new subscribers and give a high five to those that have been here awhile too! 🙌 Thanks for taking the time to subscribe, I’m so glad you’re here. ❤️

It’s been quieter on the journal this summer (—if you’re just arriving please explore the archives, there’s plenty to see and read), but please know I haven’t forgotten about you dear reader. I think of writing to you often, usually when I walk my puppy Mary through the tree-lined streets in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant area. With the LEATHERS album complete and autumn cozies in full effect, I have felt more ‘interior’ lately, as I daydream about new songs, directions and ideas for the project.

Here are some random things I’ve been vibing on this October, please feel free to share your own recs below too.

• Reading - SWANS: Sacrifice and Transcendence (2018), Wrong Way (2023)

• Watching - The Shining (1980), Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024), The Substance (2024)

• Listening - Godflesh, Helmet, SWANS, Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C.

• Synthesizing - I upgraded to a Roland Jupiter Xm, so I’ve been getting all my sounds dialled in for the ACTORS tour

• Drinking - Moja Espresso, Dr. Pepper Cream Soda Zero

• Eating - Melted cheddar on everything, Cadbury Crunchie Bars (but not together ewww)

• Dogging - Mary’s newest trick is catching a treat mid-air. Yes!!

You may also be interested in listening to this in-depth podcast I recorded recently with H.I. Art on the Edge. The host, William is one of the most well-researched, thoughtful interviewers I’ve encountered as a musician, and it was a pleasure to speak with him about creativity, art, and songwriting.

Something else that’s been on my mind… is social media dead? This past year the effectiveness of my Instagram and Facebook etc completely tanked. Maybe you’ve noticed the change in your own accounts too. The gentle algorithms that once lifted artists and musicians out of obscurity are now throttling our posts, asking us to pay for access to our own followers that we spent a decade+ nurturing on the apps. Doesn’t seem fair does it? As advertising dominates our timelines, many artists like myself are building their mailing lists outside of the major apps to maintain contact with their followers. For more thoughts on this subject and how it affects artists, you might like to read electronic artist James Blake’s recent post on Instagram (click through for the carousel of images).

Alright, just a short note to touch base this time, but I’ll be back soon with more tour entries and photographs when ACTORS hits the road in November. I’m so grateful for your support, and I extend a heartfelt thanks for your continued interest in my music and artistic endeavours.

One last, important thing, what should Mary be for Halloween? 🦇

XO

Shannon

P.S. ACTORS have lots of tour dates coming up! Where will we see you?

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Hello friends, it’s been a minute! Let’s have a popsicle by the pool. Tell me, how’s your summer? After a rainy start to the season, we’re suddenly in the middle of a proper heatwave. We don’t have A/C, so I bought my puppy Mary a kiddie pool from Canadian Tire to cool off, and I have to admit, it was the best $15 spent in a while. It hit 32 degrees here yesterday (94 degrees for the Americans in the house). Pretty warm for us. Seeing her splash around with pure joy while listening to The Breeders “Cannonball” was the hit of summertime dopamine I didn’t know I needed this week. Highly recommend.

Btw, you’re invited! We are throwing an Ultraviolet Album Release Show + Party in Vancouver at Fox Cabaret on Thursday August 15th. Presented by RANGE Magazine, we’ll be performing every song we know, with support from Vancouver’s dreamiest shoegazers la lune, and DJ sets by Evilyn13. Freshly pressed vinyl, CDs, shirts, and my Lyrics + Photobook will be available. Come!

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A Match Made In Dystopia

Yesterday my guest vocal collaboration with Bill Leeb (Front Line Assembly, Delerium, former Skinny Puppy) hit the airwaves! The video was created by longtime Skinny Puppy live visuals designer, Tim Hill. Tim photographed Bill and I to create 3D wire meshes and then wrapped them in dystopian AI chaos. The result is a creepy-good visual assault. Bill and I first crossed paths when ACTORS and Front Line Assembly played the Cold Waves Festival 2019 in Chicago and Los Angeles. We have some close Vancouver friends in common, so I introduced myself backstage, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. He called our collaboration; “Industrial’s version of The Carpenters”, which I thought was quite funny and sweet. Listening to FLA and Delerium as a teen, I would have never predicted that we would work on music together one day, but here we are. Life is neat like that. Listen and watch below:

Bill Leeb’s forthcoming debut solo LP Model Kollapse is out September 13th on Metropolis Records.

