Shaunna Elizabeth Hall, an American composer and musician, was born July 28, 1963 in Modesto, California to musically inclined parents. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, soaking up the diverse music culture there. Hall played trumpet in school, studying under Jon Simms, the founder of the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band and Twirling Corps, at Benjamin Franklin Intermediate School in Daly City, California. She started taking the guitar seriously as a teenager at Serramonte High School, and began her rock music career at Blue Bear School of Music in San Francisco where she studied songwriting.[1]
Shaunna Hall is a longtime San Francisco performing artist and composer, equally at home with a guitar in her hand, composing, or working behind a mixing board. Shaunna has worked with a wide range of bands, producers and artists all over the world since 1981 including 4 Non Blondes, Storm, Inc., The Eric McFadden Experience, and more.
Shaunna Hall is currently playing guitar for George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. She became an official band member in 2007 after five years of touring as a part-time player, monitor engineer, and crew member.[2]
Hall is currently creating the next Electrofunkadelica collection, which will again feature many musical guests and the recording debut of BB Kink, a drag king character Hall introduced in early 2008.[3]
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Bay Area Guitarist, Songwriter, Producer, and Sound Designer Shaunna Hall began her rock music career at Blue Bear School of Music in San Francisco. She studied songwriting with Grammy Award winning songwriter Bonnie Hayes. Shaunna joined her first band, The Crash Puppies, in the early 80s.
In the late eighties, Shaunna Hall and bassist Christa Hillhouse formed Cool and Unusual Punishment, a new wave duo / drum machine combo. Later, they joined, along with drummer Wanda Day, The Lesbian Snake Charmers, a short lived female version of The Clash, led by singer Jai Jai Noire. Shaunna Hall met vocalist Linda Perry, and when The Lesbian Snake Charmers broke up, they created 4 Non Blondes.[1]
Shaunna Hall co-founded the hugely successful rock group 4 Non Blondes with Linda Perry, Christa Hillhouse, and Wanda Day in 1989. In 1990 the group won the S F Weekly Award (Wammies) for Best Rock Band. The multi-platinum Bigger, Better, Faster, More! released by Interscope Records in 1992 includes five compositions by Hall ("Morphine and Chocolate", "Spaceman", and others) and guitar performances. The album was a worldwide success. The band sold millions of records, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Top 200. "Spaceman" was released as a single in 1993 and peaked at #39 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Hall left the band in 1992 during the recording of Bigger, Better, Faster, More! over musical differences, especially with the producer. The group completed the album with session guitarist Louis Metoyer.
Shaunna Hall and Pat Wilder founded Bad Dog Play Dead in 1992. The all female ensemble played funk, rock, country and pop songs written largely by Shaunna Hall and Pat Wilder, and the group reunited Hall and 4 Non Blondes drummer Wanda Day. They recorded a demo,engineered and mixed by Garry Crieman at Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco. Janis Tanaka (Stone Fox, L7, Pink) played bass on the demo, but did not join the group. The band played live in San Francisco for several months until the permanent disability of [Wanda Day] in December 1992.
Hall played as a part of the agro-core hard rock band The Alcohol of Fame from 1993-1995. The group began as an ensemble Hall put together to perform a benefit for original 4 Non Blondes drummer Wanda Day at the I-Beam in San Francisco in early 1993. During a rehearsal for the show, studio engineer Garry Crieman named the group "the alcohol of fame." Although Alcohol of Fame attempted several subsequent line-ups, the core trio of Hall, Crash and Spingola joined with drummer Becky Wreck (Lunachicks) later that year, that the group truly began. Their first official performance was at Female Trouble's 'The Dykemare Before Christmas' in December 1993. With the addition of Bassist Erica Liss (MDC) in early 1994, the line-up broke the local scene, made a six song demo, Mendocino Demo 1994, and played the New Music Seminar in New York, NY followed by an east coast Summer tour in 1994.
