Biography
Shake Some Action! is a power-pop band from Seattle.
Recalling an era when jangly guitars and rich vocal harmonies fueled melodic pop songs, the band's influences are such luminaries as the La’s, Hoodoo Gurus, the Kinks, the Beatles, You Am I, Stone Roses, Big Star, the Hummingbirds, the Small Faces and Teenage Fanclub.
The band was started in early 2006 by Australian songwriter/guitarist James Hall, after the breakup of his former band, the Jeunes. The Jeunes had generated some buzz in the Seattle scene in 2004 with local airplay and label interest, famously making a fan of London DJ/musician Jyoti Mishra, aka White Town (who had a worldwide #1 hit with Your Woman in 1997) after he randomly downloaded their EP from an internet newsgroup.
Reviewing the same EP, ThreeImaginaryGirls.com said:
"The music is hook-laden, lush and timeless. After a few listens, you will be utterly smitten with this band."
Unfortunately the Jeunes disbanded in the fall of 2005, "to the dismay of fans… especially because so many of the Jeunes’ great songs had never been recorded and were therefore lost forever." - KEXP blog
Aware of this, Hall retreated to his home studio and set about making an album throughout 2006, playing all the instruments himself, with the intention of recording definitive versions of songs he'd written for the Jeunes. Along the way, some new songs were written and the project took on a life of its own. Often confused with other artists named James Hall - like this one and this one - Hall chose the moniker Shake Some Action!, inspired by the quintessential power-pop song of the same name by the Flamin' Groovies.
While the recording of the album was mostly a solo affair (apart from some lead guitar work by David Bos "flown in" from demos recorded a year earlier by the Jeunes), to support the release of the record, Hall put together a live band to play a limited number of shows in Seattle in late 2006/early 2007. Joining him are David Bos (Daylight Basement, the Jeunes) on guitar, Gary Miller (the Scheme) on bass and Chris Campbell (the Scheme, Zero Points) on drums.
The self-titled debut album will be released on January 16 2007.
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