The Adobe Flash Player is required to watch videos on this page

The Shams Band

Quick Links
About the Artist
Music
Achievements
Press Coverage
Return to The Shams Band's profile

At-a-Glance
One-Sheet

Hometown	Chicago, IL
Genres	Americana / Alt Country, New Folk
Band Members	Donnie Biggins - Vocals, Guitar Paul Gulyas - Vocals, ... » more
Achievements
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Manager Donnie harmonicadunn@gmail.com 708-533-4095 Booking Donnie harmonicadunn@gmail.com 708-533-4095 Publicist August august@novo.net 773-278-6686
# Years Experience Performing Live:	1
# Live Perfomances Past Six-months:	20
Market Draw:	Home Market: 151-200
Venue History:	Congress Theatre - Chicago , IL
Opener Experience:	Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros; Bela Fleck & the Flecktones; The Avett Brothers; Dr. Dog
Similar Artists:	Old 97's
Performing Rights Society:	ASCAP
Discography:	Champagne LP—2010; The Shams Band EP—2009

Expand All Expand All

Expand

About the Artist

After opening for Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros at the 2010 Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival, The Shams Band looks to develop their own nitche in the Chicago music scene. These young garage rockers bring energy, passion and captivating...

Expand

Music

Expand

Achievements

Reached 33rd in Best of Pop chart in 2011. In the top 100 for 8 weeks.

Reached 61st in Best of Pop chart in 2011. In the top 100 for 3 weeks.

Top 40 in Indie Pop, January 2011

Expand

Press Coverage

Listen: The Shams Band by Consequence of Sound
Some bands take you places. Some may give you the sensation of being in another world. Others take you to heaven and hell. Then there are those bands that place you comfortably inside a booth, at a bar about to close, struggling to polish off that bottle of beer filled with more backwash than straight-up alcohol. As you finish the drink, the band finishes their set, and you raise the empty bottle to pay tribute, maybe offering up a drunken “Whoo-hoo!” Such sensations you may get when listening to The Shams Band, an outfit based out of the windy city of Chicago. Bandmates Donnie Biggins, Paul Gulyas, Doug Hill, and Brian Patterson create a blend of classic rock and Americana that appeals to music fans of all ages. They’ve only been together for about a year, though you wouldn’t be able to tell when listening to tracks on their MySpace page. On their self-titled EP, their southern drawl-by-way-of-the-Midwest comes through in tracks like opener “Working Man”. Armed with the classic call-and-response chorus (“She said, ‘hey, man’ (she said, ‘hey, man’)”), and ooh-la-las, it’s a song whose structure seems inspired by The Faces and that other band Ron Wood is a part of. “Shelly” is an amalgamation of the Allman Brothers and Wilco’s “Airline to Heaven”. It would be hard to disappoint with that combination, and The Shams Band absolutely pull through. “The Des Plaines River” is the comedown from the high of “Shelly”. It’s Spiritualized’s “Soul on Fire” sans orchestra, plus whiskey (and that “s” in “Des” is very pronounced). It rounds off a short-but-sweet EP that illustrates the strengths that The Shams Band offer: drunken anthems, revival music, and reflection. They’re “prisoners in the mud,” and hopefully they can keep enough of it on their shoes to bring into the studio for a proper album.

The Shams Band Smoke It Up at Rib Fest by Lumino Magazine By: JOANNA PELLETIER
Monday, 21 June 2010 The air was thick and heavy with the perfume of hickory and rain. As Lincoln Street evolved into a massive throng of umbrellas and barbeque decorated faces, a blues guitar wailed in the distance. The Shams Band had officially arrived with the latest from their new album, Champagne. The Shams Band is all but ordinary. Deeply settled in their Oak Park-Chicago roots, these boys draw from a variety of genres (blues, soul, rock, country, bluegrass, alternative, etc.) to deliver a sound that is organic, inclusive and fun. Donnie Biggins, one of the band's three lead singers and songwriters, calls the band rock-folk—with a few twists. “Our influences are all different, so we bring what we have and either we do the song or we [don't],” said Biggins. That could explain the vast difference in songs like “I Will Love You The Most,” “Working Man,” and “Shelly”. Though the sound varies between all three of these songs, it is easy to see that every single one is a showcase of their multiple talents as well as an extension of each band member's ardor. Live or in the studio, The Shams Band knows how to bring passion and hard work to life. They pour emotive into their instruments—even when the sky is pounding their amps, stage, and electrical cords—and they sing about things that everyone can relate to. Most importantly, they can relate to relatively every concertgoer. Amidst a number of thank you’s and hand clapping, Donnie, Doug, Paul, and Brian called out to the crowd, beckoning them to sing and dance. The Shams Band may be swingers of sound, but they are also what real music used to be: a good group of friends coming together, having fun, and enjoying what they can do with a guitar, a banjo, a set of drums, a bass and a whole lotta heart.

