In its near 40-year existence, the 9:30 Club has earned legendary status for nurturing D.C.’s ’80s punk scene and, in the ’90s, serving as a petri dish for the alternative bands that would soon break on a massive scale. The venue can now add one more tidbit to its lore: It is the origins of Shaed.
“I actually met Max and Spencer [Ernst] at the 9:30 Club,” explains lead singer Chelsea Lee of the kismet musical meeting that took place, which eventually led to the trio to form the electronic pop outfit Shaed. “They were opening a show there when they were 16, 17 [in a band called Trust Fall] and that’s where I met them.”
The musical connection, however, wasn’t an instant one. The Ernst twins, who grew up in Silver Spring, pursued their own projects—first as Upside and then The Walking Sticks—while D.C.-based Lee followed a solo career. With neither panning out, Lee joined The Walking Sticks in 2012 and the group renamed itself Shaed. Next week, the group will return to the place it all began—9:30 Club—for a stop on the next leg of their headlining tour.
Their musical patience has paid off in spades. The release of their 2018 EP Melt contains “Trampoline,” a song that first gained notice last year in a campaign for MacBook Air, and has since been doing a slow burn up the charts. The song hit number one on both Billboard‘s Alternative Songs and Rock Airplay charts this past June, and it’s currently number 34 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart. The relaxed, sparse, whistle-featuring song has become so ubiquitous, you would almost have to be living under a rock for the past year to have not heard at least a snippet of it.
Lee is content with the molasses-going-uphill approach the song has taken climbing the charts. “The slow and steady, I feel, always wins the race,” explains the lead singer. “We put it out and it took a second to get on and it’s been on the charts for just an insane amount of time. It’s amazing that the song just keeps going, which is great.”
The extended airplay lifespan of “Trampoline” led to both a remix and a remake released last week that includes a collaboration with an unexpected musical guest: Zayn Malik, formerly of One Direction, and now a solo artist with an impressive career of his own.
“Because ‘Trampoline’ was doing so well we were looking to revamp it in some way,” says Lee. “We’d already done a remix and we were kind of toying around with the idea of having a male vocal on it, cause it kinds of lends itself to a duet.”
Initially, the group thought Malik would be too high-profile to land. “We were like ‘that would be amazing but impossible to get.’ I mean, he’s huge,” Lee recalls. “We reached out to his team and he actually really liked the track, apparently, and he very quickly turned around some vocals for it. The reaction is so cool. We’re really, really excited about that one.”
Shaed’s profile continues to rise: The band made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last month and this summer, they released their new single “Thunder,” which is currently working its way up the charts. As awareness about the trio continues to build, they are more than happy to be a part of D.C.’s current music renaissance where other local artists including Flasher, Foreign Air, and Ari Lennox are also gaining national attention.
“I think people kind of underestimate D.C. as a music place,” says Lee. “It’s generally just associated with politics so I think people are surprised. … I think people are finally recognizing D.C. for what it is, which is a lot of culture and a lot of music, which is really cool.”
Shaed plays 9:30 Club on Oct. 10 with special guests Absofacto. 7 p.m. Tickets $25.
