Music Aug 6, 2009 at 4:00 am

Jesse Sandoval Discusses His Forced Exit from the Shins

Comments

1
i met jesse one time when he was doing merch for modest mouse. this was before chutes too narrow was released -- so the shins weren't super big, and he seemed a bit surprised to be recognized. anyway, he was super friendly. i always liked his drumming too, so i was quite saddened to hear about mercer's shaky reasoning behind his departure from the band. it takes a lot away from mercer's music to know how business-oriented he is, and you can't replace the special dynamic of a band of guys who've been playing together for decades. it's a shame.
2
The only people who really know....REALLY know how things worked within this band for the last few years are the original band themselves. James, Marty, Jesse and Dave. They ALL have a story that makes sense when put together. Listening to just one of them, be they James OR Jesse, provides a mere fraction of a very long and complicated story that nobody but they understand.

And people who believe that Shins music should not be supported due to personnel changes, well, they arent music fans. They are fans of a soap opera that they wish existed, comprised of rules of morality made up entirely by them. And the Shins are better off without them.

However, if there are music fans that are mature enough to be aware that art cannot be measured alone by the supposed "character" of the artist, then the Shins and Mercer will continue to inspire. Forever.

Best of luck to Sandoval.
3
[COMMENT EDITED DUE TO POTENTIALLY LIBELOUS AND UNVERIFIABLE CONTENT—ED.] I wonder if that kind of behavior had anything to do with his getting fired?

Serves him fucking right.
4
I played my very first show with the Shins. I don't recall Taco Guy being a seducer.
5
@ClipClop then why was his nickname Cunt Destroyer?
6
this is actually very simple: it's about guys who have known each other since they were young, starting a band, and then getting famous. but while one band member led the way and did all the work, the others let the temptations of the rock and roll lifestyle get a little out of hand. Mercer probably should have just killed the band and started a new project, but i can't blame him for wanting to rid himself of party animal band-mates.
7
classy, jesse. really classy.
in one move you've...
admitted that james has tried to be cool about all of this but that you've ignored him, despite the fact that you see how torn up about it he is....

pretended that a visit from management was an unusual sign that something cold and scary and legal was coming, when i think visits were not only commonplace, but regularly social as well as work related. (didnt you contact management regularly more than anybody else in that band?)...

spelled out how important it is that this interview is out there so people will stop talking about it and drop everything when in actuality you know exactly what kind of shitstorm this would create again for your old "friends"...

acted confused and hurt about your noble pursuit of learning drumlines not being appreciated, despite the fact that not touching a drumstick for over a year if there wasnt band work happening was a regular practice with you. you had a "slower learning curve than polished musicians"? dude you almost went out of your way to forget how to play drums...

you outed the details of mercers new side-project before it was officially announced. wow....

apparently you are mostly angry about the meeting/BBQ/catching up on the days when you were essentially a manager (???) not happening-yet you conveniently neglect to say why that meeting never occurred...

you just made it official that you wont work with mercer ever again even though he said he'd like to at some point. hope you dont regret that little one. will you also, again out of principle, get rid of everything in your life, including your house and this taco truck, that being a member of james's band afforded you? will you also return every check sent to you from now on from record sales and merch? checks that will continue to be made out to you as long as ANYONE buys something with "the shins" attatched to it? you know-since james is such a bastard?

the neal comparison? are you for real?

anyone that knows you, really knows you, and knows exactly whats going on here, knows what a funny article this is.
everyone else...well i hope they just let you make tacos in peace for once and stop constantly pestering you for autographs and instead listen to your message of "hey man just leave my buddy james alone...and for HEAVENS SAKE dont stop buying shins records or anything!!! cant we all just get along???"

you are a real class act.

8
Well I for one won't be purchasing/stealing any new Shins cd's or going to anymore concerts/buying tons of merch James crapped on his bandmates and friends by doing this cold and callous move.. I'm just glad to see Jessie finally speaking about it.And @ Catfan.. your comment is blocked, but I'm assuming you're talking about Marty getting in a fight with his girlfriend where all charges were dropped.. not Jessie..Marty.. And all charges were dropped so stfu.
9
I've been listening to these guys since 1998 ..and I for one won't be purchasing/stealing any new Shins cd's or going to anymore concerts/buying tons of merch James crapped on his bandmates and friends by doing this cold and callous move.. I'm just glad to see Jessie finally speaking about it.And @ Catfan.. your comment is blocked, but I'm assuming you're talking about Marty getting in a fight with his girlfriend where all charges were dropped.. not Jessie..Marty Crandall..
10
hey atheistpeace. wow, the shit you dont know could fill a book.

that one comment that was blocked (i got to read it before they removed it) definitely had nothing to do with the marty crandall/elyse sewell debacle. and i wont repeat it here cause it will just get removed again, i assume. but suffice to say it was some pretty bad stuff-stuff that i've not read anywhere.

so yes-please stop having anything to do with this band. i'm sure one less overly-reactive and insane fan that believes everything they read/hear verbatim without any basis and allows that to dictate their musical taste would be awesome news for these guys.

and its spelled "jesse", mr "listening to these guys since 1998"...
12
.....or.....
actually DOES have some shit on him.

There are definitely two sides to Jesse. I'ts great that you know one of them.
13
There seem to be several people who posted about this who were sure that Sandoval had it coming...but rather than really saying why, they just did these snide, insinuation-themed "we ALL know perfectly well why this happened" posts. Would've been nice if they'd actually said what they supposedly know.

I wasn't into the Shins, but it doesn't sound from the article as if Sandoval was THAT much of an irredeemable fuck-up. And also, given that he and Mercer were equals in the band(it wasn't "The James Mercer Band", and Sandoval wasn't a mere sideman)did Mercer really have the right to fire Sandoval as if he were an underling? Nobody would've accepted Paul having the right to fire Ringo, after all(not that The Cute One wouldn't have tried it once or twice if he thought he could).

It might have been different if Mercer or the label had at least offered to set up another project for Sandoval, rather than just treating him like the Pointy Haired Boss treats the whole engineering department in DILBERT.
14
I wonder if what actually happened here was that power dynamic between Mercer and the label somehow gave the the label the power to force Mercer to fire Sandoval and Crandall in exchange for the LA recording sessions and the higher promotional profile? Perhaps this was one of those "we want the singer, not the band" kind of things.

That said, I still don't understand the personal viciousness some people were expressing here towards Sandoval. Even if he did have substance abuse issues, it's not like nobody else in rock history has had those problems. What the hell did Jesse Sandoval ever do to any of you?

Please wait...

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