We were lucky to catch up with A Lack of Champions recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi A Lack of Champions , thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Personally, I (Shane…the guitarist/singer) first knew this when I was five years old in the late 1980s. I saw Kiss’s video for “I Love It Loud” with my sister and cousins and immediately wanted to be The Demon and make refrigerators and coffee cups explode!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

All three of us have had an interest in music in one way or another in our lives. A Lack of Champions started two years ago. I (Shane) decided I was sick of doing open mics by myself and seeing my years go to waste. I made a profile online to get some visibility to local musicians with similar aspirations. I met a young man named Guillermo Aponte, who then put up a Craigslist ad and found a drummer named Jacob Shannon. From there we started.

Guillermo unfortunately had to leave. Adam Hawkes stepped into the bassist role afterwards for a few months. Afterwards, we parted ways, but then a young man from Nepal named Nirveek Shah showed an interest. The three of us wrote some original songs and perfected some cover songs by Killing Joke, Circle Jerks, L7, and Joy Division. Chicago band Rotten Mouth offered us a gig with them at Globe Hall and we made our debut.

A month later, we performed as the opening act for a burlesque show at Jester’s Palace. Following this, Jacob decided he wanted to leave and Nirveek did as well. Happily, after a search through Craigslist and Facebook, drummer Alex Ruiz and bassist Cody Bunn expressed interest. We met for rehearsal, began learning the songs, and local group Years Down invited us onto a gig at Seventh Circle. Two months later, we followed up with a performance at HQ, opening for Adrenalin, Jade Skyline, and Stray The Course

We’ve been working on more songs, looking for new gigs, and preparing to play our hearts out to more people. We hope we can contribute to the musical community and make people move their arms, heads, and feet!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me personally, it’s a joy to play. It’s even more rewarding to play to an audience. Maybe they’re interested. Maybe they’re not. But if at least one or two people are vibing with the music and appreciating what we’re doing, it makes it even more rewarding.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

If you like an artist of any kind, especially a gigging and trying musician, the best you can do is share videos, songs, stickers, pictures, etc. Let people know. Bring friends to shows. Hell, even sticking around after a performance to let them know what you liked means a lot.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alackofchampions.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/a_lack_of_champions
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/alackofchampions
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@alackofchampions7124

Image Credits
Denver Alt Nation Savannah Broeren Christopher Gonzalez A Lack of Champions