O’Dell Scott, vocalist and percussionist for the Shakes, has been busy lately. The band has divided their time between showcasing their R&B sound all over the Upstate and cutting new tracks in the studio for an upcoming album.

Scott said the band comprises guys who have been touring for quite some time, so everyone is used to the busy schedule. He started the band with Chris Lee (vocals, acoustic and electric guitar) almost three years ago. Since then they have accumulated the rest: Roosevelt Aiken on keyboards, Keith Bryant on lead guitar, and Mark Ensley on harmonica and bass.

“We’re a bunch of older guys,” Scott said, “Roosevelt and I played in a battle of the bands years ago when we were around 18-years-old. We’ve always been out there to put on a good show.”

The band’s years of experience show through in their wide selection of songs from the ’70s and ’80s that include genres such as beach music and rock and roll. However, Scott insists the band’s real roots are in R&B because of how vocal oriented the band is.

The band covers hits like “Play That Funky Music White Boy” and “Shama Lama Ding Dong,” but they also find time to play “Comfortably Numb.” Scott said that in the end the set list depends on the audience.

“We’ve started out before in rock territory and had to steer ourselves into more R&B because of the audience’s demands,” Scott said, “Luckily we know enough songs to cater to what people want to hear.”

It is easy to place the inspirations for the band’s original tunes, according to Scott. The influences the Shakes cover night-to-night are the same ones that inspire the band’s original material.

The Shakes original “Sing the Blues” started out as an R&B song penned by Scott, but he said the band helped to shape it into its final form. Scott said Aiken helped him turn the song into a more gospel oriented song.

“Roosevelt and I write most of the originals,” Scott said, “They’re mainly about life experiences and there’s no big mystery to most of them; they’re usually just about having fun and being happy.”

Scott said he hopes people see the Shakes as representing a different time in music. Scott said he wants to give people the same experience he had with music as a kid and teenager.

“Music was a lot different back when I grew up,” Scott said, “You could turn on a radio and hear anything, but now it’s all labeled. To us, there are only two types of music: good and bad. We play all the good stuff no matter what label happens to be on it.”