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ShawnZone promo photo from Sony Music

An update to the update. After an exchange with spokesperson Tom M from ShawnZone Aaron Levi, or ShawnZone Productions, after short run of high profile festival performances in the UK, Sweden, and Germany in the early summer. Tom confirmed that Shawn and Aaron had dropped the mane Films Crew a few years ago, outsiders kept using it. They indeed were picked up by Sony Music Group Japan and EU from Warner Music Group, with Shawn taking an excutive producer role, but the focus right was his Ph.D. program he entered into straight after University. Tom explained, they were showcasing a new music project rather than a band, (explaining Films Crew had been a project and may be revisted). The new project is called Method Method, and due to their Sony deal, they are not being coerced into writing, producing, or performing material the label deems commercially viable, due to their influence in the niche Math, Djent, Thall Progressive Metal they occupy. Tom also explained they had never wanted to be a face forward band, and their initial signing and releases when they were 17 had a negative effect, in that they were not in music to sell themselves or their looks, it was frightening for them, and changed the way they did business, which had resulted in stalkers and other unpleasantries. Tom explained they had re-headquartered in London and Stockholm, while keeping their New York studio, though settling in London has not been permanent yet. Tom did reiterate that Shawn was still grounded from social media by Aaron and his family due to some harrassment that he had no part in. While he was quiet on social media, his insights were so wise for someone so young. Tom said that updates their website would be forthcoming, with Shawn having his own section which he would updated by proxy. Tom also noted that there is a new track on the site, although it isn't finished, and Shawn and Aaron deliberately altered the song with a series of breakdowns, Tom explained, that isn't where the song goes, it goes off into the unknown. Tom also noted that they have been preparing a new album with the Method Method Project, tentatively named Chronicles, and the track on the site is known as 'The DeBrief'. It can be heard on Shawn's page http://www.shawnzone.org/shawn/

Tom also said that Shawn keeps his music library updated as a PDF, which is quite the collection of obscure and collectible progressive music. MUSIC LIBRARY

Tom said that other updates will be coming soon via their website http://www.shawnzone.org
or straight to the point http://shawnzone.org/notes/ although that page may change. Good to know the boys are back, although they never really left. Their concentration has been in Europe, Australia, and Japan.

This is an update on something inexplicable, that should never happen, and some history on the music collective formerly known as FilmsCrewBand.

After having the chance to work with FilmsCrewBand or Collective. (They abandoned their name as a band) a few years ago, in a limited capacity ShawnZone Walker struck me as one of the most profound experiences I was going to have. I’d never dream someone would take advantage of him, let alone purposely betray or attempt to defame him or this rather altruistic group of musicians, which is why what i hope we’ve been reading all wrong. I normally don’t take to my webspace, I stay off of the social web, but this couldn’t be ignored. I was aware they were recording and keeping abreast of Aaron James insightful updates which gave me a forbidding sense, and really felt something was amiss when Shawn pulled his content for personal reasons. I was shocked reading Kurt Parker, a Village Voice music journalist freelancer, as to the details that were omitted from the band's website, who had done his homework. No one in the band is reachable, Shawnzone posted a very rare update that left me stunned. i had to download an app for it to sink in. it’s been said a live streamer acted in bad faith passed himself off as someone else, knowing Shawn and Co's efforts in human rights in effort to undermine them, the members of the band, it’s doubtful if the streamer knew they were a band. Shawn and Co as a band was largely unaware of this until after the fact, if the have knowledge at al. all the more stunning is this seemed to come from the far right, while the band has no real political agenda, more of a philosophical one. resulting in vandalism of their website. apparently allusions had been made by individuals claiming relationships with the band, who had no knowledge until after that fact. A French black metal musician had been writing about the deception, Daniel Lukas isn’t a totally unknown guy. how could no one have known? I can’t imagine how they must feel. But I’ve worked with the Films Crew Band Collective, on a limited basis, they may be young but those people are sharp, It was during this time Aaron's seldom used Twitter account announced Shawn was "grounded" from social media, Shawn's never been much of a social media consumer. While Shawn has appeared on live streams with some politically Left luminaries out of New York, they were reliant on his knowledge of psychology and philosophy, Shawn's philosophy being that politics is something one does usually from a place of economic or oppressive violence. This removes him from the drama and sensationalism of the majority of live streamers. That dramatic majority struck out in force because they didn't have access, and obviously were not going to get it. This seemed to go on without Shawn, Aaron or Levi's knowledge. This brings to mind ContraPoint's 'Canceling' video essay, she was never really canceled, neither were Shawn and Co, who had been pulling back from public view for a year. Shawn is a terrifically shy and studied young man, when coaxed is tremendously engaging. It is said that the Left eats their own, however people went over hours of live streams, he was found to say nothing profoundly leftist or controversial, and had no real involvement with anyone defaming him or the band. These live streamers weren't Upper East Coast academics, it's anyone's guess where the dog piling began but we understand that Shawn and Aaron were in London by the time whatever this controversy blew up, whatever the controversy is, as it seems to revolve around conspiracy theory types, most of which are incomprehensible, leaving one to wonder, how are these live streamers progressives at all. While there were some outlandish theories, Shawn, Aaron and Levi made their where abouts known. It's not avoidance or flight when you've advertised your location, which they did. So there is no there, there. Now for some history of how Shawn Aaron and Levi came into being.

