Shem In The Real World

 

After high school, Shem attended New York City's, Manhattan School of Music, majoring in composition. Even though his studies were classical he still performed pop music and wrote several songs, most of which made their way into his first original band appropriately called Shem. The band debuted opening night at "The China Club" in NYC in the fall of 1985 with Shem singing lead vocals and playing bass. In attendance that night were Joe Pesci, Mikael Barishnikov, John Oates and Kevin Spacey. After playing around clubs and colleges in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in 1987 Shem opted for a change. "I loved performing my music as a solo artist but really wanted to create in a band situation." With some of the members of Shem they formed a 4-piece band called The Doctors, which made a popular name for itself in NYC. "The Doctors, to this day, was my favorite band situation of all time. We had a personal and musical chemistry which I believe comes around once in a lifetime." Close to signing a major deal with Capitol Records, the band played throughout 1987 and into 1988 until "our contact was let go." With one band member moving west and the others continuing with college, Shem found himself without a band but still with a desire to pursue his dreams.

After a brief time playing in the Atlantic City lounge circuit, Shem decided to move to Los Angeles in early 1989. Very shortly thereafter, he joined the group Ambrosia for a small tour and also reformed The Doctors with new members. " It was great to play some of our old songs again and write some new ones but it was obvious that the musical mainstream was changing. While I appreciated it at that time, I didn't see myself fitting into that change creatively."

 

With The Doctors disbanding in mid 1991 and the divorce of his parents, Shem experienced for the first time, depression. "I went through quite an identity crisis in the early 90's. I got the first taste of the reality of the phrase, 'Nothing lasts forever' ." While Ambrosia was performing very little and work was slim, Shem and two Los Angeles based musicians formed a Sting/Police tribute band known as COPS. With Miami Sound Machine guitarist John DeFaria and TV and film session drummer Kim Edmundson, COPS played around L.A. from 1992 to 1994. "I grew up listening to The Police so it was a blast to play and sing those songs with two great musicians and friends."

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