Shannon’s Secrets of Songwriting

With the Leathers album complete, it’s time to get started on more songs. It’s got me thinking (and panicking a little, let’s be honest); How did I even write those songs?! How on earth will I write more? I can barely remember writing them, not because it was a while ago for some (ha-ha) but because songwriting is one of the great unsolved mysteries. Was it all a dream? The process is always evolving, and I’m searching for clues each time I write. I’ve started to collect some thoughts on my journey to see if I can identify the ways I moved from idea to album. I don’t claim authority on this subject but I wanted to share some of my findings with you. I’m calling this list Shannon’s Secrets of Songwriting, but it would be more accurately named: Super obvious things I should have known all along, but only realized by getting to work. Here’s a non-definitive, ever-evolving list:

1. Dream Logic
   I write most of my lyrics in the dark, half sleep; when my brain is effectively off. I think it was George Orwell, who always wrote lying in bed? Well, me too. I find nighttime productive because my inner critic is subdued and all kinds of ideas are welcome to hang out. The quality of idea doesn’t really concern me at this point, I’m just encouraging my thoughts to drift in and see.

2. Finish Them

   My recent single Crash took years to write. I’ve accepted that my process is often slow AF, actually let’s say it’s gradual, and the ideas need time to bloom. A quick Spotlight search of my Notes tells me I finalized the first verse for Crash in 2021 but I know the “bloodshot dawn” line was something I wrote long before that. I found it hiding in a text document dated 2011. 13 years ago!

3. A Gift, A Curse
   Music is no longer in the background for me. For better and occasionally worse, songwriting has completely changed my relationship to music. I am figuring out the magic trick. The spell of a great song can still hypnotize me but before it’s over I’m already listening for clues; the chord progressions, arrangements, and hooks that make the hair on my arm stand up. Analysis can sometimes make music enjoyment complicated, but I still hold on to a sense of wonder and remember why music feels magical to me.

4. Song Buzz
   I love catching a song buzz. I have my audio interface set up, ready to go on my desk. All I need to do is turn on Logic, and plug in my mic and midi controller to start writing. For lyrics, I battled between paper and digital for a long time because I had some romantic notion about writing by hand, but finally, I decided I wanted to have the ability to search, which is a feature analog notebooks do not have (yet). I use Apple Notes for all my idea fragments, and a lot of them end up in my songs one way or another.

5. Quit the Shit
   Unfortunately time is a limited resource. I’m terrified of running out of it, which puts me in a dread spiral, and yep, you guessed it, wastes time. A prison of my own making! So, I give myself a little pep talk to quit the shit and get started. I like aimless, no stress strumming on the guitar. Ideas come by taking small steps forward. I try to be brave. I find choruses challenging to write, so I usually play around with the verses first. I style the song like a movie set with characters, atmosphere, props, and then I carry on from there.

6. A Sweet Treat
   When Jay and I have a good day at the studio, we like to go to the shopping mall and goof around like 90s mallrats, trying on crazy clothes, and eating Yogen Früz. We always return laughing, refreshed, and ready for more.

More soon. Thanks for being here. Stay cool everyone! 💙

Hi! Is it sunny where you are? We had momentary lapses of springtime here before the rain returned but, as they say: No rain, No flowers. Cherry blossoms, tulips, and daffodils are blooming, and it’s beginning to look like we are living in Easter World, the theme park. I’m just waiting for a glimpse of the white rabbit…

There is a feeling of progress in the air; 1. Because ACTORS just released our new single, “In Real Life”, and 2. We just finished tracking the Leathers record and 3. The lyrics book design is underway! 🎉 Allow me to elaborate below.

Designing “In Real Life”

Has it really been three years since ACTORS released any new material? I hope you have been enjoying the new track. I designed the single artwork, so let’s walk through how it was made. Jay and I talked about some paste-up zine-style aesthetics he liked and wanted to use in this upcoming album cycle.

