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February 16, 2001
By MARK SAAL
Standard-Examiner staff
www.standard.net
OK, so losing all of your worldly possessions in a house fire can't exactly be categorized as a good thing. But Chris Shinn knows first hand that a lot of positive karma can come from a bad situation like that.
A few years ago, the North Carolina native was pursuing his musical dream in Southern California when fire swept through his rented home in the Hollywood Hills. Shinn lost it all: At least a dozen guitars. All of his and his band's recording equipment. Master tapes. Personal effects. Even one of his cats. Shinn himself ended up getting "burned pretty bad."
As bad an experience as it was, Shinn believes it had a happy ending.
"That really did change my life," Shinn said, and not necessarily for the worse. "But then, I've never been the kind of person who looks at tragedy that way. I didn't see the fire as, "Oh well, that's it, my life's screwed.' Instead, I thought, "This is going to open new doors for me.'"
And, Shinn says, it has.
A year later, he met guitarist Christopher Thorn, who invited Shinn up to Seattle to jam with him and bassist Brad Smith. Thorn and Smith, former members of the band Blind Melon, had gone through a bit of a tragedy themselves, having lost friend and Melon lead singer Shannon Hoon to a cocaine overdose in 1995.
At Thorn's invitation, Shinn went up for a week -- and, he says, stayed for two. By the end of that time, the three musicians wrote and recorded two songs, "Cessna" and "Passive."
"We pretty much had the final two versions of these songs done in just two weeks," Shinn said. "So I'm flying home listening to this, thinking "This is too good. I can't not make a record with these guys.'"
Shinn relocated to Seattle, the trio added original Pearl Jam drummer Dave Krusen to the mix, and they began recording and performing as Unified Theory.
"Meeting Christopher and Brad totally changed my life," Shinn said. "I didn't know there could be that many people in one band like that. There's so much talent, that between the four of us it's just great -- it's a never-ending well of creativity going on here."
Today, the alt-modern rock band Unified Theory has a self-titled debut album out (on the 3:33/Universal label) and has been touring heavily since last summer. On Wednesday, Unified Theory returns to Utah with a concert at Liquid Joe's private club in Salt Lake City.
"I look back now, and had that fire never have happened, I might not have hooked up with Christopher and Brad," Shinn said.
Not Blind Melon
Although fully half of Unified Theory is made up of former Blind Melon members, all say this new project isn't just a continuation of Blind Melon sans Hoon. And, while Shinn is routinely compared to the former Melon lead singer, he calls such talk "flattering, but not intimidating."
"Shannon Hoon is an amazing singer, and he will always be in the Top 5 in my book," Shinn said. "But there will never be another Chris Shinn, either. I'm extremely comfortable with what I do. The guys knew that, and that's why it all worked out so well. The whole Blind Melon thing didn't intimidate me at all."
Shinn says he and his bandmates quickly realized when they started this band that -- because of the lineage of some of the members -- there would be a certain amount of buzz about the group. They knew there would be recording deals offered "right off the bat, just because of the history," he said. Despite such distractions, Shinn says the band has remained focused on its own goals.
"We wanted to make a record for ourselves," he said. "We wanted to make the music we liked, first and foremost. We didn't want anyone tainting our concept of Unified Theory."
Spiritual Experience
That concept, according to Shinn, is to create a musical experience that borders on the spiritual or religious.
"I think music has an ability to touch people in an extremely inexplicable way," he said. "It's very spiritual. No one can explain what it is, or why it was that you got chills at a show. But when you hear a great song, it inspires you to change your life in some respects. That's why I'm into it. It just means so much to me on that level."
Shinn also thinks a lot of bands today just don't have the power to create that spiritual experience. He doesn't sense that "honest feeling" listening to a lot of popular music.
"You listen to bands on the radio now, and it's obvious they went out and bought the software for the "Formula for a Hit Song' and applied the lyrics to all these little formulas," he said.
In the final analysis, Shinn believes listeners have an innate sense of when musicians are telling the truth with their music.
"When an artist is honest, you can tell," he said. "And you can also tell when it's contrived."
Sometimes, before Unified Theory goes out on stage, Shinn will tell his bandmates, "Remember, it's not how we play this song, it's why. It's why we wrote it, it's why we play it."
Measure of Success
Although Unified Theory may never become one of the most popular bands out there, Shinn says his group will always make true, honest music. And in the end, he believes that's what really matters.
"We're not selling records like Korn or Britney Spears, but then again, I don't want to be Korn or Britney Spears," Shinn said. "I don't measure success that way, and I'm one of the most successful people I know. I'm in a band with people that I love, I get to make music and do what I love to do."