Review Fix chats with She Made Me Do It’s Shaheena Dax, who details the band’s origin, goals, standout tracks and hopes for 2019.
Review Fix: How did the project start?
Shaheena Dax: Will and I worked together when we were in the rock band Rachel Stamp and She Made Me Do It is the epic result of this continuous collaboration. We started writing with keyboards and guitar and since I started playing bass we’re writing more with bass and guitar – our latest EP stems from this transition and I really like this new sound. We have drums by Joe Holweger on this EP and when we play live as well. A more traditional three-piece going back a little towards our rock’n roll roots.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Dax: It’s a unique journey to finish each song – we both write everything together – we either bring ideas to each other or try new stuff in rehearsals.
Sometimes lyrics come to me in rehearsal as I’m trying out melodies…It’s different each time. When I write lyrics I’m definitely influenced by the savageness of mankind in all its different aspects, the books I read, the films and plays I see, the news, animal and environmental rights issues, war, alienation, love and loss.
Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?
Dax: I love Bones – it started with bass and vocals, then a rhythm guitar, then verse and chorus lyrics, then yeahs and guitar solo, then the structure, and then keys to finish it off. We recorded the instruments first then the vocals. Then we sent it to be perfectly mixed by Nat Chan at Kangaroo and finally it was mastered by Harvey Birrell and then we shot a performance video for it with Duncan Catterall.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2019?
Dax: More songs, more gigs, Save the Rhinos, Save the pangolins, stop live exports, stop trophy hunting, save the whales and our oceans…Too much to do and so little time.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
Dax: I think you can only hope that people connect with the songs and the lyrics – music has always been a source of emotional release or a comforting place to dwell in with headphones – so I hope we’ve injected some of that into our work.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Dax: We’re shooting a video in March for Broken Morning, we’re writing new songs, we have some gigs lined up…More, more, more!
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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