In their own words: The Useless Desires

Because I can never keep up with the amount of quality artists/bands in the bay area, I have a new feature called, “In their own words.” Bands and artists talk about themselves at length, describe motivations, goals, inspirations, and the general chemistry behind their music. Without further delay, I offer the first “In their own words” featured band, The Useless Desires, with input from lead singer/songwriter David Shear:

What are your musical goals or aspirations?
As the songwriter/lyricist and singer, my musical goals are to write songs that keep the band sounding interesting and fresh. Ultimately, we don't want every song sounding the same. It's about variety and not having boundaries. My main focus is to write songs that draw emotion, whether it is upbeat or slow or happy/sad. We aspire to make a second album and if we ever get achieve success, great, but, it's not why we play and not why I write music. We simply enjoy playing live shows and I love writing songs.

What is your musical history?
Each of the band members have played in multiple bands over the years. I grew up writing poetry and played a bit of guitar. In college, I began writing some songs that sat on the shelf until 2003, when I began playing some live shows. We have had some members come and go, but as the front man and songwriter, our sound has remained constant.

Who or what are your influences and inspirations?
As for musical influences, I really cherish bands like The Beatles, Radiohead, The Police, The Clash, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake and Nirvana. I listen to music every day and many of the above bands sounds have inspired me to write songs. Lyrically, I take pride in what I write and it generally is about my own life experiences or emotions/events that stir in others. My main focus is to write thoughtful lyrics that have creativity and meaning.

Where have you played?
We play at Hotel Utah, Rockit Room, Grant & Greens, Beale St, O'neils

When and where are upcoming shows?

Right now, we are playing acoustic shows, as our lead guitarist is traveling Argentina until end of June. We are playing the Cannery in May, Epicenter Cafe in June and Hotel Utah in July.

Anything else about the band you want us to know?

We are starting to film local videos and recently put our song "Roadrage" to video from the Big Wheel downhill race, which has been well received. Look for more videos to come on youtube.