"I would love nothing more to be a studio musician and to hang out in the studio for the rest of my life," says Celestial Shore guitarist Sam Owens. "But I think to be a performing artist you have to tour most of the year; to make it work you have your and sell records." 
   Therein lies the rub of the modern day musician. When most of your money comes from the road, when and how do you find the time for the studio? It's an uneven compromise at best. So when we asked previous Shaking Through artist Ava Luna to suggest a band, they picked a group of musicians they knew would jump all over the opportunity. 
   Celestial Shore, which is comprised of Owens, Bassist and co-songwriter Greg Albert and drummer Max Almario have been playing together for years, starting when they met at Berklee School of Music. And have since been logging time on the road and recording on their own. They were eager to take the opportunity to explore Miner Street within the context of the series, which gives them two free days to create a new song. Their track "Die For Us" featured a guest appearance by Lorely Rodriguez who records under the name Empress Of, and who wrote the song with Sam a few months before. 
   The band started in the live room, beginning with a big impromptu jam, which gave us some ideas. After setting up to rehearse and reviewing the arrangement we decided to pull from the jam and extend the outro of the song and let everyone stretch their legs--it's what they do best. Soon we paired back to bass, drums and scratch guitar and put the basics to 2" tape. As the sun set, we explored guitar tones--including playing through a Supro and a Leslie cabinet--and synthesizers. And as night fell we tracked vocals in front of a pair of "disco lights" that cinematographer Ted Passonbrought for the shoot. As we wrapped the song, director Peter English produced a collection of fireworks and we ran outside to celebrate. 
   We weren't just impressed with the bands playing, which was skilled and precise--We loved how deeply they explored the space. "Going to the studio is like going to the playground when you're a kid," Sam told us. "It's like science and math and all the beautiful things that happen inside of that." When you watch Sam explore different guitar tones, you see a young artist in his element, pushing himself to find new ways of conveying ideas. There's really no greater feeling for us than to provide this experience and watch an artist take full advantage of it. Like Sam, we wish he could spend less time on the road and more time in the studio too. Celestial Shore have certainly proved their worthy of the opportunity.