The updates and their history
Most of which was gathered and republished privately by Jonas Lundt, Kurt Parker, Kyran Ireland, and Daniel Lucas after filing information requests of 3 social media companies, spanning hours and hours, Lucas even having information on apparent holdings of the band, which he did not publish but was solicited via social media, which was apparently turned over to authorities.

Shawn, Aaron and Levi formerly known as Films Crew at some point, They have been trying to rebrand as a band for 3 years, which could pose some problems for Europe, but by their last tour outing in 2019 they were just known as Shawn, Aaron and Levi even though Kurt Vogl, Andrew Self and Logan Harris were part of the touring band from 2017 and 18. Andrew dropped out over school in 2018 and was replaced by Zac, Logan dropped out mid tour due to rumored anxiety and depression and was replaced by Ren. Zac and Ren are from London. Ren filled in for Levi so that Levi could concentrate on filming parts of this tour. Kurt Vogl is a German drummer attending school in NY which Shawn started working on a project that Aaron didn’t want to play drums on. Live, Kurt plays drums and guitar, freeing Aaron up to play guitar and bass on some songs and a majority of shows used a duel drummer line up. They are all multi-instrumentalists. This tour was in support of a to be released limited edition 4 side vinyl release that sold out before shipping, no one is sure what the title of the album is. 4 Greek words were used for each side. Some limited test pressings made the rounds in America, but it wasn’t marketed in America, they only did 3 rehearsal shows in America that year. They distanced themselves from that album at the time of release. A few songs had been licensed to a European streaming network which were very successful, they wanted them deleted. This was a year of tragedy in Shawn’s family. Aaron is very closely intertwined with Shawn’s family, Levi has seemed to be so as well. Shawn, Aaron and Levi began erasing themselves in 2019.

2019 is kind of a pivotal year, and not in a pleasant way. Shawn was basically set in to motion by his older brother Mark. Mark and his wife left NYC in 2019 when he took a job in Houston TX. Mark had reportedly suggested for Shawn and Aaron to move to Houston. From a livestream in 2018 Shawn and Aaron mentioned that Shawn would be spending a couple of semesters in Houston in conjunction with a program from NYU. This is where things go wrong even though there were some scares along the way. In 2018 or 19, Shawn and Aaron had done a livestream on tour where they were asked by some curious people somewhere in Scandinavia about how they viewed the American government at the time, it was said they tried to avoid this but they were critical of “Incompetence”, causing some on the far right in America to immediately get hostile. Shawn’s brother played with them on the last show of the 2018 tour at a London festival. The video of this has been deleted.

