For more than 40 years, Gary Klebe wrote songs for Shoes, the pioneering power-band band he formed with two high school friends during the 1970s. Hailing from small-town Zion, Illinois, the guys built a national audience — and an even bigger legacy — with albums rooted in textured fuzz guitars coupled with larger-than-life melodies and rich harmonies. Decades passed and trends changed, but Shoes endured, thanks in part to Klebe's songwriting.  

He steps out on his own with Out Loud. Largely recorded in Klebe's basement home studio, it's more than his first solo album; it's a one-man operation, written alone and tracked almost entirely without outside help. Nearly a half-century has passed since Shoes recorded homemade albums like Black Vinyl Shoes in the band's own living room, and Klebe revisits that DIY approach here, funneling a lifetime of inspiration into 11 of his sharpest compositions to date.  

Out Loud is a modern project, but its songs are fueled by the music that first captured Klebe's imagination in his youth. "As a kid during the 1960s, there were certain sounds that resonated with me," he says. "The British Invasion, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and much more — I looked at that music as though it came down from heaven. Those influences never leave you. They're embedded for life." Out Loud showcases that love of melody at every turn. Virtually everything on the album is a hook, from the buzzy guitars that kickstart "Room To Breathe" to the lush, call-and-response vocals of the closing track, "In a Heartbeat." The result is an album that's both timely and timeless: a celebration of the melody-driven, guitar-heavy music that simply doesn't age.  

On his albums with Shoes — including the band's major-label run with Elektra Records — Klebe shared songwriting duties with his two bandmates. The goal was for each musician to receive equal airtime. Out Loud tells a different story. Serving as his own engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Klebe recorded the album on nights and weekends, following his work on the most recent album by Shoes. Drums were tracked in Nashville with John Richardson (Gin Blossoms, Badfinger, Tommy Keene, Shoes), but the rest of Out Loud came together in Klebe's basement studio, largely recorded with his favorite stompboxes and vintage gear from his vast collection.   

Working without his longtime collaborators was an adjustment, but Klebe embraced the freedom to explore a wider range of inspiration. "With Shoes, my songwriting typically leaned more toward slightly harder-edged songs," he says. "When your bandmates are great songwriters, and each person only gets to contribute three or four songs to each record, maybe that does push you to rock things up." This time, things felt different. With less self-imposed constraints, Klebe found himself writing songs that were not only more diverse, but more revealing of their creator, too. "Usually, my songs are about being at the bad end of relationships," he adds, "but I'm taking a little more responsibility with these songs. Maybe I'm the one who needs to change. Maybe it's time to wear my heart on my sleeve." That lighter touch is evident on tracks like "Won't Quit On You," which finds Klebe trading amped-up arrangements for stripped-down percussion and acoustic guitar arpeggios. 

Fans can rest assured that Klebe isn't leaving Shoes anytime soon. "The band will always be my main focus and top priority," he says. "We’re still a close-knit unit and plan to keep making Shoes records until we die. Making music without them was foreign to me, as they have always been my greatest influence." Maybe that's why he initially considered shelving Out Loud, leaving the album in his personal archives rather than releasing it out into the world. It took the advice of an old friend, Butch Vig — the Grammy-winning producer behind zeitgeist-defining albums like Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, as well as an original member of Garbage — to convince him otherwise. Klebe had once been a mentor to Vig, producing the debut album of Vig's first band, Spooner, and encouraging the young musician to pursue work as an engineer and producer. Decades later, Vig returned the favor by offering his own words of encouragement.  

"When Gary sent me these tracks, I was about to go on tour with Garbage," Vig remembers. "I ended up blasting Gary's record backstage every night because I'm such a huge fan. The songs are well-crafted. The production is amazing. I'm a sucker for pop songs, and I kept telling him, 'You've gotta get this record out, and if a label can't help you, you have to do it for yourself. You have to do it for the love of making music.'"  

Out Loud is proof that you can take the man out of the power-pop band, but you can't take the power-pop out of the man. Nowhere is that more evident than in Out Loud's vocal harmonies, which find Klebe multi-tracking his own voice into stacked layers of dreamy, creamy sound. "That's something I learned from Mike Stone," he says, nodding to the iconic British producer who helped Queen layer their harmonies on the some of the most powerful vocal tracks ever recorded. "Mike worked with Shoes on our first record for Elektra," he adds, "and he shared some recording techniques. We hung onto those ideas — the harmonies, the oohs, and the aahs — for years, and when I started recording Out Loud, I realized I still really liked that stuff." 

A classic record for contemporary times, Out Loud builds a bridge between the past and present. It's a 21st century release from a songwriter who's been heralded for his contributions to 20th century music, and it breathes new life into the sounds that have always sustained him.