Interviewed by Mark Balogh
Date: January 2008

Mark Balogh: First off Shane, I just want to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Secondly, I thought the show on Saturday was great. It was nice to hear the old songs again and I thought they sounded great. How do you feel about the show?

Shane: Thank you for taking the time to write up these questions, I thought it was wonderful still to see that much support for the band and to hear such kind words about the group. It felt great to do these songs again in the format of musicians we had, vocals had always been great to do on a record but we never could get them all going live till we had three back-up singers as well as guitars. It was great to get a back-up guitar player, although we always did a one-guitar recording it was always hard to get a full sound live, so I was very happy with everything.

Mark Balogh: LAW AND ORDER put out 2 great albums on MCA in 1989 and 1991. We all know the scene changed in the early 90’s but can you tell us a little about what led to the breakup of the band?

Shane: We had some misfortunes, which started us off on the wrong foot. Our first tour was with MOTHER LOVE BONE and as the tour buses came to get the band we found out that the singer had died and that cancelled our tour and it was late in the game to pick up another tour. So we did a few mini tours, RAGING SLAB, PEARL JAM, GUNS N’ ROSES, etc. but we didn’t have time to get in from the beginning so we had to settle for (select) dates only. On the 2nd record, our drummer needed to take some time off for personal reasons and that slowed the process down, we had to record with other drummers, and I feel we lost some chemistry in doing so. After some heartbreak at that point, the guitar player sort of went (on) do his own project, which ended the band.

Mark Balogh: Since the original band broke up in 1993, you and Rob have done just a handful of LAW AND ORDER shows with those basically coming in just the last few years. Can you fill us in on what the future holds?

Shane: Right now, our intention is to play a few more dates in the area and re-acquaint ourselves with the local scene. I am doing some re-mixes of some of the older stuff (one which is on my myspace page under shanedushane). My plan is to do another incarnation of LAW AND ORDER, which will lend a hand into hard rock (along) with country and blues, not too far from where we were, and see where that takes us. I have written a few new songs and had some success shopping them so far but I’m still a ways off from completing a record.

Mark Balogh: These days LAW AND ORDER features you and Rob from the original line-up. Can you tell us about the other guys currently in the band?

Shane: Frank Italiano: Bass player - I’ve known Frankie a very long time. He has been playing bass since he was a kid and he is the most professional musician I have ever played with. He plays in a few tribute bands (MAIDEN NY and NO MORE TEARS). He is also the kid brother of Sal Italiano bass player of CITIES.

David Saaed: Guitar player - Born in Afghanistan and moved to North Carolina at a young age. He played country music, moved to NYC and played in a NYC rock band called SPIDER JUNKIES. Dave, a good friend Mick Stitch (LES STITCHES) and myself had a band called MOSQUITO. Dave is my best bud and often referred to by close friends as “Dave the Bastard”!

Chris Bride: Keys - Played with me in my last band called URANIUM 235. From Worcester (MA) he is an accomplished player that started when he was 4. Played in many bands and toured with me in URANIUM 235 for five years and helped put together the “Cultural Minority” CD which was released in four different countries, gaining us gold in Germany.

Doug Baron: Background vocals - Singer/Songwriter and New Orleans native. Has been doing all the re-union shows with me. He has a great voice and can really harmonize well with me on just about anything. Very talented songwriter and has so much energy. He has his own myspace page and songs with about 120,000 plays.

Mark Balogh: Do you still have any contact with Sean (Carmody) or Phil (Allocco) and if so can you tell us what they are up to these days?

Shane: Sean from what I understand is running things at Disneyland in CA (I could be wrong though lol). He is very happily married and has four kids. Phil is doing movie producing and is having great success with that. I believe his latest production “Joseph Henry” has won many honors and film awards and he is becoming a very known and respected producer in the movie industry. Also, Rob and Phil are related. When we recorded our first record in Memphis Rob’s sister met Phil’s brother and sparks were in the air. They tied the knot shortly after and had two kids.

Mark Balogh: I remember you playing mostly acoustic guitar back in the day with LAW AND ORDER but you ripped it up on the electric on Saturday night! Have you always been such an accomplished guitarist?

Sean Tarr: Thank you for the compliment. I have been playing guitar since I was 6 years old. Way back, I used to be a guitar teacher; I taught guitar, slide, banjo, mandolin and bass. I used to make bands consisting of my students and have a lot of fun playing shows, but when it came to LAW AND ORDER we started out having two players, but we decided that we wanted to have more of a front man/singer so Phil became the solo player.

Mark Balogh: Beyond LAW AND ORDER are you working on any other music projects these days?

Shane: Besides what I already mentioned, I am going to have a few more re-mixes up at my myspace page shortly. This new band, which we are toying with some names, maybe called ReOrder or DuShane. You be the judge whether it holds up.

Mark Balogh: “The Glass House” was released in Europe in 2004 on Z Records. These were songs from what would have been the 3rd LAW AND ORDER release on MCA I assume? Can you tell us a little about that release?

Shane: “The Glass House” was really a demo tape made in our old house that coincidently burned down on Martin Luther King Day in ‘93. That was a first attempt at a 3rd record for the band, but we had disbanded before it had a chance to get off the ground. From what I had heard, the record did very respectable in Europe and a tour was in line but there wasn’t a good window of time that met everybody’s schedule so we decided not to do that.

Mark Balogh: Are there any more songs that were written for LAW AND ORDER that are still lying around unreleased?

Shane: There were some we were working on shortly before the band broke up that were never recorded that I remember completely. I have some old recordings the band did before the first record that were good songs as well. We have two outtakes from the 2nd record that are pretty good too.

Mark Balogh: You played the “new” L’amour in Staten Island on Saturday. Can you give us some memories you may have from the original L’amour in Brooklyn? Are there any particular shows that stand out in your memory?

Shane: That place has so much history it’s hard to recall one incident that stands out the most. I can tell you that I had the privilege of playing the best club in America over 100 times! Both LAW AND ORDER and myself had played there with so many greats… included are KIX, SOUNDGARDEN, RATT, ENUFF Z’NUFF… awesome days. Though, I think my birthday though was the one that I personally remember the most thanks to a few good ole’ female friends.

Mark Balogh: To end off I have a couple of questions for my own personal satisfaction here (LOL)… I have a videotape of a live show of LAW AND ORDER from the legendary CBGB’s along with some interview footage with the band. Was this video intended to be released commercially or just used as a promotional thing?

Shane: That was supposed to be a home video but also was supposed to be an MTV thing for the future that never got fully worked out. We had some issues with MCA and management at that time and it stayed local and never got off the ground. Looking back, that was the hottest day I could remember. It was 100 degrees outside and the large lights they used to film with felt like I was swimming in sweat the whole night. Ahh, the things we do, the things we do…

Mark Balogh: On one of your myspace pages, I see some pictures of you with an ice hockey team. Being a huge hockey fan and also having played myself for years can you share a little bit about those pictures?

Shane: In short, I played hockey since I was a kid and played all through high school. Since I will never be a N.Y. Ranger this is the closest thing to the endorphin rush I would get when playing a show, so I play 3-4 nights a week God giving. In the last 5 years I have managed to break my tibia, separate my shoulder, break 3 ribs, fracture my wrist, maybe 2-3 concussions; still I can’t get enough though.

Funny story: One day I was playing a team called the Lions, and their caption Vinny Ciracola threw me a very dirty check from behind, and when I fell to the ice he looked down at me and said, ‘hey are you the same Shane from the band LAW AND ORDER?’ I said gruntingly ‘yeah’, he then said, ‘man, I love you guys’. We have been great friends since…