We live in an era where “instant grat” is practically a way of life. People seem to base their lives around how quickly they can get something and how much of it they can consume before leaving it behind and moving on to the next “instant grat.” This is what we’ve become accustomed to in the 2020s. But instant grat has no soul. It has no longevity. It has no real redeeming qualities.
Upcoming Texas based hard rocker CHRISTIAN SHIELDS records music with soul, longevity and most importantly redeeming qualities. Shields may be a bit younger than most of his contemporaries but those contemporaries are also his inspiration. He grew up listening to their music, letting it shape him, both as a person as well as a striving musician. “When I was 11, I saw a video of Kiss performing in Houston, TX on September 2nd 1977,” Shields recalls. “When I saw Paul Stanley jumping around, strumming chords and pointing at the girls, I decided I wanted to do that.”
SHIELDS released his debut album, ‘This is Rock ‘N’ Roll’ in 2020 to regional appraise, playing shows in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and California and winning over everyone he met along the way. The album was done before I had band. “It was just the producer, Kevin Gutierrez, my guitar player Marshall Benson and myself.”
In early 2025, Christian went back into the studio … not to record an album, rather to do one single, “Fall Like Rain,” his current release, which brings us back to the “instant grat” situation. Christian explains, “people don’t add albums to playlists. They usually add a song or two they like. You also don’t need to tour in support of an album anymore. Because of the internet, everything is relevant at all times and not mutually exclusive.” SHIELDS takes the instant grat myth and blows it to pieces. Opening with all the subtlety of an atomic explosion, “Fall Like Rain” tears the roof off in true arena rock fashion all the way through. As for the song, “it’s real and an experience we’ve all had. After it all falls apart we sometimes feel lost and hardened. You pick up the pieces and decide where to go,”
The video for “Fall Like Rain” was directed by Tom Flynn and shot in New York City. “We filmed it on a soundstage in Long Island. The video shows flashes of what’s it’s like to feel that breakup and loss of a relationship. Like walking through purgatory and just wanting to speak to the other person but they are not there.”
Rock ‘N’ Roll is a young man’s game and CHRISTIAN SHIELDS is that young man.
