Meet Jef Shaffer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jef Shaffer. 

Hi Jef, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have been an entertainer, performer, and writer since a very young age, including submitting a choose-your-own-adventure book for publishing in just the third grade. In grade school, I began playing trumpet in band and by middle school, was becoming self-taught on both piano and guitar. While I did very well with grades, I continued to be an entertainer and was always a prominent class clown throughout my entire school career. By my junior year of high school, I quit school band, trading my trumpet for a guitar and microphone permanently, becoming the lead singer and backup guitarist for my first performing band, Matrix. 

With my parents moving to Mississippi immediately following my high school graduation, I found myself living as an independent adult at the age of seventeen, working full-time and pursuing the band opportunities as much as possible. By my early twenties, Matrix had ended and I was now the lead singer, guitarist, and keyboardist for Saviour Alien. It was around this time that I would first try my hand at stand-up comedy, although my lack of dedication toward consistently performing and writing new material would make this only a one-year stint. 

By my late twenties, I became a father two my two children, who arrived only twelve months and thirteen days apart. While this added to my responsibilities, I never stopped pursuing my passion for music and would spend many years collaborating with other artists, bands, and introducing myself to new at-home technology to record solo songs and projects. Of course, this was still in the early 2000s when the internet was still very new and the idea of music or video streaming had yet to be introduced to the world. Thus, the majority of my recording projects were very limited to distribution locally as well as friends and family. I would also continue growing my career as a graphic designer and marketing specialist in “corporate America.” 

When my kids were only one- and two-years-old, their mother and I split. I had fully shared custody of my kids, as being a father had always been one of the biggest dreams of my life, even as a child (I earned my Red Cross babysitting certification at the age of thirteen). However, the separation and additional weight of being a single parent definitely sent me into a bit of a depressive spiral. However, it is usually in these times that I fight the depression with projects and a seemingly endless amount of drive and motivation. In the couple years after the split, I would again pursue stand-up comedy and open mic acoustic performances on the nights of the weeks that I did not have the kids. This would introduce me to the world of performing longer sets as a musician without a band and the satisfaction that comes with that independence and lack of reliance on others. This second stint of stand-up comedy would only last about two years, primarily performing short sets at local open mic nights. However, I was spotlighted on a local, popular morning radio show, Wags & Elliott, on QFM96, with a parody song called, “Puking on Heaven’s Floor.” This earned me a spot on their annual best-of CD as well as having my song played on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento broadcast. 

Years later I would work with other bands, in a variety of roles (lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, bass player), including Clutterhouse, The Mindflip Transfusion, and Collingwood Nights. Collingwood Nights would be the first band I would record an album with that was able to be distributed digitally on iTunes, Amazon, and other platforms. However, I entered Collingwood Nights as their lead vocalist as the band was already realizing cracks in the foundation and shortly after the album, Mind-Body & Love, was released, the band fell apart. The guitarist (Kyle Wray) and drummer (Brian McGuckin) of Collingwood Nights, along with myself, went on to form a new band, The Lovebenders. This would be a three-piece band, with me providing lead vocals, bass, piano, and keytar. 

The Lovebenders soon realized the monetary gains to be had with cover bands and started building a catalogue of cover songs, while continuing to write and record original music. During the ten-year existence of The Lovebenders, we released a six-song EP in 2011, “Crime & Poetry,” followed up by a full-length album in 2016, “In the Key of 3D.” However, the success of the band was primarily rooted in the cover performances, and by 2015 we were routinely performing ninety-plus shows per year, with each show averaging four hours in length. In 2014, we were seen by Urban Meyer, the then-coach of The Ohio State Buckeye football team, and his wife Shelley. Within two days, Shelley Meyer contacted me on Twitter asking us to be a performing band on the annual Buckeye Cruise for Cancer, raising money for cancer research at the James Cancer Hospital. We continued to be an annual performer on the cruise and at cruise events throughout the year, until The Lovebenders eventually disbanded in October 2019. 

In the late years of The Lovebenders, I started working with a guitarist I had met on the Buckeye Cruise, Dave Clo (from Nashville, TN but originally an Ohio native). I planned to record and release a solo album and went to his studio in Brentwood, TN. However, due to his contributions on the recordings, I decided to rename the project Jef & Clo, releasing the full-length album, “Another Stupid Joke,” in early 2019. Additionally, we pursued working on a podcast, which introduced me to the world of podcasting while tapping into my childhood love for radio broadcasting and comedy. 

In February 2020, I did one last Buckeye Cruise for Cancer as a performer, however, this time performing solo. One week after the cruise, I left my corporate job of ten years due to moral and ethical difficulties with the company’s management. Unfortunately, this decision would come only weeks before the entire world was shut down due to COVID. Two weeks into the national quarantine, my girlfriend and I broke up, leaving me jobless, jaded, and painfully alone. While I now had full/primary custody of my kids at this point, they were both nearing adulthood and had their own lives, girlfriends/boyfriends, jobs, etc. As with the time in my life when I was burdened with the split from the kids’ mom, I once again threw myself into projects, drive and motivation. 

