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Keep Rockin' Away
"I'll probably be 60 years old, still playing along."
Will Scheifley at Monopole |
Once upon a time, beat poets wandered around the United States searching for artistic inspiration. Plattsburgh was the place to bring that inspiration for musician Will Scheifley.
"I was a young guy, just 21 years old," Scheifley says. He came to Plattsburgh to start his new life, rejuvinating his career after he was getting into trouble with his life and losing ambition. "I got a good (place) and I am playing music now," Scheifley says.
He now has the opportunity to meet new people and play his own music. Once a confused wandered, Scheifley is now solidly entrenched as vocalist and guitarist of the Shameless Strangers.
"The jam sessions got me going and then suddenly boom! I got increasingly better"
Scheifley was born in Philadelphia, Penn. When he was 15 years old, he started playing music. He taught himself how to play guitar. "I didn’t know any songs and I didn’t write my own stuff," Scheifley says.
Scheifley got good playing in jam sessions, not playing specific songs. "The jam sessions got me going and then suddenly boom! I got increasingly better." Since then, he has played open mic in several local bars in Plattsburgh. He says he has been playing open mics for about 16 years.
Scheifley credits black blues musicians as his artistic inspiration, "When I saw the audience laughing and smiling with the performance of blues, jazz and soul music, I knew I wanted to entertain people also." Eventually, he decided to be musician. His primary musical influence was Camper Van Beethoven, a popular rock band.
"The jam session is very freeing"
He says he never cares if music is professional or armatur, because he thinks that entertainment is the main thing that counts.
In Plattsburgh, Scheifley has been a musician for the past six years. The situation has never been simple. As a musician, "It’s hard to come up with new songs and get places to play," Scheifley says. Yet he's not likely to quit anytime soon, stating that he thinks he will be a musician even when he’s 60 years old.
Scheifley goes on joining open mic every week and playing with the Shameless Strangers. "The jam session is very freeing," Scheifley says.
"Will is a unique guy, [and his playing] has a good way of describing things in a situation," says Robert Inconstanti, who is philosophy major at PSUC and often joins open mic.
He expresses the styles of difference between a jam session and a band by comparing each style to a "box". He says playing in a band is like being in a box — a band has to keep their style a certain way. However, in the case of a jam session, he says, "you can go right outside of box. We try to keep very loose in a band."
Scheifley is a songwriter of the Shameless Strangers and cartoonist of Fourth Coast, a North Country newspaper. He writes a serial cartoon strip, "Panda & Monkey." His way of writing is to use a metaphor to describe a certain person, group of people or any other topic. He says he writes original work that he works hard to create.
"His sound is very unique and the songs are very comical. For instance, two of his songs are called "Bananas" and "Vanilla Sky," says Lindsey Parent, a bartender of monopole.
Mike Pederson is a lead vocalist of Elephant Bear, a local Plattsburgh band. "Scheifley has a sense of humor and is funny, very thoughtful, and a very good rhythm guitar player."
Scheifley hopes he want people to come to check out the live music scene in Plattsburgh. "Plattsburgh doesn’t need to change (its music scene), but just get a music scene around here including more bands, more musicians, more activities," Pederson says. He knows it’s hard to change but he still remains upbeat. "Just keep rockin’ away," Scheifley says.
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Do you have any comments about activity of passionate local musicians?
When Will Scheifley started playing the guitar, he was often playing songs from the radio. Aerosmith was his first record to get.
Will Scheifley came to Plattsburgh because Philadelphia was little bit fast pace for him, and also likes Plattsburgh because it is beautiful. Scheifley and co-founder Mike made the Shameless Strangers four years ago.
When Scheifley talks about mainstream music, he never analyzes good or bad things about music. He says that he does not matter what is wrong about any kinds of music. He never cares about categories of music. "It's good to entertain how I like it," he said. He hopes to have a couple of the Shameless Strangers' CDs, and hopes that he wants his kids to buy the CDs.