What was not known at the time was that Shawn’s brother had developed pancreatic cancer. Shawn’s grandmother had relocated to Houston to be near her great grand daughter, Shawn’s niece. Shawn’s grandmother was society woman in NYC and a dean at Columbia University. Houston wasn’t a stretch because Shawn had mentioned with the introduction of Aaron (who was from Houston), that part of his mother’s family had relocated from NYC to Houston so there was family in place there. Before Shawn and Aaron had decided to spend a semester or two in Houston, Shawn lost his grandmother in an accident. Months later despite his brother making public appearances with Shawn, he was lost to pancreatic cancer. Shawn and Aaron all but disappeared completely, Levi had been more successful at avoiding the limelight, so his absence wasn’t noticed. This is the point where Shawn’s closest family members are lost and to a great extent Aaron’s as well. They apparently went in to re-work parts of what they had sketches of and honed on tour of their upcoming release on vinyl. Then they objected to it being released, and unexpectedly announced a “hiatus”. No one had known what had gone on with Shawn’s family, it was kept completely quiet until 2020, but not with an announcement from them. The late Michael Brooks from the Majority Report was the first to mention any of this publicly. This might not have been so significant if Shawn had not lost his parents when he was a child, something he does not usually bring up because it becomes political, his parents died as a result of the World Trade Center attacks, when it has come up Shawn has been highly critical of American foreign policy and surrounded himself with experts on the subject to learn as much as possible. In some candid moments on some philosophy and psychological livestreams, he has hinted to remembering his parents and being fascinated by them and that his grandmother provided an atmosphere where he had access to everything he needed to know about them. We know that Shawn’s aptitude for music comes from his family, although it seems his father was some kind of corporate tax attorney, who had a band that recorded some collectable album in the late 80’s, early 90’s, Shawn’s mother and father have been said to be fixtures of the NYC club scene well into the 90’s. Shawn had mentioned that his father’s philosophy library is where he got his interest in philosophy, Shawn and his brother had mentioned that their father is where they got their love of cars. Shawn comes from a Swedish background, he has mentioned being first generation American. Shawn’s older brother was the guiding force who set Shawn, Aaron and Levi into motion before they knew there would be motion, he laid all the groundwork before they were ever able to.

Shawn was raised by his grandmother and started classical training on guitar at 6. Shawn and Levi have said they met at an exclusive private K-12 school in NYC, though it seems Shawn’s parents and Levi’s parents were friends before this meeting. Shawn and Levi have mentioned that they were the odd ones out at this school, even though Shawn is said to have excelled at an alarming rate according to a few people who have been public with that. A musicologist who attended school with Shawn has described him as a prodigy. Shawn went from classical guitar and theory to an accomplished in jazz theory, electric guitar, bass, keyboards, sound programming and taking up drums by 12. Shawn was also a fixture on his school’s swim team, where he would go on to be captain. Shawn’s brother played guitar, His brother mentioned Shawn started sitting in with his band around 12, frequently borrowing his brother’s band members, he found a drummer in his school who he teamed up with and Levi, who has said he was picking up guitar from Shawn was taught bass by Shawn. This trio was out playing and recording by the time they were 14. Under the watchful eye of Shawn’s family. This was all about to shift drastically.

Both Shawn and Aaron have talked with great intensity about their meeting at a music clinic in Houston while Shawn was visiting family. All public accounts of theirs mention a bonding over music over summer. Their chemistry has always seemed strong, Shawn’s brother had mentioned on a livestream that Shawn and Aaron could run through Meshuggah and Tool songs together almost immediately at 15. Shawn would have to go back to NYC. During that year Shawn’s brother had been on record saying that their family had not been prepared for the set of abusive circumstances that Aaron came from, and they intervened. Aaron came to live with them within the year, continuing school in a much better circumstance. When Shawn, Aaron and Levi were reluctant public figures, Aaron never discussed abuse, he did speak about the culture shock of the society that he was now a part of. This is important because as of 3 years ago, Aaron did publicly mention coming from an abusive background, and that his studies were taking him into helping at risk youth, which he does along side of working as a musician.

