Cliffjumper Talks About Bands - Shuvel

Introduction

In nu metal, there’s so, so many bands in the genre. But unfortunately, more than half of the bands in the genre have been disbanded/defunct, and didn’t make it big in the music industry. But many of them sure left us with great music. One of my all time favorite nu metal bands, who hardly got any success in the industry, are a band called, ‘Shuvel’, who are most known for their song Set It Off, which is an anti-school shooting song directed towards the 1999 Columbine High School massacre that occurred a year before the song’s release (watch music video here).

Who is Shuvel?

Shuvel first formed in 1997 and disbanded in 2011, and were signed under Interscope Geffen Records for a little while. They were formed in Wichita, Kansas, but moved to Los Angeles, California to expand their journey in music. Their sound is comparable to that of Limp Bizkit, Rage Against The Machine, 311, Helmet, and even Beastie Boys. Their most “famous” lineup throughout the years was from 1998-2001, when they had two singers (Isaac Ayala and Jeff Hollinger, who was kicked out of the band in 2006 due to Isaac wanting to be the only singer), one guitarist (Ryan Stuber), one bassist (Carlos Sandoval), and a drummer (Kyle Hollinger).

Shuvel’s Discography

Shuvel released three albums (Set It Off, Return Of The Fist, and As The World Burns) and two EPs (The Demonstration and a 3-track demo from 2003).

The Demonstration

The Demonstration was released back in 1999 and is their debut. It was mixed by D-Styles, a well-known turntablist, and contains five songs. The five songs are Hitlist, Slack Jaw Yokel, Herbs & Mixes, Move On, and Clean Slate. All songs were re-recorded for Set It Off except for Clean Slate; however, Clean Slate was re-recorded for the animated television series Celebrity Deathmatch. The album’s production has both a raw and produced sound to it.

Set It Off

 Set It Off is their most-known release, and was released in August, 2000 and produced by Scotch Ralston, who produced various releases from 311. Personally, my three favorite songs from Set It Off are the title track, Past Tense, and Hit List. This album is raw, it’s catchy, it’s heavy, it’s got some of the essential clichés of the genre (in a good way!), and it’s awesome. I think a good amount of the lyrics on the album are relevant as well, especially Set It Off’s lyrics due to the absolutely inappropriate amount of school shootings that occur nowadays here in North America.

2003 Demo

Not a whole lot is known about the 2003 demo, but the songs made appearances on Return Of The Fist, which is an album containing various demos from 2003-2006, so it’s safe to assume what we hear on Return Of The Fist is the exact same as their first appearances from the demo. Kyle, Shuvel’s drummer on the previous two releases and joined Crazy Town, was replaced by Trevor Stafford, who later played in Adelitas Way.

Return Of The Fist

Return Of The Fist is a great album and released back in 2006. Like I said earlier, it’s an album, but it’s also almost like a compilation at the same time since it has different songs from 2003-2006. It’s a brand new sound for Shuvel, containing more melodic elements, more clean singing, and a big, produced sound to it, but still somewhat raw. It has a bit of jazz and bluesy elements to it as well, which is pretty cool for a nu metal album. My top three favorites on this album are Wake Up, My Reality, and Hollow, super awesome songs.

This was the final release featuring Jeff Hollinger and Trevor Stafford, which Jeff actually doesn’t appear on the song Wheelz. This album is also Josh Fresia’s first debut as the new drummer for Shuvel. Almost all songs on this album except for My Reality, Life Changes, and Hollow were re-recorded for the follow-up and final album, As The World Burns. 

Jeff Hollinger later went on to form a project known as ‘SOMA’, which you can listen to their album Space To Divide In Half here, released on June 15, 2010.

As The World Burns

As The World Burns was released in December 2009 through Tao Music. This album is probably my least favorite release by Shuvel, but I still like it. I love the cover art especially, it's very cartoony and chaotic, political as well. This is also probably the rawest Shuvel’s production ever was, a bit more raw than Set It Off. There are two brand new songs, the songs being Dinosaur and Clear The Frequency.

My favorite songs from this album are Mr. President, Don’t Stop, and Wheels. Since Jeff left, Isaac is now the only singer, and honestly, I think he did a pretty good job at being the only vocalist. This album definitely demonstrates Isaac’s singing abilities much more than the previous material. I'd like to note that there is also a 2008 release of this album titled 'Dunn's Mixes'.

Shuvel’s End

Shuvel only went on to play more shows for two more years after As The World Burns’ release. They made two new songs (Pigs and Everything), but there was never an official release for both. Shuvel played many shows at The Roxy, located in Los Angeles. In 2011, Shuvel officially called it a day and made an announcement on Facebook regarding their split up from each other.

After Shuvel, a new project containing everyone from Shuvel but with Jasan Radford from Onesidezero and later Centershift on vocals. The name of it was ‘The Knife Outline’, which you can go here to check out some of the music they put out.

And after The Knife Outline, Ryan Stuber and Carlos Sandoval went on to form ‘Hellhounds of London’, which had an entirely different sound from their other work. It was more blues-like.

Where are they now?

Isaac sometimes posts short videos of him rapping on his YouTube channel, Ryan plays in the alternative rock band with Jason Radford, Centershift, and Josh is still playing in various bands.

Conclusion

As you can tell, Shuvel is one of my all time favorite bands, and I have a lot of love towards their music and history.

-Thank you for reading!