Wayne Camilleri and Peter Borg, both firmly established names in the music scene, have now joined forces on a new project – The Shack. Ramona Depares finds out more.

The Shack is very different from what you and Peter usually do – how was the idea born? And what’s the story behind the name?

Peter Borg

Peter, finally, managed to convince me to change my recording system and a couple of ‘get to know the system’ sessions turned into full blast songwriting sessions very naturally. My living room was transformed into a nice, relaxed makeshift studio overnight. And we continued coming up with song ideas... we just jam and enjoy it. We ended up with tens of songs after our first batch of sessions.

How do you describe the project?

It’s really a fun thing. No pressure; we just allow each other to freely put our individual input into the main idea that one of us would have initially come up with. The main thing is to do something totally different from what we usually do in our bands and to work with as many cool people as possible. There are no egos or issues, just fun songwriting sessions. That is the main objective.

When did you start working on it?

We started April this year. We had been toying with the idea to write some stuff for a long time, but we both had, and still have, heavy schedules. Luckily, we found some time in April to meet up and jot down songs and ideas.

Will there be any live gigs planned?

At the moment, it’s a studio project.

There are no egos or issues, just fun songwriting sessions. That is the main objective

For your first single you collaborated with Eliza Borg Rizzo – what made you pick her? How was the experience?

Actually I invited Eliza to sing on another song which I was working on pre-Shack and, thankfully, she accepted. She’s got such a powerful voice... Then, while Peter was editing some stuff, she started humming a melody which caught our attention. And that became New York City.

She’s an amazing artist, not only naturally talented but so easy and chilled to work with, which was really important and nice. I’m sure that she’ll be singing on the next release, she’s really cool.

How will you manage to keep your main projects and The Shack separate?

It’s all down to pure enjoyment and making time to just jam and record. Our main projects will always be our number one priority.

Obviously Pete is doing really well with Red Electrick, which takes up a large chunk of his time, and there’s also his studio work. Eliza has been all over Europe this summer with Tribali. I always manage to stay happily super busy with the Big Band Brothers and solo stuff.

But the styles and music we are creating is totally different from what we actually do with our main things, so I guess we are not finding that too difficult.

I’m sure that we’ll be releasing more stuff in the following months, schedules allowing.

Will you also be collaborating with different artists or deciding as you go along?

We wrote a bunch with Eliza, which hopefully will be released. We’re writing anything from funk to pure rock riffs, so anything can happen. New York City combines a funky sound with lines like ‘Mr Politician you’re making me suspicious’. So what is it all about?

Eliza Borg Rizzo

It’s really anti-system so to speak, trying to be something we’re not... A cosmopolitan large city. Politicians deceive the whole world over, it’s the norm. Always was the case and always will be. So it’s kind of a statement, too.

The lyrics deal with the current political status quo in the world. Matters of little concern are often dealt with quickly for reasons far from what should be considered acceptable, while matters of real concern are put on the back burner. Nevertheless, people with the power to do something about it hardly ever do. Politicians are at the heart of it all. But we, the people, are the ones who pay the hefty price.

The track also features a very slick video – what is the story behind it?

The video was produced by Matthew James Borg and Edouard Tabone DeMarco for Railway Studios, with whom we worked to come up with the concept. We tried to get a cosmopolitan city feel on a Mediterranean island; just a fun feel and nice lights, nothing too serious.

What’s next for The Shack?

Schedule allowing, we’re targeting another release in October/November.

www.facebook.com/TheShackMalta