Over the next few months, I would write, record, and release my first official solo album, a four-song EP, “Ghosts.” The entire album was recorded in my home studio with me performing every instrument on the album. I also started a comedy podcast, Jef Becomes Jef, aptly titled due to my ability to turn on my extroverted side when performing or in this case, recording an episode. However, after only recording the first seven episodes, I went through a very traumatic period of loss, while also grappling with the effects of COVID, loneliness, joblessness, and an inability to do live performances as all of the bars and restaurants were shut down. Luckily, I had earned enough in profit sharing at my previous job that I was able to survive for a significant period of time. 

On July 1, 2020, one of the best friends I’ve ever had and bass player in three previous bands (Saviour Alien, The Mindflip Transfusion, and Collingwood Nights), Nick Ridolfo, passed away at the age of 38 from pancreatic cancer, less than ten months after his initial diagnosis. Three weeks after Nick’s passing, my father was hospitalized for reasons that they were not able to determine and took a turn for the worse in mid-August, requiring multiple emergency surgeries and being placed in ICU on multiple life support systems. On August 27, 2020, I made the decision to have his machines turned off and held his hand as he died. Needless to say, by this point, I had stopped recording episodes of the podcast as my ability to be comedic and conversational was non-existent. On September 18, 2020, my step-father passed away from stage four throat and tongue cancer. I admittedly found myself in a very deep depression and for many months, found it impossible to channel the drive and motivation that I had found to be a comfort and support system in the past. However, I would continue writing and recording music in my home studio, although to this day, have not finished production on the album to release it. 

Finally, in spring of 2021, I decided to resume the Jef Becomes Jef Podcast and found it very therapeutic, releasing episodes regularly. Despite being very dedicated to high production and editing quality of each podcast episode (upwards of 10 hours required for each episode), I was releasing as many as two episodes a week for a period of time. By fall 2021, I decided to set a weekly schedule for the podcast and have kept that schedule since, releasing a new podcast every week at 2 am eastern time, every Monday. To date, I have released 72 episodes of the podcast, including a handful of episodes with guests. 

In January 2022, I took a job as a teacher and show director at the School of Rock in Gahanna, Ohio, and found a great deal of joy combining my passion for working with kids and my passion for music. I continue to release podcast episodes weekly and perform solo acoustic/piano shows locally 3-4 times a month. 

At present time, both my kids are adults (19 & 20) and living independently, leaving me home alone with all my passion projects 24/7, supported by my cat, Goobs. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Due to my very driven nature, I’ve found very few obstacles with actually pursuing what I love at any given time, even with a mountain of other responsibilities in life. That said, probably the biggest obstacle has been the change in media distribution over the years, from physical to digital, as well as the ability for so many people to do things (record podcasts, videos, music, etc.) in their own home at a very affordable cost. While this can seem like a blessing, knowing that now you can easily get your product out to people all across the world without needing an agent, distribution deal, record label, etc., it also means that the proverbial pond has gotten oversaturated and it’s very difficult to stand out, despite being higher quality than the rest. It’s like the old saying of being a big fish in a small pond or vice versa. Now it’s no longer a pond. It’s an ocean and all the fish are in that one ocean. So being the prettiest fish doesn’t matter much if there are so many fish that it’s rare to impossible that your beauty will ever be seen. 

Probably my other obstacle is that I loathe the ideologies behind social media, as I’ve discussed many times on my podcast. While I know it’s not only important but imperative to have a strong social media presence to be seen in this ocean of fish, I have a hard time bringing myself to use it in that regard, from a matter of principle. So, in that way, my own principles have become one of my biggest obstacles to my success. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a recording artist, live performer, and comedy podcaster. 

One of my proudest accomplishments has been singing the national anthem for the Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL), Columbus Crew (MLS), and Columbus Clippers (minor league baseball). In fact, my first performance for the Blue Jackets was in front of a sold-out arena crowd of almost 19,000 people. That was also my first anthem performance ever. So, standing on the ice, all by yourself, with an arena full of people and your face projected on the jumbotron, takes a lot of nerve! 

I think what sets me apart is my dedication to my craft, whether it be music or podcasting. I really strive to sound as professional as possible and despite having the ability to just record and release with ease, I never take that easy path. Hence why I put 10+ hours of work into every weekly podcast episode. And from the feedback I’ve gotten from listeners, I’ve been complimented on the professional quality of the episodes and all the extra things I add in. To date, I’ve had listeners in forty-five countries for the podcast. Not sure how they’re finding me, but I guess that’s a bonus of the digital world we live in. 

What matters most to you?
First and foremost, the happiness of my kids. I won’t even say the success of my kids, as success doesn’t always equal happiness. Take me, for instance. I’m not really successful compared to typical “success” stories plus now being almost 47-years old. But I also know my passions and I never stop embracing and pursuing them, despite the lack of commercial success. That’s what I want for them, no matter what they find as passions in their life. And pursuing my passions makes me happy and gives me a sense of satisfaction. If I died tomorrow, I wouldn’t have any regrets. I like to live life without regrets because we can’t go back and change anything. And you can’t define what’s going to happen tomorrow. You can only be the best you that you can be right now because the now is all we have, all we’ve ever had, and all we’ll ever have. You can use the word tomorrow or yesterday, but those are just words and ideas. None of us will ever actually know anything other than “today.” 

Contact Info:

• Website: jefshaffer.com
• Instagram: @jefbecomesjef
• Facebook: @jefbecomesjef
• Twitter: @jefbecomesjef

Image Credits
Imagical Photography

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