INTERVIEW

Hailing from Guelph, Ontario, music and art project SHEBAD is carving out their own space in the jazz fusion scene—full of love, groove and community. “The way we play these songs, they’re so oddly specifically ours,” says Mark Ciccio Spagnolo, who plays bass, keyboard and flute. “It’s cool that the project melds whatever gifts people bring.”

I caught them before their Brooklyn show at The Sultan Room in September, passing plates of watermelon and wedge salad as they gushed about their craft and the bonds they’ve been building on tour.

“Fall, winter, you start to fall into the hibernation of writing and making music. So we’re just trying to embrace all the time that we have out in the world,” said Claire Voy, who sings lead vocal and cameos on guitar and tambourine. “We’re making so many cool connections.”

To SHEBAD, touring is about bringing the community they’ve built in their home of Guelph with anyone who resonates with their music. Their audiences are full of friends, fans and lucky music lovers who simply stumbled upon a poster on the street. Watching them bounce under an indigo sky and take audience members’ hands to twirl them to the groove of “Black Walnut,” it’s clear that the love they have for their people runs deep. They’ve been holding onto these ephemeral connections with an analog touch.

“We’ve been doing this tour tape thing. Ciccio has this, what do you call it? An old cassette recorder. So we’ve been getting snippets of people talking after each show,” said drummer Emmitt Leacock.

The five-piece ensemble unites the unique talents of Claire Voy (Vocals/Guitar/Tambourine), Mark Ciccio Spagnolo (Bass/Keys/Flute), Emil White (Keys/Bass/Sax/BG Vox), Bridget Walsh (Violin/Trumpet/BG Vox), and Emmitt Leacock (Drums/MC). Voy and Spagnolo began the project in 2019, when they found themselves in the same music class at the University of Guelph.

“Projects are this beautiful, unifying thing that gets a bunch of artists together, working on something,” said Spagnolo. “I knew Guelph needed something like that, but I didn’t know if I was capable of making it. I feel very fortunate that Claire and I found each other.”

Voy brought White into the fold after meeting him in the Studio Art program at Guelph. The two continue to build the visual world of SHEBAD, with Spagnolo dreaming up the visions that inspire it. Voy designed their debut album cover, and White has been designing their posters.

“I love projects that suck me into a time and space, where they’ve built a world around their music,” said Voy. “In the five years we've been playing together, we’ve been trying to figure out what that is for us. And I think we're all our way,” said Voy.

Experimentation is at the heart of their process of discovery. “I’m thinking of some posters that I made recently where I tried something and was like, I'm just not gonna do that again,” White said through a chuckle. “It was cool, I think I needed to try it, but like, it's not working. You only get there by making mistakes and finding what sticks.”

The current iteration of the band fell into place when Walsh and Leacock joined in 2023 “To play with people who were once really inspired by our music, it did bring new life that made me feel very excited to play,” said Spagnolo. “It rekindled some magic.”

Since then, the five have become a musical family. “We've gotten so familiar with how [Mark] says certain things on the bass, how Emmitt says certain things on the drums,” added White. “You’re in a relationship with one another and with the song at the same time.”

As Walsh and Leacock continue their degrees at the University of Guelph, Voy, Spagnolo and White are bringing their next project to life. They’ve already begun re-recording a few old songs and putting together a record that’s sure to get you dancing.

“We're working with our friend Jack, who's a producer in Toronto. He's been friends with Ciccio since high school,” said Voy. “If you know our tracks INNER RISE and Black Walnut, that’s the dance world we want to create.”

No matter what the world throws in their direction, SHEBAD will keep grooving through the chaos. “It’s been proven to us that you just gotta keep going and trust it,” said Spagnolo. “You want stability in a world that's so filled without, that you really gotta trust in the serendipitous. If it's happening in a good way, you gotta just hold on to that as your guiding light.”