“If people start throwing things and something weird happens, or if anybody starts levitating — we can keep that off record,” Shawn Kyle enunciates into the recorder as he slides into the booth at The Garden Restaurant in St. Petersburg.

I was already becoming acquainted with the two other members of the Tampa-based trio, The Beauvilles, over the sporadic crescendos from Buster Cooper’s trombone — when Shawn, the band’s singer, sauntered in a quarter of an hour late. Sure, Shawn was joking, but only moments before the Beauvilles’ drummer Craig Solomon Holmes had muttered something about black magic while clutching a luminous candle with both hands like a crystal ball. The bolo tie-wearing bassist, Randy M., had a harmless enough grin on his face, but I had heard stories of his penchant for screaming at people and recent interviews that didn’t go well … for the interviewer at least.

The Beauvilles drag a mysterious reputation in their wake. All sorts of bizarre things seem to happen when they’re around. To this accusation, they attest absolute innocence.

“I don’t know what I’ve done half the time,” says Randy. “I live vicariously when I hear about myself through other people,” he declares, causing Shawn to emit several waves of belly-laughs.

Granted, Shawn had warned me that The Beauvilles might be even more edgy than usual on this mid-June evening. For the past six months the band has sequestered themselves from the rest of the world while delving into the recording process for their first full-length album — which, despite being nearly complete, remains nameless. Recording and mixing both from their shared home in north Tampa and at Red Room Recorders in Ybor, the trio has self-produced an entirely new body of songs, many of which they plan to unveil on this night during a last-minute gig at the Emerald Bar. The Beauvilles, who primarily consider themselves a live band, haven’t played out locally or nationally in some months, and despite the supportive hometown crowd and the modest tally of a few hundred shows under their belt, the band is noticeably nervous.

“Before this, I’d be out every night of the week staggering around somewhere with somebody having a silly time and causing trouble,” says Shawn. “Either here or Atlanta or Gainesville or Minneapolis or wherever. … For the last six months I’ve been pretty much locked up recording, and we’ve tried not to be affected, tried not to pollute this process.”

He adds, “You have to be careful about what you are taking in. It’s trash in trash out. You have to have a filter.”

Despite recently adopting the tactic of an artistic vacuum, The Beauvilles have been anything but cloistered since their inception six years ago. A local band that has achieved a regional reputation, The Beauvilles have toured across the country several times, taking on the SXSW conference in Austin last year and the Nemo Music Festival in Boston this year. In 2004, The Beauvilles released their first EP, Singapore, which, with its unabashedly catchy rock tunes, quickly sold out. Probing far into the dusty reaches of their proverbial vinyl collection, Singapore channeled influences as far flung as Hendrix and the Doors to Stravinsky and Cage. As a result of this effort, The Beauvilles were one of six unsigned Florida groups chosen out of a few thousand to compete in the NARAS/Grammy showcase in Miami in 2004, where they impressed record magnates enough to score the title of runners up for the 10,000 prize.


So, with all the success and experience, why a case of the nerves before a gig at St. Pete’s most precious jewel, the Emerald?

“If you go through what it actually takes to try to release a valid body of music, in the current state affairs in the record industry,” explains Shawn, “if you go through what it takes to make the music, create the music, produce the music, record the music, press the music, to make it into a product for other people to take with them, even if they live on the other side of the world … and then to try to be honest about the entire process, you’re bound to go fucking crazy.”

“And you have to, because the only other way around is to be a liar,” Shawn continues. “And I’d rather get frustrated and have my ass kicked all over my country in a tour van, sleeping on fucking floors and eating canned beans and pineapple, than play music that I don’t mean.”

“I’m sorry. I’m getting a little excited,” he says.

And perhaps it is the jittery feeling of anticipation that prevails in the mood of The Beauvilles on this particular evening. Despite their past reputation as a highly image conscious and media savvy band, it appears as if art, in fact, more than any other pursuit, was the main order of the day when they set out to record. This is a point on which The Beauvilles won’t compromise.

“I’m singing about horrible and gorgeous things, about every single thing that really matters,” says Shawn. “We’re talking about crap that if I still went to church, I wouldn’t confess it. But I’m doing it up on stage in front of hundreds of people, occasionally thousands of people. If you’re going to get up there and say that kind of thing, you better mean what the hell you say.”

When conversing about their new material, all of The Beauvilles bandy around ideological words like “intent,” “integrity,” “truth” — even “hope.”

“Hopefully people appreciate it, and enjoy it and identify with it,” says Shawn. “Maybe it resonates with them or means something to them, and that’s all you can really hope.”

Indeed, The Beauvilles have much to look forward to. Next month on August 10 they are the featured act in Reax’s first sponsored concert at the Orpheum, on a bill that also includes Nessie, The Dark Romantics and Christina Wagner. Admission to the show includes a CD sampler with songs from the acts performing.

“I’m excited,” says Craig, still huddling over his glowing candle. “More excited than I’ve ever been.”

By Abigail Susik


Photo Credit for Dancers:
Faustino Rios Spanish Dance Company
Blue- Gelsy Torres
Turquoise- Marianna Costa
Red- Carolina Esparza

Special thanks goes to the Columbia Restaurant for the use of their location.