Photos credited to Marlon Fuller
After a motorcycle ride down Studebaker Road to the duck pond and making a salad for his lizard, Shane Blanchard sat down to have a phone call with me. The 22 year old leads a life that is full of chill vibes. Along with writing songs, skate sessions at the El Dorado Skatepark, coined “The Doe”, is a regular activity for the Long Beach native. Though Shane’s life may seem pretty ordinary at first glance, over the past couple of years things have changed rapidly.
In 2016 Bane’s World released his debut album on iTunes. The album is a compilation of Blanchard’s SoundCloud releases. It is appropriately titled Drowsy, as the album is very slow paced and hazy. It layered with rich wavering guitar, smooth keyboard synthesizers, sharp bass lines, light drums, and Blanchard’s vocals, which are literally and figuratively dream-like. Drowsy is a musical embodiment of euphoria. The album’s lyrics paint a picture of romanticism and are delivered through an echoey R&B tone.
The popularity of Drowsy led to a succeeding single released by Blanchard in 2017. The single currently has over 22 million streams and is Blanchard’s most popular song. His streaming numbers skyrocketed and Blanchard started getting booked for increasingly bigger shows. Bane’s World found himself on some of the world’s biggest stages such as Coachella and Tyler The Creator’s festival, Camp Flog Gnaw, in 2018.
Blanchard has been surrounded by music his whole life. “My dad and sister were always in bands. Somebody always had a guitar in the living room.” He recalls. Along with the upbringing of his family, Blanchard credits the chorus teacher from Stanford Middle School Ms. Riley as a mentor to his musical training.
Blanchard played in a local bands around town, most notably with his neighbor Max, who helped Blanchard record his first song. Blanchard took the do-it-yourself home recording method taught to him by Max and applied it to his own musical endeavors. He adopted the alias, Bane’s World, since his childhood nickname was Bane and he thought it sounded cool. Taking inspiration from all corners of the Earth including D’Angelo, old western soundtracks, and Jeff Beck Blanchard wrote and recorded music and released it through soundcloud as Bane’s World. Overtime these songs started to gain traction and Bane’s World started to become a household name in the Southern California indie scene.
Even though Bane’s World is a one man recording project, Blanchard is accompanied on stage by the band Apollo Soul. They are Blanchard’s backing band but they also perform and record as a separate project. The Bane’s World band consists of Blanchard on vocals and guitar, Jack Bastain on keyboard, Cole Brossus on bass, Matt Saunders on guitar, and Ellington Pete is the drummer. Blanchard is also known to collaborate with musicians. Some prominent artists in the indie music scene that Blanchard has worked with include Michael Seyer, Inner Wave, and TEMPOREX.
Blanchard has his sights set forward for the future of Bane’s World. Currently he is working on his next album but is unsure about the release date. Until then he has shows lined up for the remainder of the year, including a headlining performance at an Orange County music festival called Nothing Fest.