Though Becky Wreck remained on the East Coast, the core trio of Crash, Hall and Spingola returned to San Francisco. Drummer Peter French and a series of bass players including Dennis Dismore, Shelly, and the late Warner Harrison all joined The Alcohol of Fame in 1995. The group recorded a second demo in the Spring of 1995 at Gush Studios in Oakland, CA. Warner announced his departure from the band only weeks after finishing the demo, and the group ended.
In 1996, Hall and Tribe 8, Bay Area punk rock radical un-pc feminists, joined Nirvana, Soundgarden, Joan Jett, The Gits, and more on the Home Alive! Compilation. The project raised funds and awareness for self defense education for women in honor of Mia Zapata, the singer of The Gits who was murdered by a stalker/fan. The track, "Frat Pig," is from the Tribe 8 CD Fist City on Alternative Tenticles Records, on which Hall appears as a guest on two songs.
Hall co-produced Tribe 8's Role Models for America released in 1998 on Alternative Tentacles. She co-produced Demo, IPO, and Secondary by the The Flying Other Bros. in 1999.
Throughout the 1990s, Hall played with the theatrical and inventive six piece group, The Eric McFadden Experience. In 1998, the group received the S F Weekly Award (Wammies) for Best Americana Band and released Our Revels Now are Ended. The CD includes one Hall composition, "Macaroon," which also appeared on an early 4 Non Blondes demo.[1]
Alien Lovestock's 2000 CD Planet of Fish includes the composition "Alien Love" co-written by Shaunna Hall, Eric McFadden and George Clinton.
Hall composed eight tracks with Storm, Inc. for the critically acclaimed independent release The Calm Years in April 2001. Storm, Inc. started in the summer of 1999 when Hall sat in with singer Storm Large as a support guitarist for acoustic gigs. Hall and Storm began to write together and created, along with Storm, Inc. members Kevin Carnes, Michael Cavaseno and Ube Dube Whitaker, The Calm Years. Storm, Inc. performed a West Coast tour following the release of The Calm Years.
As Sound Designer (sound and music), Hall helped to create the first online video game developed by Shockwave in 2000. "Tamale Loco" is now available in the "Shockwave Favorites Vol. 1" game bundle or as a stand alone download at Shockwave.com.
Summer 2001, Shaunna played with Dog Ass, a power trio with Los Anleges drummer Becky Wreck and bassist Christy Michel. Formed specifically to play a Breast Cancer Awareness Benefit presented by Loudithfaire, the trio gave a few shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles before Hall moved to Barcelona, Spain in 2002.
Shaunna wrote, produced, and directed a short film called The Beauty of Betrayal in May 2002. Brick Seriously and Hall recorded the video in San Francisco. It features the Hall composition "Beauty Sleeps" recorded in San Francisco and Los Angeles with drummer Kevin Carnes, EricMcFadden Experience members Sam Bass, Ben Barnes and Paula O'Rourke. Janis Tanaka plays the saw on the dramatic instrumental. Shaunna appears in the film along with Los Angeles actress Natalie Richie.
In July 2002, Shaunna Hall began touring with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic (P-Funk Allstars). Since then, she has played on several US, Canadian and European tours as well as on dates in Australia, Japan, Fiji, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Hall was the monitor engineer from 2002–2004, and the P-FUNK LIVE @ THE 2004 MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL DVD credits her engineering work. Shaunna became the first official female guitarist of P-Funk in 2007.
Hall and Dutch Artist Margot van Ham shared an art / music studio in Barcelona from 2004-2006. In 2004, Hall released The Third Eye video. Van Ham produced the video in 2004 with a song Hall wrote with Paul Hill and Clip Payne of P-Funk in 2002. The video was released in 2006 as a part of Hall's multimedia project, Electrofunkadelica: e3+FUNKnth = music for the body, mind & soul.
In 2007, Shaunna appeared on the BBC program "The 100 Most Annoying Pop Songs We Hate To Love", which featured the 4 Non Blondes classic "What's Up?" at number 91 on the list.
