Photo: Hobbit Hole by Jewel Martin
By Jewel Martin
Dean Shakked is a local musician and former Evergreen student who is firmly embedded in the local Olympia music scene. Along with his various musical projects that cover a wide range of genres, he also operates a music venue out of his house, called The Hobbit Hole, with his roommates. He has toured in various parts of the country with his most popular group: The Pine Hearts.
First off, I wanted to ask you: What venues and projects are you currently involved with?
“As far as venues? The only one I would say I’m truly involved with is The Hobbit Hole, which is the DIY space that I run. I play upright bass in The Pine Hearts, who’ve played around Olympia for almost a decade now. I’ve been with them for almost four years. I also play upright bass in Bitterbrush, Rooster Crow, and Sin Nombre.”
So you weren’t with The Pine Hearts from the beginning?
“The Pine Hearts formed about nine years ago. I got involved about four years ago when they were much more of a honky-tonk country band. We actually have an album recorded with that line-up of the band. It’s an album called Thin Walls. It’s also our only vinyl release right now. These days it’s just Derek McSwain, Joey Cappoccia and I, but the line-up used to consist of nine members.”
Would that be on Spotify?
“Yep. Absolutely. It’s all over Spotify. All five Pine Hearts albums are on Spotify.”
Would you like to talk about your travels at all?
“I’m happy to. I’m very grateful to be in this band where we all have a similar mindset and goals. I always knew that I wanted to be a musician on the road. The Pine Hearts have been moving non-stop. You know we travel all over the country. We’ve been as far as Chicago and back. We’re getting plans together for next year to hit the South and New England. We also just came back from the Kauai Folk Festival. Taj Mahal was playing at the festival as well. I was lucky enough to get to shake his hand and tell him how in love with his music I am. I’ve listened to Taj Mahal since I was an infant.”
Who are some of your greatest influences?
“I’ve drawn heavy influence from a lot of different genres. I’m pretty new to the bluegrass and country world. Prior to that I was a jazz and metal kid for a lot of my life. I’ve definitely had my dabbling in funk and indie rock and all that as well. One of my biggest influences (as far as my playing style went) for many years was Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Also, Paul Chambers and Charlie Haden, two of the most recorded jazz bassists in history. But I also get a lot of inspiration from other instruments as well. Saxophone was my first instrument.”
So I wanted to talk to you about The Hobbit Hole, since students and people from the Oly community go to share music and space with one another. How did that get started?
“The seed was planted probably about four years ago. It was not long after I met up with The Pine Hearts that I threw my first house show here in Olympia. We were having a Pine Hearts and Oly Mountain Boys show over at my house and my roommate at the time, and [my friend] Peter christened it The Hobbit Hole, thanks to our very low sloping ceiling. We were in a really good location to be able to throw events and so for the next two years or so, we threw shows periodically you know, once every couple of months. At the time there was a very robust house show scene going on throughout Olympia with houses like The Guest House, Stump House, and Red House. I didn’t really feel the need to be throwing shows terribly often. The Guest House shut down after operating for around 40 years, which still brings a tear to my eye, and the Red House shut down at around the same time; we took it upon ourselves to sort of just fill the vacancies left in the community.”
How do you feel about the Oly scene in general? Apart from The Hobbit Hole, how do you feel about the town and what it’s doing with music right now?
“Olympia lately has been kind of impressing me in the sense that there are a lot of younger players on the scene right now, and a lot of folks who are bringing things to town that Olympia has not necessarily been known for. And so right now we have a really, really budding jazz scene. Which, you know, was my first love and probably still my largest. Six years ago, I moved to Olympia. There [was] really not much of a jazz scene to speak of. It’s been very interesting for me to see Olympia shift away from rock and hardcore and extreme music over towards more country and jazz.”
Do you have any advice or experience you would like to share with those trying to get into music?
“If you’re looking to learn an instrument and become a player, the best thing you can do is just meet people. Years ago, I would have said find a teacher who aligns with what you want to learn, but I’ve changed my mind. The lessons are expensive. I was very heavily trained in Western theory and composing music traditionally but that’s not to say that that’s the only way. The best advice I could give to someone who really wants to learn to play and wants to start a band and get out there is just meet people, because eventually you will find folks who have a similar aim. I believe that music is a conversation. It’s a language the same way that English or Spanish or anything else might be a language. You can be the best player in the world sitting in your room on your own, but things might change when you’re actually in a room with four other people and you’re trying to trying to create something together.”
