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By Randy Matin
Santa Barbara News-Press
Published: 7/20/00
Oh my Lord. Oh well. Here we go again," is about all Christian Shinn can predict for the future of his new band, Unified Theory. Twice before Shinn has been this close to stardom and each time the record company that was poised to launch his career crumbled, folded, and disappeared. And now with the rapidly approaching Aug. 15 release date for Unified Theory's self-titled album, comes the announcement that Universal Records, for whom the band records on the 3:33 Music label, has been placed on the sales block along with Universal Pictures et al by corporate parent Seagram's.
As much as the expression "here we go again" indicates that Shinn and company may be in for a white -knuckle ride, it also strikes a positive note for Shinn's bandmates - former Blind Melon guitarist and bass player Christopher Torn and Brad Smith, who believe they are, once again, in fine musical company following the heroin overdose death of Blind Melon's singer Shannon Hoon.
Knowing better then to try and repackage Blind Melon, the Seattle-based Torn and Smith spent several years, as Shinn describes it in a telephone interview from his hometown of Charlotte, N.C., "searching for a singer, a band or anything they could believe in."
Shinn, a supple alto and songwriter, had no intention of becoming a replacement for Hoon. "I wasn't about to become the guy that everyone hated. I've worked too hard to do what I'm doing. And in our early meetings, we had some loose conversation about Christopher joining my band."
While Torn and Smith were mourning the loss of Hoon, Shinn, now 25, was also going through trying times. He first had a development deal with Chrysalis Records, at age 19 after moving from Charlotte to Los Angeles, that gave him the budget to hire a band and record demos under the group name Celia Green.
Then Chrysalis folded, as did Shinn's next label affiliation. And if that wasn't enough, Shinn's house burned down wiping out all the band's equipment and the new tapes that they were just about to deliver to Virgin Records.
"Talk about setbacks!" exclaims Shinn, who sports dreadlocks and favors high-heeled shoes and fashions by Diesel.
Named after a psychologist who proved in the '60s that all humans experience lucid dreaming, Celia Green issued two promo-only EPs, the latter of which was passed on to Thorn by a mutual friend.
Over dinner and much sake at Yamashiro in L.A., it was decided that Shinn would go to Seattle for a week to meet Smith and see what the trio could come up with. Album cuts "Passive" and the dreamy "Cessna" were the first to pop.
"Once we realized we were going to be a band we took a little honeymoon down to the Bahamas. That was a really beautiful time for all of us," says Shinn, whose seafaring father lent the lads his schooner for the voyage from Florida to the islands. "We got a lot of closure on big issues and continued writing."
Made buoyant by aquatic imagery, the song "Fin" was born in the Bahamas. "That song defines the band in every way. Like 'Passive,' it's got all our different movements from heavy to soft and the kind of dreamy vibes we were going for. Kind of a 'Back to Zen,' thing," says Shinn, who was raised on his mother's Bruce Springsteen records and his father's preference for playing George Jones at top volume.
Following the honeymoon, the future began to look hazy for Unified Theory with Thorn leaving to tour and record with the band Live and drummer Dave Krusen still on the road with Candlebox.
"At first I thought it was going to take a year to get our album together and I even considered moving back to L.A.," says Shinn. "But Christopher was willing to give up his gig with Live if we wanted him to. So every day he was in town we would cram every minute in and do something on the record." Doing things piecemeal at Thorn's Lucky Dog home studio and Smith's Stankface, the album came together with Matthue Steer filling the drums chair on three songs, Smith doubling on the organ, flute, bells and horns and Thorn adding strings, mellotron, mandolin and lap steel.
The ever-ambitious Smith, dubbed "Hobby Guy" by his bandmates, also found time to record an unreleased solo album "Brokendown Jalopy" from which comes Unified Theory's first single "California" with lyrics retooled by Shinn.
"Brad put it in my lap and I hacked about half of his lyrics out and changed them around," says Shinn. "We thought we could really crank it up and drive it a little harder. And now the songs relate to all of us because we all made that trip (by relocating) to California. It represents everyone's passions and dreams."
Taking its name from the unproved and unfinished Unified Theory that Einstein was working on at the time of his death, Shinn says, "If there is an overall theme to the band it's that we try to have everything in order. We are going for an album like (Pink Floyd's) 'Dark Side of the Moon.' The kind of record that you go home and kick back by the fire with headphones on. When you listen to it from top to bottom everything should make sense up to the very last word."