Local band a semifinalist to open for Coldplay

By Josh Eiserike

Published: July 17, 2008

Last week, Laurence and Anna McKenna kept refreshing a DC101 Web site. Laurence McKenna, 36, is a professional musician whose band, Shag, had entered a contest to open for Coldplay at the Verizon Center Aug. 3.

Finally, the Web site updated. Shag, a band with roots in Winchester and Manassas, was one of 15 semifinalists selected by the radio station.

"We were screaming, it was kind of cool," McKenna, of Winchester, said. "We were fortunate enough to be picked."

Hundreds of bands entered the contest.

Now, visitors to the DC101 Web site can vote for his or her favorite band from 15 semifinalists. Most of the other semifinalists are also from the region, spanning from Richmond to Baltimore. When voting closes today, the bands in the top three places get sent to Coldplay.

Coldplay has the final say on which band will play a 20-minute set before its August concert.

Although, as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Shag was in second place, it was a bumpy start. McKenna said Shag and one other band weren't featured alongside the 13 others in the online voting. Now, they've skyrocketed to the top.

"I think it's a real good possibility," McKenna said, of opening for Coldplay.

They'd be a pretty good fit, too. Shag plays original British rock. The band also covers British bands like The Cure, The Cult, Radiohead and, of course, Coldplay standards like "Yellow" and "Clocks." But, if they win, the band'll only play originals.

McKenna, whose ringback is The Smith's "A Charming Man," is originally from Darby, England. He came to America in 1989 to work at a summer camp for the mentally disabled. That summer he met his wife-to-be, Anna. He eventually moved to the United States to tour as a musician, both with a band and as a solo artist. Besides, the mythology of American musicians like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie really fascinated him.

(Austin Powers hadn't popularized the British slang "Shag," a euphemism for fornication, when McKenna named his band).

Mike Miggins, 37, of Manassas, has been with the band for eight years as lead guitarist and back-up vocalist. His influences run a bit more hard rock ("Van Halen") compared to McKenna. He said the idea to enter the contest came from his wife, Linda, and McKenna's wife, Anna.

"Originally we didn't want to do it," Miggins said "Normally this type of contests are a big pain, we didn't know when we were going to be able to shoot a video or how we'd be able to do it. Luckily it worked out."

To enter, the band had to shoot a video and upload it onto YouTube.com. Shag filmed a live cut of its song "Overrated," about a drummer McKenna played with about 10 years ago.

"It's about a guy who kind of thinks he's more than he is," McKenna said. (Obviously, it didn't work out with this drummer.)

But when the list of winners went live, Miggins didn't see their video in the mix. He said due to the two videos that didn't load in the original list of winners, he didn't think Shag made the cut. About 20 minutes later, McKenna called.

"I was pretty surprised," Miggins said. "I thought we'd done a good job but I didn't know what they were looking for."

Miggins said opening for Coldplay is within the realm of possibility, but doesn't want to get his hopes up.

"If we make it in the top three we've got a pretty good shot," Miggins said. "There's a couple other really good bands up there, anybody could really win it."

Staff writer Josh Eiserike can be reached at 703-878-8072.