The Shams Band break out act of Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival by Chicago Live Music Bar Scene By: Matt David
There cannot be a more appropriate venue for the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues festival than the Congress Theater. The theater, constructed in 1926, combines the Classical Revival and Italian Renaissance styles. Marble arches and domes, ornate chandeliers and gilded ceilings: the old styles became new during construction and over the years have evolved through deterioration and restoration. The theater looks and feels the way bluegrass and blues music sounds. One expects airtight, rocking performances from headliners Béla Fleck & the Flecktones and Dr. Dog. Both bands delivered. The true joy of these festivals is in seeing bands that are just breaking, just arriving. These bands were playing the Pavilion stage, rocking the lobby and welcoming everyone to the festival. The Shams Band—last year’s “Last Banjo Standing” winners—stepped up and supplied this year’s breakout performance. Their energy, passion and damn-good songwriting captured the crowd’s attention, set feet dancing, and triggered more than one sing-along. The band features three songwriters, each with their own unique voice and style, each fitting perfectly alongside the other. The set opened with Donnie Biggins picking out the descending chord progression of “Shelly,” a folk song caught up in the contradictions of holding onto innocence while growing up. Then comes the straight blues of bassist Brian Patterson’s “Pour Me a Drink.” This ode to not needing anything but a drink poured at the end of the day calls to mind The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” in the best of ways. “In The Sun” is the first song we hear from electric guitarist Paul Gulyas, and it’s the first song that bucks description. It builds with calm and cool bass and drums—the snare echoing off the marble walls of the Congress Theater lobby—before it erupts into a climax of crashing electric chords and desperate vocals. Unfortunately, the band had to cut two songs from the set list due to time constraints. Fortunately, they cut straight to the epic hymnal sing-along “The Des Plaines River,” replete with pleading harmonica lines, soaring solos, thumping drums, and a giant chorus. The closer, “Working Man,” shows the band doing what it does best: trapezing the line between blues, country and folk music with lyrics that are both genuine and tongue-in-cheek and musical craftsmanship that is both classic and unique. The Shams Band blend styles together into something new, while calling back to the classic forms they were born out of. They showed they belong in a venue like the Congress Theater, at a festival like the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues fest. It’d be no great surprise to see them on the main stage soon.

Five bands not to miss at Taste of Chicago 2010 by Windy City Rock
There's a lot of flavor at the Taste of Chicago this year. Head to Grant Park starting this Friday, June 25 to Sunday, July 4 for music-filled days showcasing specific themes, such as garage rock and folk, and bands both local and international on a variety of stages. Here are a few local highlights, plus one very cool group visiting from London that I am diggin'. The Shams Band - Friday, June 25, 4-5 p.m., Illinois Lottery Stage The Shams Band is a can't miss Chicago Americana/folk band that slyly differentiates itself by walking the delicate line between honest and clever. The band's music is marked by the wisdom of an unassuming blue collar intellectual, and in songs like "Working Man," singer Paul Gulyas's mischief is clearly audible. When he admits he was "already up to no good," it makes you want in on whatever he was getting up to. Here's your chance.

Shams Band endures snowstorm to perform at Bear’s by By LEIGH ABELSON | IDS
Thanks to severe snowfall, The Shams Band made it to the Bear’s Place stage a day late. The headlining band performed just after midnight Saturday, which caused cancellations of performances meant to take place a few hours before. Chicago bands Knifey Spoonie, The Future Laureates and The Shams Band were supposed begin performances by 10 p.m., but because of the weather the show was postponed for an hour. The Future Laureates did not get to play. “We were caught in the storm for nine hours,” said Danny Surico, The Future Laureates guitarist. “We survived multiple spin outs, and we almost died. But getting to Bloomington was worth it.” The Shams Band received a strong audience response. From song one, the crowd was on its feet, shouting and dancing until the show’s end. “The show was really fun,” junior Kaylee Spiveysaid. “It was really high energy.” The Shams Band enjoyed interacting with its audience by announcing multiple birthday wishes and encouraging audience members to get out of the seats and party. Many audience members were singing along, including senior Liz Keeney, who said she has followed frontman Donnie Biggins’ work for years. “I’ve seen them play at 16 different venues,” Keeney said. “This one was really good. It was an intimate, relaxed venue that really worked well for them.” The Band expressed gratitude to Bear’s Place repeatedly, once taking celebratory shots in honor of the venue and its servers. “Thank you for serving the alcohol that we need,” said Brian Patterson, The Shams Band bassist. “I feel so lucky to play with these guys. We almost couldn’t.” Once the band finished its set, the audience hollered for an encore and chanted the band’s name. “The Shams Band was fantastic,” IU alumnus Adam Hausman said. “I actually followed them from Chicago. The band works a very authentic, original sound.”

iAnEAqqqq

Video Playback Error

The Shams Band

About the Artist

Music

Photos

Videos

Photos

Videos

Achievements

Press Coverage