By 17 they had recorded a debut album and were the progressive metal darlings for people that were interested in what they looked like, which they quickly resented, their original drummer, now engineer included. Shawn’s brother and grandmother were able to find them proper management, and a signing to Warner Music. Their first recording was released while they were in a private high school, Shawn, swim team captain, Aaron, wrestling, Levi playing baseball and getting interested in filmography. Shawn and Aaron had discussed on a podcast how structured their lives were, being at a somewhat elite school and the opportunities they had and took advantage of and the give and take of what went on outside of school with what was now work. In a philosophy livestream in 2020 during some idle talk Shawn had mentioned his grandmother gave him a choice between baseball and swimming because of time constraints, Shawn surprised that ever giving up swimming was on the table. He also mentioned that in that private school atmosphere he was able become a part of some programs, giving the example that in a computer science class, the class was given the assignment of becoming part of a development team, he joined Apple Developer and as of 2020 was still a member. Shawn described this as incorporating something into his life and keeping up with it. Shawn was some sort of advanced student, many people corroborating him taking college classes in high school. As a band, they were told they would have final approval over the mix and mastering, it didn’t work out that way. In their complaints against Warner Music, it was discovered that it was demanded they hand over all hard drives, they didn’t have the originals. The album was heavily edited, and no agreements had been kept. Their management and Shawn’s grandmother sued, since they were 17 but had adult consent for their contract, they won, which moved them to Warner Chappell U.K. and deleted their first album, though they have re-issued it in parts, or in re-working of the songs. In 2020 before they left their website with a black page, they said they were re-recording their debut. They had legal counsel at 17 and onwards. Shawn spent an advance to build a studio which his grandmother helped secure in some way. The studio has maintained operations until the pandemic, at which point it was closed to everyone but Shawn and Aaron. After a great deal of initial success, Shawn, Aaron and Levi retreated from any American music interest. They have concentrated completely on Europe and Japan and have no interest in being celebrity musicians.

2018-2019 was devastating for them. During a few livestreams at the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, Aaron revealed he was high risk, when it was discovered during a tonsillectomy in 2018 that he had what is known as pre-leukemia state, which he underwent chemotherapy for, while he is free from it now, it left him high risk for the pandemic. Shawn had said in these live streams that during 2019 with family losses, external threats that things had deteriorated between him and Aaron to a point that neither of them knew whether they would make it out as a functioning unit. Aaron said during these live streams he would leave Shawn in Houston only to come back. Aaron said something brought him back to reality when Shawn had an Achilles tendon injury where Aaron made the call Shawn was going back to NYC. During one of these live streams they acknowledged they hadn’t been living together / roommates consistently for over a year. Aaron said that he had received an early morning a forwarded email from Shawn from NYU Medical School in December 2019 about the upcoming pandemic, at which point he said he immediately went to Shawn’s and asked if he could come home. Aaron was visibly and emotionally shaken during this livestream that the powers that be would allow and politicize a pandemic and do nothing. These were a rare few music livestreams they had appeared on, from which they again retreated from the attention, the last one they seemed to do Levi was present, and they gave their thoughts on the economics and prejudice in the music industry, where they revealed a lot, maybe too much for lay people, ranging from bands being hijacked by streaming services to them being paid not to release product when it interferes with another promotion. Shawn revealed that he had been more involved with production work in the last 3 years and really enjoys it, and that they were musicians and composers first, that’s their only interest and they had the privilege of doing only that, where it wouldn’t be affordable for other performers. They took issue with performers being they product. They took issue with labels and streaming services taking advantage of the pandemic to suit their own ends. This was a rare livestream for Shawn, he is known for being very reserved, even very shy, but managed to be eloquent with a great deal of compassion. After they retreated, their, or Shawn’s contract with Chappell U.K. was bought by Sony Europe and Japan, with Shawn reportedly being offered an executive producer position, Aaron popped up shortly after to say some things were going to change and they would not be participating in anything during the pandemic.

