Kevin Shirley
As well as playing guitar and studying composition, South African born Kevin “Caveman” Shirley cut his engineering teeth in his home country before deciding that the apartheid regime wasn’t for him. He moved to Sydney, and found he had to build his reputation all over again. His big break came when an album he had engineered in New York for The Baby Animals hit the big time, prompting Kevin to move to the Big Apple and try his luck. Of course, this meant he had to build his reputation all over again… fortunately, one fan of The Baby Animals’ album was Peter Collins, who invited Kevin to Morin Heights as his engineer, for ‘Counterparts’ – assisted by Simon Pressey.
Following a few more collaborations with Peter, Kevin returned to Australia. His inimitably raw producing style was instrumental in the success of the debut album by Silverchair. Having cemented a reputation as a leading edge producer, he has gone on to produce Journey, Aerosmith, the Black Crowes, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater and his childhood heroes, Led Zeppelin.