Equal parts soul, hip-hop and rock 'n' roll, Shea Rose's music is soaked in
heartbreak. Her oeuvre rides the roller coaster of life's letdowns, both
romantic and otherwise.
It was only a few years ago, after taking and leaving her dream job as a
writer for MTV in New York City, that Rose even started singing. Feeling
overwhelmed by New York, Rose came home to Boston and started performing with
neo soul and classic rock acts. She tuned into Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and
Led Zeppelin, liked the freedom she found in rock, and found ways to work it
into her sound.
In 2007 she enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music and quickly
became a class favorite. Rose has a lot of appreciation for the opportunities
Berklee afforded her, namely the chance to study abroad in Athens and a spot in
the school's Women in Rock show in 2008. There she met rock drummer Cindy
Blackman who, impressed with Shea's talent, invited her to Italy to record a
full-length album. That untitled project has yet to be released, but a separate
self-produced EP titled "Rock 'n Rose" will come out this spring.
Rose describes her sound as Lauryn Hill meets Lenny Kravitz. On stage she
calls to mind the raw energy of Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha,
especially in the emotionally charged "You Can't Call Me," a song Rose's younger
brother wrote for her after a break up. She'll get the whole crowd jumping up
and down, almost yelling the lyrics, "You can't / Call me anymore / Changing my
number / I ain't taking your call."
The raw honesty in her performance is different from the polished,
produced sound found in her recorded material, but Rose's stripped-down stage
setup - sans drum kit or bass - really complements her presence. Rose is
refreshingly just as down-to-earth in person, always striving to strike a
balance between ego and being alone. While it may not be glamorous, she admits,
outside of music she's very focused on her family and staying healthy. She's a
juicing enthusiast, for example, particularly partial to beets.
Today, Rose can be found performing with three other powerhouse Berklee
students: Dwight Rivera on keys, Marcio Philomena on guitar and Jorge Perez
Gonzalez on percussion. Recently, the four were joined by local underground funk
superstar Nephtaliem McCrary of the Nephrok! Allstars at a benefit show for the
One Brown Girl Camp Caribe Fund at the Alchemist in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Though
they had never met, Rose recognized McCrary and pulled him on stage for an
impromptu solo and then duet. And that was just one example of her passionate,
spontaneous nature. Throughout the set she held the audience in her pocket,
alternately stunning people to silence and riling them up for call-and-response
sequences. She even got away with performing her single "Rock N Rose" twice.
http://www.myspace.com/jushearose
Photographer: Marcus Smith |