We also needed to create a blueprint that we could elaborate upon with each single release. This can be tricky because the idea has to be developed enough to live in the ACTORS universe but open enough to allow for numerous variations within the theme. DesignBrain™️ activate! I get tired of working on the computer sometimes, so I avoided the faux-handmade method altogether and we started looking for a 1970s era label-maker. After a little Google-ing, Reddit tells us that the Dymo 1540 Office Mate II is still in production and durable enough to withstand our label-making needs. Sweet. Amazon Prime delivered it in two days.

Time to get label punching. I must say it is very satisfying to make labels on this retro machine thingy. There are some minor motor skills required; a hard squeeze for each letter, a soft squeeze for a space, and three soft squeezes for the label margins, beginning and end. Of course, I bought extra tape so I can label everything in my life.

Next I trimmed the label into two lines, pulled off the adhesive, and stuck it to a piece of cheapo copy paper. I paced around a few times, thinking hmm hmm hmm, and picked up a bottle of black ink, then held the paper over the sink and gave it hell. Ink splatters everywhere. Making a mess is quite satisfying. That’s it! I took a high res photo of it, flipped it negative, and we have a new single cover.

Perhaps you were expecting something more complicated? Me too. Not all creative work comes this easily, so I’ll take the win when I can get it. Post-creation, I feel a bit guilty that I haven’t taken very good care of the artwork. One of the cats has taken a bite out of it, and the ink is starting to flake off, smudge and leave pigmented dust on everything. Perhaps it’s even better now? You decide.

A Momentous Occasion

Guys, we fucking did it 🌟 As noted above, we’re finally done tracking the Leathers record!!! Jay still has some mixing and mastering ahead of him but my work on the songs at this point, is well, done. I say DONE but it’s a false finish line because once you complete a big task in the game of #bandlife, it’s time to get going on another. Notably, I’ve completed the lyrics and the singing, which was/is a huge, long-game effort. If you’ve been with us since Missing Scene, you’ll know it took a little while to get here. I started Leathers with Jay’s encouragement in the spring/summer of 2016, as a bedroom singer and guitarist. I had no experience on stage or in the studio to speak of and although I loved to sing, the sound of my own voice quite frankly terrified me. At first, it was difficult to tell if I was making progress but all these years later, I can finally see the work accumulate. There were highs and lows as I found my voice as an artist and a singer. I had to be brave. I tried to love myself more and view my emo shyness as a cool superpower (Thanks Beau 💙) instead of some annoying personality trait that usually got in the way. Time is irritatingly finite, and sometimes I wish I worked faster, or started this journey sooner but I think it all unfolded at the right pace. The slow burn allowed me to stretch my comfort zones and now, moments that used to cause me great fear and anxiety, are really no big deal at all.

The “Ultraviolet” LP will contain all of the most recent singles (including Phantom Heart from the Reckless EP—we wanted it to receive a vinyl pressing), plus three brand new songs for your listening enjoyment. Singing in my bedroom all these years, I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. We’re finally here, I’m so excited.

This past week I’ve been hard at work fine-tuning the vinyl/CD layouts and gathering content for my forthcoming lyrics book. It is a work in progress, but I intend the booklet to be around 50 pages, which will include all the lyrics from Missing Scene to now, laid out with photographs selected from my extensive personal archive. The book design is coming along nicely and is inspired by the late, great print magazines of the 90s, like Ray Gun and iD. I’ve included a page preview for you below. I will be running a pre-order very soon, until then…

Is there anything you hope to see inside the book? Please tell me in the comments!

As I gather all the lyrics together for the first time, I have some realizations. It’s a body of work that I always wanted, but only daydreamed about having until now. When I began writing, I envisioned myself being one of those writers who fetishizes paper and pens but when I actually got down to write (after spending more money than I want to admit on bougie notebooks), I did it another way. I wrote these lyrics on my iPhone in the dark before falling asleep, or in the witching hours when sleep was out of reach. Digitally, it’s difficult to quantify the sheer volume of words I had to write to get to the good stuff, but judging from the endless scrolling, there would be enough for a five-alarm dumpster fire of false starts, botched experiments, straight up embarrassments, and other cliché garbage. There are some gems too, I can see my growth as a writer through the songs and I’m proud of the dedication I’ve made to writing, singing, and my creativity in recent years. It reveals a simple truth it took me decades to learn: If you invest your efforts into anything regularly, and even if you do it badly for a while, it will blossom in time. No rain, no flowers.

