Shaky and Chris Kyte
Shaky and Chris Kyte revisit their long-lost teenage recordings in “Next Bus to Wrightsville,” capturing raw creativity, ‘90s hip-hop influences, and a nostalgic DIY spirit finally brought back to life.
1. “Next Bus to Wrightsville” was originally recorded back in 2007—what was it like revisiting those sessions nearly two decades later, and what made now the right time to finally release it?
I’m so proud of how it sounds considering we were teenagers when we made this using limited studio gear. It’s all self-produced and we recorded this in my Mom’s basement. Kyte’s bars still blow my mind – he would sit on the staircase and I’d loop the track and then he’d lay his part down in just a few takes. As for the timing, I was at a party a few months ago and someone kinda random came up to me and said they think about this EP a lot and wished we would put it out.
2. The EP blends alternative/indie rock with a ‘90s-inspired hip-hop flow—how did you approach merging those styles, and what influences shaped that sound?
I was already making rock/garage music when I met Chris – he asked if I could make something a little more hip hop sounding and voila. At the time I was listening to a lot of 90s rap albums “Illmatic, 36 Chambers, Ready to Die” – I now realize those albums were made from crate digging samples, but in my mind (at the time) this was my version of that. There are no samples on this though, I played everything except for a few guitar solos which were played by our buddy Mikey.
3. Since this project was “lost” for years, were there any challenges in restoring or re-mastering the material while keeping its original spirit intact?
Truthfully, I never found the original sessions – just the MP3s. So I broke a “rule” and just remastered the MP3s, haha. Who cares? The remaster I did was basically just a little nudge to get all the levels the same and add a little width – but the recordings are unchanged. What you hear is how it sounded 20 years ago – a couple of kids, a cheap Akai MPC, guitars, bass and Garageband.
4. The artwork features your high school in Wrightsville—how important was nostalgia and your shared history in shaping the tone and themes of this EP?
That’s where it went down so we wanted to give EYHS a little nod. Chris lived right down the street from the high school so it was essentially in his backyard. It was fun at the time because you’d run into a car full of kids getting high at Taco Bell and somehow, they’d have a burnt CD copy of the EP and would be blasting it… or you’d go to a party and it would be playing on a boombox. It felt special at the time since we were the only kids making music like this. I know a lot of people thought it wasn’t really us so in track 4, Kyte raps our names so people believed us…
5. With “Kinda Wild II” charting on the NACC Top 200, do you feel this release represents a continuation of that momentum or a different creative direction?
It embodies my long running DIY spirit, for sure. Even after all this time, and with the hip hop influences, I still think the production sounds very “Shaky” – for whatever that’s worth. I’ve been making music my whole life and have little regard to genres or whatever, I just like making stuff.
6. You’ve mentioned working on new material for later in 2026—can you give us a hint of how your sound or collaboration might evolve from “Next Bus to Wrightsville”?
We got half a dozen tracks that we’ve been passing back and forth and hope to get together this summer to lay down Kyte’s parts. We haven’t worked together since this EP so it’s going to be a lot of fun bringing everything we’ve learned over the years together on something new. Thank you!