“It keeps me out of trouble” – How music saved Shane Walker’s life
At a first glance, it can be said that Shane Walker is someone who likes to keep it straight and honest with people.
And It’s that straight-shooter mentality that has also landed him in trouble with listeners.
“I wanna make music how I want to make it,” he says.
“I know there’s industry standards, and some they wouldn’t put on, but yeah I just want to be straight forward and honest.”
It’s that raw and honest approach to his music that has inspired him to write songs like, ‘The Lord is watching you’, a song that touches on the matters of adultery in the church.
“There’s someone I know, he’s a pastor. So he preaches on a Saturday for our sabbath, and at night time, you’re at the club getting drunk, committing adultery,” Shane says.
“So you preach the God and commandments, and then you break the commandments the same night? Yeah, the Lord is watching you,” he laughs.
Reflecting on his past and growing up as a troubled teen, Shane says he owes a lot of his success these days to music.
After picking up an award at the Pacific Music Awards last year, he has again been nominated but this time in four categories.
“Music saved me a lot. You know I was a troubled child and troubled adolescent,” he says.
“I love it as a vlog and as a diary. An outlet of whatever I am feeling. And part of why I also love it so much is that, when I am ripped from this world one day, my kids can still hear my voice, my grandkids and my great-great grandkids. I’ll leave a legacy, like ‘he was one of the greatest Cook island/Maori artists out there.’”
Being a musician, Shane has had to take on board many different roles related to his craft..
This includes promos, music video shoots, mastering and mixing of music and many other tasks behind the scenes.
“One thing people don’t know about me is that when I want to learn something and I get a small passion for it, I will never stop. I will try and be the best that I ever can,” he says.
“So (on) the filming side, we paid a guy, and he’ll delay it like oh, like next month. One year later, we never ever ever see him again.
“It made me think, you know what, I’m going to sell my cars and sell my bikes, and invest my own money and buy my own camera, and I will learn from there.”
These days, the honest storytelling through his music still remains. But he realises now that he is a role model and an inspiration to many young kids.
A major part of his work recently has been his involvement with youth, tutoring and mentoring them through the basics of being a musician. Whether it’s through the writing, producing and even shooting and editing of music videos.
“What would make me fill my heart with joy is to imagine showing the youth, like sparking an idea for them and sparking their passion,” Shane says.
“And just from this one meeting we have where I’ve shown them how to produce and given them their first recording session.
“Ten years later they are in America getting nominated at the Grammys and he comes up. And then he or she says, ‘I just want to acknowledge that it all started for me at a place in Otara where I used to live, and it was a guy named Shane Walker.’”
As for any advice he might have for youngsters struggling at the moment, Shane kept his message simple and straight forward.
“Whatever you are going through in life, keep pushing through. What you’re going through is only temporary, If you have the determination and the passion, you can get somewhere in life.”
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