Artist Profile

Michael in Reign | Shun

By Dan ⋅ April 6, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Shun is easily one of my favorite bands. It’s such shame they came and went almost unnoticed. This post is late relative to their EP release, but it’s never too late to spread the word of great music. Somehow I stumbled across their EP, Michael in Reign (2002), shortly after it came out on Mp3.com. I subsequently downloaded all the songs they had to offer on the site, fell in love with every single one, and then noticed they had already broken up. Man was I pissed.

Finding a rock band with an incredible singer theses days is nothing short of finding a needle in a hay stack. Without getting into my pet peeve of everyone comparing Tool to anything remotely like them, if you like Maynard James Keenan, then you’ll like BIlly White. I’d say that is a legitimate comparison. In fact, you might even like Billy White more. Honestly, I can hear more emotion behind Billy White’s voice, and his lyrics are more down to Earth and easier to decipher. Let’s just put it this way, Billy White is easily one of my top 5 favorite singers in rock.

While the vocals of Shun’s music are my favorite aspect, the whole band is really on point. No one is flashy, yet everyone makes it known that they know both their instrument and role. The drums, the guitars, the bass… its just all beautifully crafted. The overall sound is rock with some dark themes, but you can’t really call it progressive and you can’t call it heavy. Its just straight up good rock with really strong vocals and superb composition.

I would love to find out why these guys never took off. If you can find Michael in Reign… get it. You will not regret whatever effort you have to give to get it. I’ve only ever met one person that had already heard of Shun that hadn’t heard about them from me. I’d love for that statistic to at least double.

Shun was Billy White (Vocals), David Crutcher (guitar), Crys Hawkins (guitar), Richie Glover (bass), and Jack Glenn (drums).

The audio clip is the first track on Michael in Reign entitled Glass to Sand. Enjoy it, love it, make a kid with it, then feel free to cheat on it with her sisters in various zip codes.

Tags: rock