Article Library

Michelle Shocked is hardly a swinger.

But she arrives at RPM Tuesday with her Captain Swing band rarin’ to rev it up.

Mind you, the change from her previous solo endeavors hasn’t been greeted with an overwhelming ‘all right’ by fans.

Some even mumble about a Captain Swing sell-out compared to her Short Sharp Shocked activist record introduction.

“Having a group allows me to become three dimensional,” says Shocked.

“Not only do I have the interaction with the audience, but with the other players, as well.”

Yet, Shocked says she is aware of the temptation to over-play her role.

That’s why she hired a bandleader to work things out during her warm-up tour in Europe recently.

“Left to my own devices,” she says, “I think it would’ve gone to my head—like I’d become Big Mama Shocked or something.

So, sure, it’s a big band: “But I don’t have to come across like the rock ‘n’ roll goddess of all time.”

Actually, Shocked took voice lessons for three months to learn technique, so she could be a band singer without losing her voice in the process.

But wait a minute. Voice lessons? What’s going on? Nothing really.

“But, yeah,” says Shocked. “I get some grief from people who think I’ve betrayed the revolution.”

She hasn’t.

But she’s learning.

“I thought the worst part of being a radical was that you had to prove to yourself that you still had it.”

Shocked has learned otherwise.

She’s also discovered something else.

“I get it from both sides,” Shocked says.

“Fans realize I’m playing with a band and they say, ‘Oh, you’ve gone commercial.’

“But Captain Swing hasn’t been on the charts as long as Short Sharp Shocked, and hasn’t got the airplay that the single “Anchorage” gave it.

“So, I’m kinda getting’ it from the record company that I’m not commercial enough.”

Ya can’t win.

“I think I can,” says Shocked. “I have my little victories.

“And I still like cavortin’ on stage with a big smile on my face.”

In other words, when her grin is gone, so is the Shocked thrill.