There were around three hundred bands playing Harrisburg this past weekend as part of the annual Millennium Music Conference.

Of those three hundred-or-so bands playing in and around Harrisburg, twenty-one played the Harrisburg and Camp Hill locations of Appalachian Brewing Company. And of the eleven bands playing The Abbey Bar stage in Harrisburg, four were featured in a radio and net broadcast with our new friends at Y-Rock on XPN. Of those three hundred, twenty one, eleven and four- there was one shining, bright, happy, festive, genuine, brilliantly energetic and mesmerizing standout: The Shackeltons.

Not so much hailing as emerging from Chambersburg, PA; frontman Mark Redding with guitarist Erik Fisack, Josh McDaniel on bass, guitarist Dan Schuchman and seventeen year old drummer Jonathan Slick seem to be creating quite the local, regional and national buzz; features in Spin Magazine, Rolling Stone online and countless blogs and local news outlets have lit the fire of The Shackeltons blazing trail of success since 2004. (Spin Magazine also gave the boys a sparkling four star review of their self-titled release on Seattle’s Loveless Records)

So what are the reasons The Shackeltons are, as the blog post stated, ridiculously amazing?

For starters, in an area like Harrisburg where we see hundreds of bands come in, make a splash, and drown in the waves of opportunities year in and year out, it’s nice to see a band with as much charisma onstage as talent in the notebook.

Reddings’ lyrics speak to the loves lost, fondly remembered and yet to blossom for all of us. Opening their ten-song EP with the line “Your movement is my treasure chest; you’ve raided my island and I’ve asked for no rent” sets the tone for a raucous, insightful and emotional journey through the ups, downs and all-arounds of a myriad of topics.

Their musical influences run the gamut from the obvious (Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire) to the subconscious (The Talking Heads, Otis Redding) and everywhere in between (Al Green, The Clash, Fugazi).

And the live show?

A lot of bands try really, really hard to look genuine and sincere while maintaining that rock-and-roll edge that is so hard to perfect.

But the term try to perfect doesn’t even need to be used when referring to The Shackeltons, because they don’t even need to try. They just are.

Are The Shackeltons the saviors of rock and roll? Probably not.

Are they they rock and rolls’ prodigal sons?

Pretty much.

Here’s video from their performance at The Abbey Bar this past Friday during the Y-Rock broadcast.

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