Marcus and Simon Benjamin hail from Manchester, England, where the brothers grew up as contemporaries to bands such as the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Oasis. The folk pop music that the duo performs as the Shrimps, though, derives from the 1960s era of Led Zeppelin, the Byrds, Joni Mitchell and the Beatles. "We're just putting out songs that speak to truths.
We don't want to make any bubblegum stuff that wastes anybody's time. We put out stuff that communicates and hopefully resonates with underlying truths,"Simon Benjamin said. Both brothers sing.
Marcus plays acoustic guitar and mandolin and Simon plays acoustic guitar. "It's our second time around performing at the Crossroads, so this time we're actually going to do a 45-minute set, mostly comprised of our new material,"Marcus Benjamin said. The Shrimps are currently working on their self-titled debut CD.
The final track on the disc, "Commercial for Love,"was recorded live at The Crossroads. The remaining tracks were recorded at a studio in New York's Chinatown, reflecting the duo's interest in capturing a live performance sound in the recording studio and in upholding the values and aesthetics of '60s era music. "We both write the songs together, and we're trying to promote love and positive elements in the world.
We're not trying to preach, and we're definitely not trying to say negative things," Marcus Benjamin said. The Shrimps formed in 2005 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The two brothers took different routes to the Big Apple. The elder brother, Marcus, left Manchester 18 years ago at age 17 to study at a college of art and design in Savannah, Ga. His younger brother, Simon, had read Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsberg while studying architecture at the Hull School of Architecture and while working as an architect in England, so he wanted to check out the cultural footprints of the Beat Generation in America.
He arrived in Brooklyn in 1996. Marcus is now married and lives with his wife in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. He works as a video engineer.
Simon and his wife recently relocated to the East Village. He is a managing director for a publishing company in Manhattan.
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