Via Andrew S. Wieczorek

Minola Grent

Editor-in-Chief

In 2001, The Plant interviewed an up-and-coming Montreal band that was making waves: The Shannon Index. Today, as The Shannon Index is taking a new shot at music, I replicated the feat and interviewed Andrew S. Wieczorek, lead singer and biology teacher at Dawson and Concordia.

Before becoming a small local phenomenon, The Shannon Index was a couple of friends that just wanted to play music, so much so that they set aside their studies to pursue their dreams. Andrew, in his first two years of university, only took one or two classes and mostly garnered Cs and Ds. Yet, he couldn’t have been happier because he was doing exactly what he wanted: playing with his friends, writing music, and enjoying every second of it.

Paradoxically, Andrew hated writing songs for the band. While he mostly had ideas for catchy rock-pop hooks that could be radio hits, his bandmates were music nerds picking at their guitar strings for hours. Yet, Andrew still showed up to every jam session during which he sat and waited for a melody to develop so his lyrics could follow. “Honestly, I don’t know how it all worked out. I don’t know how ‘It’s calm’ and ‘Assessing the wounds,’ these songs, ended up being finalized, because they all just started out with some crazy riffs.”

The Shannon Index put out their first self-titled EP in 2000, and not long after, a Pearl Jam tribute band playing at The Medley, a now closed nightclub and concert hall, in front of 15,000 people gave them a shot. “They said ‘You know what, guys? We’re gonna give you a chance. Go up there and play five songs.’ And we were like ‘We have five songs!’” The crowd roared and cheered for The Shannon Index, both band and EP alike.

This concert introduced them more formally to the big family of small bands in Montreal. They would open for some and others would open for them, building a tight knit ecosystem of support and community. The unfortunate downside was that, eventually, the same crowd was coming to every show. Getting out there and exploding past the niche Montreal music scene was hard work. “We had street teams,” Andrew shared. Kids aged 15 and 16 who loved The Shannon Index’s music were welcomed to watch their heroes at work. “There would be 30 kids in our jam space sitting on the floor during our set, and we’d just give them boxes of stickers and CDs. They would go and promote, promote, promote.”

Word of mouth was the way to go in the early 2000s. Andrew confesses that, though back then they wished for the reach and accessibility social media currently gives creators, he now understands the price of it. “It’s so saturated that it’s hard to make yourself pierce out.” Though opportunities to be noticed have never been higher, it has also never been more difficult to get the world to care.

In this new digital climate, Andrew and his band members feel they have to relearn everything they know about promotion and the functioning of the music world. Derek, the band’s guitarist, is, as of writing, in Europe for conversations with labels and music contractors. Yet, Andrew summarizes their answers as, “Get your number of streams up, because as good as you guys are, when I present this to the higher ups […] they want to see numbers.”

“So, why pick up a band that broke up in 2004 again over 20 years later? “I can almost compare it to a girlfriend; it was a good relationship that ended, not a toxic one,” Andrew explains.”

He felt the time he was dedicating to the band prevented him from exploring other avenues and diversifying his life experiences. He wasn’t enjoying it anymore, and that was a dealbreaker. Andrew went back to studying biology full time and completed his doctorate with (mostly) straight As.

It was only in recent years that he got the urge and desire to get out there on a stage with nothing but a mic and a crowd to connect and mosh with. “That’s what it’s all about for me: enjoying with them. Yes, we are performing […] but we just want to party with the crowd too.” The band was even further motivated by a batch of unreleased songs still waiting for their moment to shine. The Shannon Index wants to get these crowd favourites out there for their loyal fans to enjoy clean and polished versions of. Andrew recalls being particularly struck by a fan remembering their unreleased song “It’s calm” they played live almost 22 years ago. “Part of it is a tribute for [our fans] […] Forget about the success part, whatever happens happens, but why not release this music?” Andrew added.

Beyond their own fanbase, Andrew expressed a lot of excitement at using their own notoriety to help the new generation of bands get recognition. “We want to be the OGs in the city. We want kids to want to play with us and we want to promote them.”

Andrew’s advice for those starting out in music was to set numbers aside and prioritize fun. “Enjoy the ride, whatever that ride is.”

“Everything comes back full circle, and here we are!” he told me.

You can catch The Shannon Index in concert in June. Follow them on Instagram @the_shannon.index!