Music history wouldn’t be half of what it is without all of the great songs about the one that got away. You know the kind: Boy meets girl, boy makes a play for girl, boy gets shot down. Shane Murphy’s “Regular John” comes on like another one of those classic rejection numbers—but it has even more torque once you realize the resentful lonely heart in question might not have found the cojones to bust a move in the first place.
As funked-up Montreal rocker Murphy explains, the song’s narrator is
“a man of low degree, filled with self-pity, pining for a woman who sees herself as ‘higher status.’ He realizes he has no chance with this imaginary beauty but is still full of delusion.”
Hence street-poetically bleak passages like “West End girls gonna twist your neck/ They gonna make you holler/ Shoot you down remote control/ Bet your bottom dollar,” which let’s just say would never be mistaken for excerpts from The Power of Positive Thinking. They provide a perfect layup, though, for the tune’s lamenting refrain of “I’m just a Regular John/ And I’m barely holdin’ on.” And while the song is busy depicting the power imbalance at its core, it even manages to work in namechecks to both Iceberg Slim and Connie Francis—a pairing we’re pretty confident has never happened before, anywhere and in any context.
Feeling denied when you haven’t even tried your best is a dichotomy that’s perfectly in keeping with the theme of irony that runs through Murphy’s latest album, Easy Street. The very title of the record is a winking acknowledgment that real life is anything but easy; elsewhere, the idea that there’s always more going on than meets the eye suffuses tracks like “Going Back to Brownsburg” (a revisionist blues that posits sex and drugs as the cure for the main character’s ills) and “Lucky in Love” (a one-sided boast on the part of a self-styled Romeo who’s conspicuously glossing over all the times he didn’t score).
His seventh release since bursting on the scene with 2002’s The Green EP, Easy Street was recorded primarily at Toronto’s Lincoln County Social Club, in a first-ever collaboration between Murphy and producer Graham Playford. The record represents a new high-water mark in the artist’s ongoing campaign to weld gritty rock and blues to soul, funk and even reggae: His earthy vocals and percussive guitar on “Regular John” in particular harken back to the glory days of Sly Stone et al, when the line between “white” and “Black” music wasn’t so finely drawn and all that mattered was how hard you got down.
Skipping ahead just a few years, there’s a clear nod to Roger Troutman and Zapp in the voccoded backing vocals of keyboardist Kierscey Rand. And that’s not even mentioning the incredibly propulsive groove laid down by the one-man rhythm section of Anthony Lombardi on bass and drums.
Radio sure seems to be on board. Like the two previous singles from the album—“Painted Toes” and “Pay No Mind”—“Regular John” has hit the top 40 on Canada’s Active Rock chart, receiving regular play on CHOM FM in Montreal ever since its release on October 7. In the wake of that ongoing success, and to remind us all that he’s no mere studio phenomenon, Murphy has a couple of shows booked that promise to be unforgettable entries in his CV as a performer. His past appearances have included gigs with the highly diverse likes of Adele, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Rodeo, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Buddy Guy, and Steel Pulse.
Unlike a certain John we could mention, expecting a “regular” time wouldn’t even begin to cover it.
Hi, Shane! Good to see meet you! Care to introduce yourself to the readers?
Hi! good to meet you as well! My name is Shane Murphy, and I am a recording artist from Montreal working on my seventh full-length album at the moment. My primary influences our soul, blues, and funk. I love making music and touring. I’ve been lucky enough to play all over North America and Europe. The next goal is to reach Japan and Australia.
“Regular John” paints a vivid picture of a man grappling with rejection and self-delusion. What inspired you to write from the perspective of this “man of low degree”?
When I wrote Regular John I had been ruminating on love. Idealized love, unrequited love, all of the loves. I found that often love is a one-way street. One person tends to love the other more. There’s always an unbalance. The Protagonist in the song is slowly coming to terms with that. Also, the line between love and lust is often blurred.
The imagery in “Regular John” is striking, with references to West End girls, Iceberg Slim, and Connie Francis. How do you approach blending such diverse influences into your songwriting?
Like many artists, I love film and books as well. But I’m always jumping around between genres. I find myself always looking for the common thread between those works. And how can I tie those themes together in a unique way? Whether It’s a blues song, a disco song, or a Goddard film I’m also looking for inspiration…and I’m a big Connie Francis fan. #3
This album marks your first collaboration with producer Graham Playford. How did working with him influence the direction or production of Easy Street?
Well… He’s a dear friend with great ears, so it just made sense. The timing was right. I had the cargo but I just needed someone to steer the ship. Recording an album is a big undertaking and having someone like Graham to have, to bounce ideas off of was a huge weight off my shoulders, his ability to zoom out and keep an eye on the overall arch and direction made for an album that is my most focussed and cohesive to date.
With Easy Street receiving radio play and charting in Canada, how has the reception to the album been for you?
Any recording artist who tells you they don’t care whether or not their songs play on the radio is lying. Well, I’d be lying. Obviously, it’s a big thrill to have three of the songs crack the top 40 on the Canadian active rock chart. I think it speaks to the album’s cohesion and the time we spent crafting the songs. It’s been a blessing and I’m full of gratitude. When you’re driving around town, and your song comes on the radio…it’s a trip.