Thanks for being here. Until next time XO

Hello friends! 🌷 How is March for you? Are you good? Vancouver has finally entered Daylight Time and violet buds have started to peek through the soil here to say “Oh hai”—another spring is arriving. It’s been a bit quiet on the newsletter here, but I want you to know I’ve been thinking of you often and appreciate your company and support.

On this side, we’ve been occupied meeting the delivery deadline for the Leathers record. New songs, photos, vinyl and CD layouts (yes, there will be vinyl!!!), merch designs, press, music videos, teaser clips, and so on. I’m delighted to let you know that the pre-order for our full length album Ultraviolet will arrive for Bandcamp Day in May, just before our live appearance at Cruel World. So, please mark your calendars for May 3rd! We’ve got some brand new shirt designs and merch items coming soon too.

Our studio days are super intense, and the work doesn’t stop when we get home. The songs play over and over in our heads until we find the right melodies, words, and arrangements. Then once we nail things down, we drive ourselves a little nuts wondering if we’ve made the best decisions on the mixes. Is that synth too loud? Is the kick loud enough? Are the lyrics any good? Ah! Being a musician is a special kind of madness; you eat, breathe, and sleep songs without any mental rest, but that’s what’s required to make a record. I’ve also made a list:

10 Things You Need to Make a Record

1. Caffeine.

2. More caffeine.

3. A lava lamp for vibe.

4. Treats for morale.

5. A space heater for warmth.

6. Kleenex for the crying.

7. Water. For your voice, and hydration after the crying.

8. Ideas of all kinds. Good ones, lots and lots of bad ones.

9. Courage, to fail, look stupid, sound horrible.

10. And a sense of humour, to laugh about it!

RANGE Magazine recently invited me to be a part of their Pedal Pushers segment (with wardrobe by Gravity Pope x Puma), where I chat about playing guitar, guitar pedals, and their impact upon my songwriting process. You can find the RANGE Spring Issue with Kim Gordon on the cover for free in Vancouver, but since you might not be nearby to get a copy, I’ll post the transcript and images below for your enjoyment.

SHANNON HEMMETT » (LEATHERS/ACTORS)

A queen of the synthesizer through and through, Shannon Hemmett is a member of not one, but two of Vancouver's most exciting bands. Taking the lead vocals in electro-pop band LEATHERS and playing the synths for darkwave titans ACTORS, Hemmett's work on the guitar is where all of her songs are first born. Inspired by acts like David Bowie and Depeche Mode, she's also a designer, a photographer, a writer, and if you're looking for some new ink, she also works as a tattoo artist.

What's your current set-up?

I play a 2022 Fender Strat; it's from the International Series, which are manufactured in Japan. At the store this guitar had an attractive aura, it stayed in my thoughts, and after a few days of yearning, I brought her home. Sometimes it's nice to name your guitar, so I named her Cherry. Pedal-wise, I use the Earthquaker Devices Sunn O))) Life Pedal for distorted sounds. The octave effect is massive and haunting sounding. When paired with a chorus and/or delay pedal, the saturation and depth takes the tone to dark, dreamy heights.

Which track features your best pedal work?

Although LEATHERS's current recorded material has been more synth-based, my songwriting process always starts on the guitar, and I write much of the lyrics while strumming the chords over and over like a meditation. I think our songs "Day For Night" and "Ultraviolet" are well-suited to being stripped down to just guitar and my voice.

Words by Ben Boddez
Photos by Noga Cada and Danielle Costelo
Stylist Austin Taylor

That’s all for now. Back soon. XO

I wake up at 7am to the sound of a deep, rumbling motor, and I am transported back to my childhood bedroom; the distinctive sound of our family car, a ‘79 Trans-Am, pulling into the driveway, my Dad returning home after the night-shift at the airport. You might be thinking 7am seems early for me, and you’d be right, but this past December, I became a morning person by way of adopting an adorable puppy named Mary. In this new routine, it’s time to take her outside, so I roll out of bed (slowly, I’m still acclimating), and we venture outdoors together. There’s no Trans-Am in sight but now hard rain is falling, and the pale morning light is a supernatural kind of blue. Let’s call it, January Blue. All my life I wanted a dog, and now that she’s with me, I don’t mind the rain or the mornings so much anymore. We play fetch for a while as the city wakes. Mary shakes off the raindrops signalling it’s time to go, and we return indoors for breakfast.

