Today we’d like to introduce you to Shane Gelinas.
Shane, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My passion for singing started when I joined the choir in elementary school. I went on to join theater and later perused acting in junior high professionally. I had met my agent after walking into an AA meeting after skateboarding that my dad was attending. I had an overwhelming admiration for Jim Carrey growing up and really wanted to do comedy but realized that I wasn’t too keen with it. I had found that most of the roles I was cast for were emotional characters.
My agent kept me really busy throughout my 3-year stint that I eventually left school and started Homeschooling. My social life had been put on the back burner, and my relationship with my dad started to suffer due to how much pressure I had felt to further my career. The passion had burned out. It wasn’t fun anymore, and a lot of the money I was making was being spent to pay guardians to watch me on set.
Around 16 years old, after a 3-month shoot, I had become overwhelmed and wanted to quit. I wanted to be free to hang out with my friends and just be a teenager. And that’s what I did. I had saved a decent amount of money, so I decided to drop out of school and started to play in bands with friends. I had been in about three bands before starting my own group called Enblessin. Man, those days were some of the best times of my life. I learned a lot in that band.
A lot about music, even more about the dynamic of people. As most bands do, we broke up five years later as my heart was no longer in line musically with what the other members wanted to do. I started another group, a duo, called The Divine. The Divine was definitely a pivotal point in my life. I had started learning how to produce music, write and structure proper songs and mostly the importance of hands of promotion. We used to jump the fences of high schools and out our show flyers in every locker haha.
The Divine went on to win an MTV music award for LA’s best break out artists in 2010 and sold out LA venues such as The Key Club, The Roxy and The Knitting Factory as well as toured with Mickey Avalon and Ty Dolla $ign. We had signed a record deal with a subsidiary of Sony and felt like our hard work was starting to pay off. Little did I know that this was the beginning of a long journey of emotional ups and downs. The deal ended up falling apart, and due to our lack of discipline and understanding of how the record industry worked we both walked away from the group discourage and upset with each other.
Our friendship didn’t end on a great note either but would be mended years down the road. After the breakup of The Divine I started performing and recording as a solo artist and had the opportunity to write with some high profile producers for big name artist until I met a producer named Bob Curtin through my friends band Sleeptalk (The bass player, Paul, from my first band Enblessin was in this band now) who was currently in the studio recording with him.
Bob and I started working on some of my new music together and decided to start a band together called Soul Tribe with my good friend Eric Davis and his good friend Ryan Cook. It was like a dream come true. No drama, writing and recording every day, drinking and having and having a good time together. It was just fun. At this time my drinking and drug abuse was starting to get out of hand (I had been sober for about six years previously) but was so distracted by the good times we were having.
Soul Tribe became my one and only focus, and I knew that we would be successful due to the amount of chemistry we had. We ended up signing a significant record deal with Epic records in late 2015. I remember sitting in LA Ried’s Office with about 15 of his A&R’s listening to our music and thinking about how surreal it was. We were going to be signed to a major label! Back then, that’s all anyone wanted I think. Unfortunately, Epic ended up firing the A&R guy who got us the deal, and we felt it was in our best interest to walk away since we would have been given to an A&R who may have not understood our music or know what to do with us. Again, that band broke up.
What I’m getting at here is that I spent so much of my time working towards a dream of “making it.” That wasn’t a reality. In my opinion, success in music isn’t measured by how much money you sign for or by what label you sign with (if one at all). It’s measured by how accomplished you feel and how much joy you feel when you hear your music. I listen to my own music more than anyone. If your an artist, you should. You should be your favorite artist. You should be making the music that wishes you could hear. I spent so much time being a singer rather than being a creator, a writer, a musician and lost sight of the importance of just making good music.
The past two years I have been focused on crafting my art. Writing with other artist and producers and have transformed myself into a writer, producer, and recording engineer as well as a graphic designer. I take pride in being a self-sustaining artist. I am currently working on a handful of singles that I am realizing independently having all of my extremely talented friends doing features and then a follow-up EP. I have an incredible 1-year-old son who is obsessed with playing drums and a beautiful, supportive wife of three years. We recently bought our first home in Valenciaga and are looking forward to growing our family. I think God every day for such a wonderful life.
Art is hard, but there is so much beauty in learning about yourself through it. The outward expression, the ups and downs and the constant struggle of creating something worth being created is what I live for. We don’t get on the rollercoaster for it to go straight and steady. We do it for the thrill and excitement of what is coming next.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s been a constant struggle, and the struggle continues. I believe it’s that way for anyone who creates any kind of art. We are our own worst critics, but that only makes us better at what we do. We must meet the highest criteria in our minds for our work to be considered “great.”
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Rouxx story. Tell us more about the business.
I consider myself a writer above all things, but I am most proud of the fact that I have learned to be a fully self-sustaining artist from writing and recording to mixing as well as creating my own album art and overall branding. I do work with other people and draw inspiration from many sources but know that I must put out the highest caliber quality in all those aspects for me to look at my art and be satisfied.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe in luck. Life is mental. You manifest your reality. I spent a lot of my life wondering why I didn’t have certain things or focused on why things weren’t happening for me. It’s because I didn’t believe they would. I didn’t think I was worthy of them.
Once I changed my mindset and believed that those things were within my reach, they started coming to fruition. It’s not like they magically appeared, but the mindset puts you into action towards obtaining what you want in life — laws of attraction… real.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rouxxla.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Rouxxofficial
- Facebook: Rouxxofficial
- Twitter: Rouxxofficial
Image Credit:
Jose Carranza, Morgan Pierre
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