Shawn and Aaron emerged during the summer of 2020 after the unexpected death of Michael Brooks of the Majority Report. Michael Brooks had been a close friend of Shawn’s brother, as well as a friend of Shawns’. Shawn seemed to reluctantly appear on a few politically orientated livestreams where he would not discuss politics, he would only discuss the psychology and philosophy of them. Shawn has never been on a panel discussion of more than 3 or 4 people, and they are always very civil, it seems these live streams were people who knew Michael Brooks. Shawn retreated again, not without giving a reason, his reasoning that with the election coming up, it was bringing out the worst in people, it was not something he was going to deal with. This had its downside, he was suddenly in demand for appearances, something he doesn’t ordinarily do. During this time Shawn was offered a steering committee chair for the Human Rights Campaign, which became an issue with Mayones Guitars of Poland, Gothamist reported that he charged Mayones to ship back their guitars, and get a few other prominent guitar players drop their endorsement deals renegotiating with another manufacturer. The political machine wasn’t leaving Shawn or Aaron alone resulting in Aaron and Shawn’s family “grounding him from the internet”, not to reappear until a 2021 NYU-University of Paris live stream concerning the pandemic, Shawn was the psychology consultant with 2 pandemic researchers, where he was to advise on anxiety in the pandemic, and this is where the internet goes wrong. A scientific educational livestream is hijacked by anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers and Bernie bros, who decided a science panel equated with being a traitor amongst other things. Aaron responded with a Tweet, saying Shawn was grounded from the internet again. Aaron has since deleted the Tweet. In late 2021 freshly haircut Shawn popped up as a model in a few Prada clothes advertisements, not unusual, Kenneth Cole has had a long relationship with him as well.

Their website has been an oddity throughout its existence, a couple of months ago it started seeing signs of life. Without knowing the site was live Aaron had made 2 posts, one has been deleted, though contained information that they had recorded over 3 albums worth of material that they were uncomfortable with because they hadn’t worked it out live first. Their website had always been an every changing treasure trove of their project’s music streams, unexplained art video, and at times explicit avant garde photos of them, the occasional podcast, and at times improv sessions. The important note being Aaron as a writer, Aaron is always compelling to read, (although it’s been referenced that Shawn does collaborate in Aaron’s writing. Aaron and Levi do most of the website updates. Shawn has his own section of the website, but rarely posts anything online, although the few words currently posted there are provocative. Shawn's seemingly lack of presence is unfortunate, the glimpses we’ve gotten into Shawn in s few live streams and podcasts confirm he is a warm and compassionate person, but it’s easy to see he runs the show even if operates it as a collective. To take the focus off of themselves, a friend of theirs, Ford Agency model Tom Morris is occasionally their mouthpiece, sense the irony. Aaron made mention of a new recording project, that is a departure, but Shawn, Aaron and Levi are always a departure from themselves, from musique concrete to electronic, to progressive metal and a soundtrack to be finished when a Dutch film maker can finish his film. The website is usually filled with audio and video. Word has it that some collaborative work with a member of a highly influential post-metal band may surface which Shawn has rumored to have remixed tracks for, going on that, it can only be deduced as Pelican. Progressive, yes, but could make for an interesting blend with Shawn, Aaron and Levi’s progressive math style metal.

The only glimpse we now have of their lives outside of their reclusive musical behavior comes from the few livestreams and podcasts they’ve done over the last couple of years. It could be said you can have Shawn without Aaron, but Aaron is going nowhere. Levi has a passionate hate for social media, they all have a disdain for it to some degree. They are all in post graduate school. They skateboard. Shawn and Levi have some substantial cars and like to race, as in on a racetrack. Shawn is reported to have a music and guitar collection on a hoarder magnitude. They don’t drink or do recreational drugs. Shawn is very family orientated as can be guessed, They don’t get caught up in gossip or drama, they are squeaky clean. Other people want them to be rock stars, this is something they refuse to do. But they do have more history to make.