Shaunna joined a legion of friends and family for [Tiffany Travalent]'s benefit at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco in 2007. Led by Eric McFadden, guitarist extraordinaire, an amazing group of musicians including Loop! Station, Bernie Worrell (Parliament Funkadelic; Woo Warriors), Dawn Silva (Brides of Funkenstein / Sly and the Family Stone), Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), Pete Sears, Ronkat (Katdelic Revival), Carol Hernandez, and legendary Meters' drummer Ziggy Modeliste gave their time to benefit a good friend. Tiffany Travalent plans to release a DVD in 2008/2009 with footage from the show and related content.
Hall earned two engineering credits in 2008. The first was for Clinton's vocals on the song "Heads Will Roll", for Lee "Scratch" Perry's Return of the Super Ape. The second, George Clinton and his Gangsters of Love, charted on both the Billboard R&B and Independent Charts.[1]
Hall returned to the United States in 2005, and continues to tour the world as a guitarist with George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic (The P-Funk Allstars). Shaunna released a solo project, Electrofunkadelica, in 2006. Shaunna recorded most of the project with a portable studio while on the road between 2002 and 2005, and the tracks feature many P-Funk members, and friends like [Eric Mcfadden]. The 2006 release Electrofunkadelica: e3+FUNKnth = music for the body, mind & soul, is a collection of audio recordings and three videos. Hall wrote, produced, and recorded the project almost entirely on a Macintosh laptop while touring the world with P-Funk.
Hall created the drag king character BB KINK, an Elctro-GoGo-Love-Blues guitar player. Hall introduced BB KINK in late 2008 with performances in Barcelona at Sala Monasterio and San Francisco at Anon Salon.
Hall is currently creating the next Electrofunkadelica collection, which will again feature many musical guests and the recording debut of BB KINK.[1]
Electrofunkadelica is a mixture of elements from electronica, funk, nu-metal, old metal, hip-hop, pop, neo-classical, mediterranean and jazz, melded and mashed into contemporary music for the modern international listener. Some songs contain social and political messages, some are emotional and inspirational, and some are just plain fun. The videos range from harsh political commentary to dramatic cinematic narratives to complete silliness. They visually express a broad range of feelings and emotions found in real life through a hi-tech, low-fi production value dichotomy. Electrofunkadelica uses these visuals, somewhere between art films and home video, as a backdrop to live performance.
The Electrofunkadelica live performance features Shaunna Hall on guitar, and other electronic sources including looping samplers, Kevin Carnes on drums, and occasional guest vocalists or instrumentalists. Projected visual imagery plays a large part in an Electrofunkadelica show, with VJ mixing, animation and film. The show provides a totally submersive experience for the audience by including the cutting edge visual techniques of VJ's and projected imagery.
Electrofunkadelica Instrumentation
Shaunna Hall - guitar, keyboards, vocals, & various machinery Kevin Carnes - drums, samplers VJ - Stephan G. Other members, characters, and guests TBA [3]
January 2008-- WomensRadio.com Review of Electrofunkadelica by Brian Ball
August 2007 -- Boise Weekly Review of Electrofunkadelica:
Shaunna Hall was a panelist for the 2000 and 2005 Rockrgrl Conference, has been a volunteer performer for Bread and Roses since 1997. Shaunna is a member of ASCAP.