It’s been a minute since I’ve written to you. December was a whirlwind, and January is ticking away too. Thanks for sticking with me. Between tours, we’re always eager to get back on stage, but one thing I am grateful to have a break from is the total madness of airports. Are you old enough to remember when air travel actually used to be, dare I say—kind of fun? I’m thinking of the eerily utopian footage of airports pre-9/11. Spaces that contained a kind of futuristic magic, allowing people to traverse the world in mere hours, feeling the genuine excitement of a holiday or business abroad. There are no smartphones. Everyone looks cheerful and at ease, chit-chatting with strangers, arms loaded with Marlboro Duty Free bags. They glide through security, shoes on, Swiss Army knives and matches tucked, with no nefarious agenda, into their carry-on baggage. If you’re travelling in the 80s and earlier, feel free to light up a ciggy in-flight and get Mile High in the lavatory. Make sure you swing by the open and unlocked cockpit door and say hello to the flight’s Captain and First Officer. The general vibe is cool man, let’s drink rum and Cokes and winter in The Bahamas. The surreal horror of 9/11 and its aftermath has not yet poisoned our day to day existence. How did we seem so civilized then? That world was real, but not anymore.

Today, the modern airport and all it’s logistical nightmares is one of the most irritating, teeth-griting parts of tour. Allow me to illustrate: At the airport early and ready to chill before boarding? Well, your gate is a 15km trek to the opposite end of the terminal, the very last gate at this airport in fact. You have 200lbs of music gear? Sorry, you cannot take that luggage cart with you and the moving sidewalks are all under repair. Arrive at the gate with time to spare? Gate change. Bus to a new terminal, and wait on the open tarmac in some kind of climate change induced once-in-a-100-years weather event. Oh, you have musical instruments for gate-check? Your industry standard cases you’ve used on every other flight are inadequate for air travel, please find a shipping container immediately or throw your guitars into the trash before boarding. Ah I see that you have musical instruments for gate-check. I’d be glad to assist you. What’s your band called? Please leave your items with the gate agent and a crew member will happily take them aboard for you. Well that was nice ‘n easy. Upon arrival, a baggage handler will throw the instruments into a truck bed parked three storeys below the aircraft and you can retrieve it, maybe in pieces, at the oversize baggage claim. Got a doctor’s note in CovidTimes clearing your health to travel? You cannot board this flight, please make your way to the rental car counter and drive three days south to San Diego. Booked your van rental months in advance? Please wait 3hrs in the car rental centre with hacking, drippy nosed travellers to discover your vehicle has been recalled by the manufacturer and is unavailable. While you’re at it just gouge your eyes out and punch yourself in the dick repeatedly so an ambulance can get us all out of here and to our hotel.

You have to laugh. It’s not always easy to keep a cool head with all the surprises when travelling, but somehow I have the temperament for it. You can usually find me at the check-in counter using my world renowned Canadian niceness and trademarked Calm Voice™ to work through the hiccups.

On the Leathers front, I’m excited to let you know that we’ll have a new single “Crash” available on all streaming platforms February 9th. I’ll be sending paid subscribers a preview in the days nearing the release. And in case you missed it, Leathers will be playing Cruel World 2024 at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena on May 11th. To say we’re excited is the understatement of the year. It’ll be a milestone for us to share the bill with bands like Duran Duran, Interpol, Blondie, and so many more. Let me know in the comments if you’ll be there too!

I’ll close out this entry with some lyrics from a new, unnamed song that will appear on the upcoming album:

broken bones and feathers
life's a tourist trap
love's a foreign language
i'm without a map

four of swords
ticking clock
a butterfly
under the lion's paw

i should have known better
i buried the thought

wishing well
the hidden cost
a ballerina
waits in the jewel box

Until next time. XO

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