Greetings and salutations my excitable friends! Welcome to the latest edition of the 311 fan spotlight! This week we feature a person that comes from my neck of the woods – good old New England! Without further ado I give you Mr. Shayne McDonald!
The year was 1995. It was fifth grade year for Shayne and his class had a read-a-thon. They were able to listen to music while they read their chapters and a friend gave him the blue album to listen to. The first song he listened to was “Don’t Stay Home” and he fell in love. “The drumming in that song sounded amazing and did something to my ears. The rawness of the music felt powerful.”
Since then Shayne has been hooked, listening and loving the music, messages, and live shows of 311. He has attended 22 shows so far and of those this years 311 Day in New Orleans took the top prize as his favorite. “I had so many of my friends that went with me and so many friends that I’ve been talking to for years that I got to meet for the first time there. I made so many more friends that I never knew before as well. The experience itself was out of this world and it was much better than Vegas! Haha.”
311 has given many things to Shayne, including his wonderful love Alexa. You can tell she means the world to him and he described her as “amazing, beautiful and smart!” (I’ve met her – she is!) It was thanks to 311 and the 311 Familia that they met and fell in love. Their love for the band drew them together and their spark grew from there. Shayne said that all this happened despite their differences regarding hockey teams. Alexa loves the Canadiens and Shayne loves the Boston Bruins. “It just goes to show that no matter what kind of rivalry you have, you can always find unity in something!”
Shayne grew up in a small, woody town in Maine with his mom, dad, brother and sister. He said his parents showed him a lot of love, but also made sure it was tough love that taught him valuable life lessons. “They taught me how to be an honest person and make an honest living, how to be a kind person and how to treat other people the way they deserve to be treated.” While he didn’t always agree with their reasoning he can see now where they were coming from and knows they had the best intentions for him, making him who he is today. Since they raised him to be such an honest person, it’s only fitting that some of his favorite 311 lyrics are, “There’s nothing in life above being honest.”
Shayne has also lived in Hope Mills, North Carolina while his brother was stationed at Fort Bragg. He also lived in Valdosta, Georgia for half a year where he says he made some of the best friends he has ever had. Shayne works hard for his money and is always picking up extra shifts when he can. He is in the restaurant business so whenever a 311 event rolls around he prays for the time off so he can go!
If you know Shayne, you may think he is the furthest thing from shy. Yet he says that something most don’t know is he can be very shy around people he doesn’t really know well. “Don’t let my outgoing personality fool you!” Then when I asked him what makes him unique he replied, “I’m Shayne McDonald!” All joking aside though, he said he is an excellent whistler! He also loves goofing off in the car and having fun by singing songs out loud that he doesn’t necessarily like, such as “Call Me Maybe.” “It makes me feel great to be a goof and have fun in the car.”
The song “There’s Always an Excuse” has a special meaning to Shayne since it helped him through a difficult time. Shayne unfortunately lost his brother and went through a dark time, and as he says, he was more or less killing himself with the things he was doing. “The lyrics in the song helped wake me up from a really hard time in my life and helped me to realize that there is always an excuse when you need one and you’re not the only one going through it.” Shayne said that really helped save his life, so to the band he would simply like to say, “Thank you for keeping me alive.”
To the fans of 311 Shayne leaves you with this personal message:
“At the end of the day, all pettiness and selfishness aside, we’re all here for the same reason and that is to try to live a happy and fulfilled life. So try to keep that in mind and show others the respect you think that you deserve because they deserve it as well.”
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Love Shayne’s final message! In the words of 311, “Respect the space of your sister and your brother.”
Thank you all for reading and please leave some love for Shayne in the comments if you feel inclined! It’ll be a nice change to see some real comments instead of spam – Haha!
Much love to you all! – The Runt