Have you ever been to a show and seen someone on stage that makes you never want to pick up your instrument again? Enter… Shawn Clement. Hollywood Composer/Producer Shawn Clement graciously unleashed his new composition at the Beverly Hills Gibson Showroom tonight to a warm, yet star-studded group of industry folks from all walks of life. Billed in half as a pre-AES party, many folks were in town to celebrate Shawn’s new work Raw Fungus, Cakewalk’s new path at Gibson, and hard working music-makers in general.
If you don’t know Shawn, his story is unique. It stems from a long path of crazy influences, crazy talent, and crazy work ethic which has made him one of the most sought after composers in Hollywood. We would like to think he owes it all to SONAR, but we know that is not the case 😉 Although his new record Raw Fungus was recorded mostly in
SONAR X3, Shawn stated tonight in a Q&A that it was a massive “Italian Wedding Soup” of many different 
musicians, producers, mixers, formats and collaborators who all became prisoners of his musical brain. Shawn stated “I think I have been subconsciously working on this record my whole life. Writing and recording this record just happened – I wasn’t ‘trying’ to create it for a film, a TV show or a licensing deal; I made it because I had to.”
Many noteworthy folks in the room had the same sentiment of “how could one guy create this music.” The answer stems from the fact that since 12 years old Shawn pretty much knew what he wanted to do with his life. 
Originally from Massachusetts, Clement was exposed to music at a very early age in his father’s music store, where local Massachusetts rock legends like Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, guitarist for Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, shopped and hung-out regularly. “Playing music was all that I wanted to do. I played guitar day and night – nothing else mattered.” Shawn even competed in, and won national guitar competitions in his early years which kept him striving at his born-talent.
But tonight, it was all about the present times where Shawn stated to many industry peers how his influences of artists such as Led Zeppelin and Allen Holdsworth made it interesting to collaborate with producers such as Bob St. John, Carl Nappa and Paul Hagar for this record. As an exclamation mark to the Gibson Brands family of music creation, Shawn also brought along a small percentage 
of his Gibson collection of guitars which was a spectacle in itself [and one I would not want to knock over.] The bottom line is that everyone in that room tonight understood and respected the complexities of what when into his new record Raw Fungus after hearing it for the first time~ and isn’t that what making music is all about?
For more information on Shawn Clement’s new composition RAW FUNGUS visit http://www.clemistry.com
For more information on his DAW of choice visit www.cakewalk.com/sonar