Sioux Falls’ SHURR JR.’s leaves an indelible mark with “Ink”… New single out now

While recording the track at ARC Studios in Omaha, an unexpected celebrity visitor amped up the pressure to deliver a killer song. “This was our first time working in a professional studio, so there was a lot of excitement but also a lot of nerves,” Nick relates. “To add to that, right before we started recording, Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes walked in, which definitely upped the stakes. We suddenly felt this pressure to really prove ourselves and make sure we got it right. But in a way, that experience shaped the song even more—it made us really lock in and focus on our sound.”

What they ended up with is perhaps the cornerstone of Red Shelter. “‘Ink’ plays a key role in shaping the overall mood of the record because it’s one of those songs that really paints a picture,” he explains. “You can visualize the ink smearing, the discomfort, the frustration, the feeling of being lost in a mess of emotions. That kind of literal imagery adds an intensity to the EP that balances out some of the more abstract moments. By the time we finished recording it, we had a much clearer vision of the sound we wanted to create for the rest of the record. It was a learning experience, but ultimately, it made the song and the whole EP stronger.”

While they may seem like upstarts, the band (comprised of Nick and his siblings drummer Frankie and bassist Kelly) have been perfecting their craft for years now. Inspired by the songwriting of Elliott Smith, the musicality of the Avett Brothers, and the unbridled fury of Title Fight, Nick and Frankie started writing songs and practicing in their mother’s garage in 2015, inspired by their late father Frank who was in popular Omaha, NE band Fifth of May. Carrying on his legacy of music, the two brothers and sister formed Shurr Jr. as a tribute to their dad. “He is my biggest inspiration musically, because he was the person who got me into guitar,” explains Nick. “He told me when I was first learning to play, ‘Nick, if you want to truly do this, you have to put every ounce of you into the instrument, and I can’t teach you that. You have to learn that on your own.’”

Blending Nick’s rhythmic, pummeling guitar playing, earworm melodies, emotive lyrics, with Frankie’s upbeat drumming and Kelly’s bouncy bass rhythms, Shurr Jr. creates a meeting ground between grunge, emo, punk, surf, and rock which was showcased in the band’s 2021 digitally-released single, “Dysania/Uncool.” With Red Shelter, the trio continue to expand their musical palette, painting swaths of textures and feels. The opening “Ashes” hearkens fellow Midwesterners Replacements and Husker Du while the chiming indiepop of “Lewis Park” is reminiscent of Posies with the abrasiveness of Pixies. The discordant closer “The End” holds a special place in Nick’s oeuvre. “It reminds me of total closure,” he explains. “I was starting to move past a dark chapter in my life and I felt like I was able to be a human again. I was finally starting to write about different scenarios in my life, that did not just have to deal with a relationship, but dealt with myself.”

Red Shelter was produced and engineered by Nate Van Fleet (Better Oblivion Community Center, Semler, Criteria) and will be released March 28th via Max Trax Records.