The Shins Tickets for Sale

The Shins is home to a number of artists and musicians; lead vocalist and guitarist James Mercer, drummer Joe Plummer, guitarist Jessica Dobson, bassist Yuuki Matthews and keyboardist Richard Swift. Though originating in New Mexico, the band is today based in Portland, Oregon. It all started when singer and songwriter James Mercer began writing new songs in 1996, recording an EP titled as Nature Bears A Vacuum. This EP was then released through Omnibus Records with the band first performing live as a duo with drummer Jesse Sandoval. The EP attracted so much attention that the band grew to include a keyboardist, bassist and vocalist.

The Shins then began work on their debut album while at the same time touring with bands like Modest Mouse. In 2000, while on tour with Modest Mouse, they performed in San Francisco and caught the attention of Jonathan Poneman from the record label Sub Pop. Initially, they were asked to contribute a song to Sub Pop’s Single of the Month Club but which culminated in Sub Pop releasing the band’s first song, New Slang, as well as its first studio album Oh, Inverted World. This was followed by much of the year on tour with several more singles like The Past and Pending and Know Your Onion released. Their debut album achieved much acclaim and was regarded as one of the best indie rock albums of its time. One of its songs, One By One All Day, was part of the soundtrack of the hit movie, A Guy Thing, which starred Jason Lee.

Two more songs by The Shins , New Slang and Caring Is Creepy, were part of the soundtrack of the 2004 movie, Garden State, which led to more popularity for the band with their music being featured in TV series such as Scrubs, The OC and Gilmore Girls as well as in the animated movie, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Their first album also made it in Pitchfork’s Top 100 Albums list ranking the greatest albums of the 2000s. In 2003, Sub Pop released the band’s next album, Chutes Too Narrow, produced by Phil Ek of Modest Mouse and Built To Spill fame. This album was even more successful and received rave reviews from the critics, becoming one of the most talked about album in the indie music scene.

In 2006, The Shins grew even further when they were the curators of the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival held in the UK each year. During this time, they were heavily touring all over the world, visiting countries such as Australia and Norway. Their album, Chutes Too Narrow, sold more than five hundred thousand copies and made it into Pitchfork Media’s Top 100 Albums list, their second album to do so. In 2004, they collaborated with Iron and Wine to release a live version of New Slang.

In 2006, The Shins album Wincing the Night Away was released and it ranked second on the Billboard 200 chart. It sold a record one hundred and eighteen thousand copies in its first week only, the first band to do so on Sub Pop. It received a Grammy Award nomination as the Best Alternative Music Album. In 2012, they released their latest album, Port of Morrow, and are set to perform live at a series of concerts spread out all over the US; an indication for fans to jump up and get hold of The Shins tickets.