There are two artists by the name of Kevin Shields. One is the Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine fame, while the other is the performance name of noise-artist Eva Aguila.
- Kevin Shields (born May 21, 1963) is an Irish rock guitarist and producer who fronted the London-based noise rock band My Bloody Valentine in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He worked with Primal Scream between 1999 and 2006, featuring on their albums XTRMNTR and Evil Heat. He also contributed music to the motion picture Lost In Translation.
He was born in Queens, New York City on May 21, 1963 and raised in Dublin, Ireland after moving there with his family as a child.
When creating My Bloody Valentine’s album Loveless, Shields became a relentless perfectionist. He went through 14 recording engineers before finishing. Other eccentricities included not allowing the engineers to hear him or Bilinda Butcher singing while recording. These drawn out, expensive sessions nearly drove Creation Records bankrupt.
Shields’ unique guitar sounds lies in his approach to playing the instrument. Using Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters, he manipulates the tremolo arm while strumming chords, which he claims contributes a lot to the overall sound of My Bloody Valentine. He combines this playing technique with excessive playing volumes (to produce better sustain), modulation effects (tremolo pedals), and reverb effects (specifically, reverse reverb). Many have tried to replicate the guitar sounds found on Loveless, with some bands coming close. Shields even had trouble reproducing the sounds himself, as his live guitar sounds varied greatly from those on the record.
After Loveless Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher, the then “remaining” members of My Bloody Valentine, signed the band to major label Island Records. Island ended up empty handed after years of financing the band (amounting to £500,000), forcing them to terminate the contract in 2001. In the meanwhile Shields wrote some songs but never released them. He also did remixes and recording/mixing for other artists. After having worked with and remixed Primal Scream, Kevin joined them on tour and has contributed some guitars on their latest albums.
Most recently he has remixed two songs for The Go! Team, “Ladyflash” and “Huddle Formation”, which can be found on the “Ladyflash” single.
Shields has a younger brother, Jimi Shields, who has played in the groups Rollerskate Skinny, Lotus Crown, and Wounded Knees.
- Eva Aguila is a noise musician in Los Angeles, who is also part of Winners, Gang Wizard, and Caldera Lakes.
