The Shins Band members

James Mercer - vocals, songwriting, guitar, bass, synthesizers, ukulele, banjo, cat piano, percussion, beat and MIDI programming

James Russell Mercer was born on 26th December 1970 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is an American guitarist and rock musician. He attended high school in both England and Germany. He is currently the lead singer and songwriter for The Shins. Previously James Mercer fronted the group Flake, which later became Flake Music. His father was a fan of The Music Man and James Mercer named his band The Shins after the family in the musical. His musical influences include The Smiths, The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Beach Boys and The Jesus and Mary Chain.


Martin Crandall - keyboard - synthesizers, organ, bass, percussion

Martin Crandall is the keyboard player of The Shins, who also plays bass guitar during some live performances, allowing fellow band member Dave Hernandez to play electric guitar. This has happened as The Shins move away from the keyboard orientated debut album "Oh, Inverted World" towards the cleaner guitar driven sounds of their album "Chutes Too Narrow." Martin Crandall is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, but spent some of his high school years in Las Vegas, Nevada where he formed a band called "Captain Go".


Dave Hernandez - lead guitar

Dave Hernandez plays bass guitar in the Indie band The Shins and also plays electric guitar during live performances. Hernandez had originally performed in other projects with Shins frontman James Mercer with Scared of Chaka and Broadcast Oblivion before joining The Shins and replacing former Flake bassist Neal Langford. Dave Hernandez now resides along with the rest of the band in Portland, Oregon.

Jesse Sandoval - drums

Jesse Sandoval is the drummer of Indie rock band The Shins. Sandoval initially formed Flake with singer-songwriter James Mercer, guitarist Neal Langford and bassist Marty Crandall in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1992. Sandoval and Mercer then went on to form The Shins as a side project, intending to play as a duo, but were eventually joined again by Marty Crandall on keyboard and Dave Hernandez on bass, which is the current line-up.


Eric Johnson - recently joined band.

Eric Johnson has been making experimental and pop-inflected folk-rock with increasing compositional and thematic complexity since Califone/Perishable Records founders Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella prompted him to explore his craft in the mid-'90s. After the years of extensive touring, including stints with Modest Mouse and Iron & Wine as well as a handful of Wilco opening slots, Eric Johnson recently joined The Shins.

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