After more than 25 years of song writing and playing his heartfelt songs, Shady Wade is releasing his debut single, Damaged Goods. We spoke to him about his journey to the release…
This is your first release?
It’s my first single, but I’ve been writing music for 25 years.
That’s a long time!
I started in high school, but I didn’t start sharing it until I was in my 20s.
Is that because you’re a shy person?
Kind of. I’m self-taught and don’t come from a musical family. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a reluctant performer. My songs are quite personal, and it took me a long time to master the idea of singing in public.
How did you overcome it?
I think I just kept writing and building up songs and I really like some of them and so that compelled me to share them eventually. Getting positive feedback from friends also really motivated me to get over the reluctance.
Feedback is very important – it can help you keep going.
I guess I was looking for external validation and when I got that, it allowed me to take more risks, and it really helped me in my performing. I needed that feedback when I first started sharing my work – it helped me build confidence.
Tell me about the single.
It’s called ‘Damaged Goods’ – I wrote it around 2019 – it’s about being in a new relationship but not being willing to open up and having past heartbreak from previous relationships impact on a new relationship.
And what kind of genre would you say you fit into?
It’s folk rock – it’s driven acoustically and lyrically. Greg Haver, who was my producer, was great -he had some excellent ideas, and we had a shared vision for the song when we recorded it.
Greg Haver was one of your mentors in the Toi Ōtautahi incubator programme?
He was. He and Sam Trevethick were my co-mentors and they were amazing. The funny thing is that this song was on the top of my list to record – it always had good feedback when I performed it – I liked the melody and the lyrics. When I played a sample of songs for Greg – this was the one he picked and so we were on the same page. He also wanted to do the drums on it and that was great. Having producers of their caliber was daunting, but both my producers were really good at making me feel at ease.
Was the incubator programme rewarding?
Totally. It was the kickstart I needed to get the ball rolling. I’d been weighing up recording and I’d approached a few local producers who were busy – and I wasn’t great at selling myself. I was weighing up costs and how much it would cost me to record anything – and so it was daunting. The mentorship helped make it happen.
Wade’s Single will be available tomorrow on Spotify and Apple streaming platforms.
Go to Wade’s instagram page here.
And watch the accompanying video on Wade’s YouTube channel here.