George Clinton George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love Shanachie - 2008 Engineer Billboard R&B and Independent Charts
Lee "Scratch" Perry Return of the Super Ape Goldenlane Records - 2008 Engineer
Electrofunkadelica e3+FUNKnth=music for the body, mind & soul Make Music, Not War Records - 2006 Guitar, producer, songwriter and more
Eric McFadden Dementia Bad Reputation Records - 2006 Guitar
420 Funk Mob Alive in Spain wefunk 2kAD - 2004 Guitar wefunkFM.com, wefunk records, and thefunkstore.com
Eric McFadden Eric McFadden 2002 Guitar
Alien Lovestock Planet of Fish NMX Records - 2001 Songwriter
Storm, Inc. The Calm Years Gender Nectar Records - 2001 Guitar, BVs, songwriter
The Flying Other Bros. Secondary Producer/ Engineer 2000
The Flying Other Bros. Demo & IPO 1999 Producer/ Engineer
Tribe 8 Role Models for Amerika Alternative Tentacles - 1998 Guest Guitar, BVs, Co-Producer
The Eric McFadden Experience Our Revels Now Are Ended NMX Records - 1998 Guitar, Songwriter
Eric McFadden Who's Laughing Now NMX records - 1997 Guitar
Various Artists Home Alive: The Art of Self Defense Sony - 1996 Guitar
Tribe 8 Fist City Alternative Tentacles - 1995 Guest guitar
Nicodemus Dance Hall Giant PSM Recordings - 1995 Guitar
The Alcohol of Fame Gush Demo '95 Recorded at Gush Studios, Oakland, CA - 1995 Engineered by Allen Kraft, Mastered by Matt Murmen at Different Fur Studios, San Francisco Songwriter, Guitar
The Alcohol of Fame Mendocino Demo Session 1994 Recorded by Joey Mobile Sound - 1994 Songwriter, Guitar
Positive Sound Massive "Sex & Guns" and "Unity" PSM Records - 1993
Bad Dog Play Dead Hyde St. Demo Recorded by Garry Crieman at Hyde Street Studios, SF - 1992 Songwriter, Guitar
4 Non Blondes Bigger, Better, Faster, More! Interscope Records - 1992 Guitar, Songwriter
Beauty of Betrayal [5]
The 3rd Eye [6]
Going To The Hukilau [7]
Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts [8]
Details [10]
George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars - Cosmic Slop
2008–present BB KINK
2005–present Electrofunkadelica
live band Shaunna Hall - guitar, keyboards, vocals, & various machinery Kevin Carnes - drums, samplers VJ - Stephan G. Other members, characters, and guests TBA
2004 The Third Eye Video With Margot van Ham
2002–present George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars
2002 Beauty of Betrayal Video With Brick Seriously
1999-2001 Storm, Inc. Shaunna Hall - Guitars, bvs Michael Cavaseno - Guitars, bvs Storm Large - Vocals Kevin Carnes - Drums Ubidube Whitaker - Bass
1997-2005 The Eric McFadden Experience Eric McFadden - guitar, vocals Shaunna Hall - guitar, vocals Paula O'Rourke - bass, vocals Paulo Baldi - drums Sam Bass - cello Benjamin Barnes - violin
1993-1995 The Alcohol of Fame Band Members 1993-1994
Shaunna Hall - Guitars, bvs Cara Crash - Guitars, bvs Steve 'Spit' Spingola - Vocals Becky Wreck - Drums Erica Liss - Bass
Band Members 1994-1995 Shaunna Hall - Guitars, bvs Cara Crash - Guitars, bvs Steve 'Spit' Spingola - Vocals Warner Harrison - Bass Peter French - Drums
1992-1993 Bad Dog Play Dead
studio band: Shaunna Hall - guitar, vocals Pat Wilder - guitar, vocals Wanda Day - drums Janis Tanaka - bass on recordings Christi-on Crawford - Vocal on "Head Spin"
live band: Shaunna Hall - guitar, vocals Pat Wilder - guitar, vocals Wanda Day - drums Katherine Chase - bass, vocals Anna Carney - keyboards and vocals and guitar Christi-on Crawford -guest vocalist
1989-1992 4 Non Blondes
Christa Hillhouse, bass Shaunna Hall, guitar Wanda Day, drums Linda Perry, vocals
1988-1989 Cool and Unusual Punishment
Shaunna Hall Christa Hillhouse
Early 4 Non Blondes Interview (July 1991) - Interview by Gary Indiana for Flipside Magazine "Shaunna Hall gets in touch with her inner geek" - Interview by Danise von Rod on Loudithfaire.net
Rockrgrl Interview: Issue #41 Sept/Oct - Cover: Kat Bjelland
Coverage from BAM Magazine on Storm, Inc. and "The Calm Years" features interviews with Shaunna, et al.
January 2008-- WomensRadio.com Review of Electrofunkadelica by Brian Ball
August 2007 -- Boise Weekly Review of Electrofunkadelica by Dam McMahon