Today we’d like to introduce you to David (Merle The HERMIT) Peterson.
Hi David (Merle The HERMIT), so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been playing music from a very young age. Starting at just 6 years old with a Christmas performance of “Silent Night” at my church for my mom as a last-minute gift. I took piano lessons from my grandfather, and went on to join as many school bands as I could – playing trumpet, singing, drumming, and even a few years as drum major.
My first loves in music were punk and jazz. Punk coming from being heavily involved in skateboarding, and Jazz because, well, my grandfather loved it and gave me 2 CDs of Miles Davis (Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue) that changed my life. It wasn’t until high school that I started finding hip hop and rap music. There, some of my first influences started to emerge – In no particular order, I was really into Mick Jenkins, The Flatbush Zombies, The Fugees, Macklemore, Noname, Lil Wayne, and so many more.
What started as garage freestyle sessions with my skate crew grew into an interest in creating music for myself. I wanted to be a part of the actual creation of the songs. This was inspired even more by the fact that I went to a small college that didn’t have a lot of access to good music programming – a big pendulum swing from the access and connections I had in high school.
There were people I met early on that were incredibly talented, but we didn’t have an outlet. So, we created Shak Productions, later named SHAKLAB.LTD. Russ Jamerson, one of my best friends and closest collaborator, was the man that really pushed me into the realm I’m in now. He moved in with me around 2019 – and that community that I craved re-creating started to form.
Though I can chameleon to many musical and creative roles, I call myself a producer first. I aspire to be in the same conversation as Rick Rubin. My gift is the ability to hear how to make anything an artist brings to my studio the best it can be, and take projects from good to transformed. Now, I’m working across genres and moods – the through line is my unique sound that, seemingly, all my family and friends describe as “it just sounds like you, man!”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Any creative road is bumpy at best. Metaphorically, I think those who try to get in a McLaren and go 100 miles an hour down a dirt road are inevitably going to crack their windshield and chip the paint.
I like to think I’m hiking that road on a really hot day. Small steps, taking in the scenery, and trying my best to enjoy it while sweating profusely.
Personally, the biggest challenges continue to be time management and self-accountability. I find it’s exponentially more challenging to work on my own than projects I’m working on for other artists in the collective. I find so much serendipity in the formulation of the character of ringleader I portray in this project because I’m operating SHAKLAB with no manager, no social media coordinator, no promoter. I’ve been making all these moves on my own. Not to say. that I don’t have incredible friends that carry me down this road when I need them (shoutout to Luc, Russ, my wife Rosie, my brother Zach, and all the other folks! You know who you are).
Overall, the struggle is internal. And, because I’m still working on my confidence, it makes displaying all this incredible music on social media and whatnot just that much harder – I’m working on not comparing myself to other successful people, but damn it’s hard!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a producer. Yes, I make beats – but I’m also recording, playing, mixing, mastering, promoting, organizing and performing. This comes from living in an area that doesn’t really embrace “new” music.
That said, I’m known pretty well as a teacher, an event organizer, and as a program coordinator for an arts nonprofit in my local area. Not many people outside of my musical connections know I even make music professionally!
I think that’s part of what sets me apart – I’m not (necessarily) interested in money or fame, or even notoriety. What drives me is my discontent with the gatekeeping and inaccessibility of creative outlets for people that can’t afford to buy a bunch of equipment or studio time to create what they want. This is the foundation of SHAKLAB.LTD – I can afford to buy the equipment, and donate my time to folks I think are talented and I like working with.
Right now, I’m most proud of my upcoming release, “The Marvelous, Merle” – which will be my first solo album. I can’t wait for y’all to hear it!
I’m also really proud of the work I’m doing to bring access to more culture and diverse perspectives to the area I live. I know who I am and what I look like when I say this: Marin county is white as FUCK, in mindset and population. So working my incredible team to bring some “seasoning” into Marin by throwing events like “Reggae on the Roof”, “Live from 2B Stylez”, and bringing hip-hop and jazz to the local bar scene has been rewarding and well-received.
It’s an accomplishment, considering that when I started going to find places to play our music, folks would turn me away when I started describing the music. I can’t believe there’s still bars in Marin that refuse to book hip hop, rap, reggae, and latin music. I love where I live, but man, these old white men need to just go.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I don’t think I’m the right person to answer this – I’m incredibly appreciative that I get to make what I make. There’s so much for me to learn, so for me to predict shifts in the industry would just not be appropriate.
That said, I do love seeing a general trend away from the polished, away from short-form. Commercialization kills everything worth consuming. Also, I truly hate the ads I get about AI music software, and how they’re advertised as creative tools when they’re really just efficiency tools. There’s nothing creative about prompting Ai, straight up. So shoutout to the artists still doing everything themselves. I hope that the trend only grows to just do. the art because you love it, not because it gets you placement on “Love Island”.
Pricing:
- Mobile recording – Price on Request
- Beats – $20 to $50
- Production – $50/hr
- Live Event – 35% commission (conditionally)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shaklab.ltd
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/merlethehermit
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shaklabltd
