Joey Shapiro of XYZ chats with us about opening his own recording studio in Denver, CO.
by Lilli Newhouse | July 7th , 2025
Photo by Lilli Newhouse | @lnewhousephotography
You probably know Joey Shapiro as the drummer of the hit 80’s band XYZ best known for their songs “Inside out” and “What Keeps Me Loving You.” XYZ originally formed in Lyon, France in 1978, but relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1984 where they experienced much of their success. XYZ sold more than two million records worldwide and was a staple on MTV during the early 90s.
In 2019 Joey bought Avalanche Recording Studios, a recording facility in Denver CO. Since then he has re-vamped the studio and has allowed local and non-local bands to come in and record their albums as well as given artists a space to have fun and just play music.
How did your journey into music begin?
“I came from a musical family with many family members being musicians or involved in music. My father was a jazz trumpet player, my mother playing all the great music coming out of the 7os when I was a young teenager, on up to my dads cousin Robert Margouleff who was (and still is) the driving force behind the creation and use of the electronic synthesizer as well as producing and recording some of the world’s biggest recording artists. So a lot of that was around me when I was young and impressionable. I tried to learn the trumpet from my dad but just didn’t interest me. Felt like 4th grade math class. My best friend at the time had a drum set in his basement and wanted nothing to do either it so I talked him out of it and went from there.”
Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?
“Early on it was those records my folks played and what was coming out of the radio. I remember a lot of Beatles and jazz, then Bob Marley and The Police. The first rock album I bought was Who’s Next by The Who. Then that summer my buddy and I snuck out of the house and went to see a midnight showing of a film by The Who called “The Kids Are Alright”. The opening sequence of the film is their appearance on a variety show performing “My Generation”. The end of the song they smash their instruments and blow up the drums. I was all in after that experience especially on a big screen and the music blasting thru the theater sound system. Pete Townsend’s hair about caught fire and he’s been deaf in the ear facing the explosion from it. Rock and Roll!”
Where do you usually draw inspiration from—musically or personally?
“Literally anywhere and everywhere for songwriting but specifically to my main instrument, the drums, inspirations are more from sounds than drum beats and grooves. There’s a number of people online doing pretty far out techniques to get really interesting drum recording sounds. Like putting large and long pvc pipes in from of a bass drum and placing a microphone at the end. Pretty cool sound if you can find a time and place for it.”
How do you know when a song or project is finished?
“That’s an age old problem for artists which has vastly been exasperated by all the possibilities with modern computer based recording vs recording all analog to a tape machine. For most artists a song/project is never done. There is always a recording performance or lyric or guitar solo or something in the mixing and mastering process that could be better and given the opportunity, most will fall into this hole. Prior to digital, a project finished meant you had no more money to keep tweaking your song demo at a studio, or if you were a signed label artists, that was the A&R rep and the producer in control of the budget and schedule who simply said “that’s it, your done”. Now for any artist with a computer and some minimal recording equipment, one can tweak and re-record their art till the end of time. There’s something to be said for having to make a decision and commit otherwise the creation gets overworked, stale and no one ever hears it.”
Who would be your dream collaboration, dead or alive?
“The dream collabs in mind there would be nothing I could contribute. But to be a part of the recording process, fly on the wall with MJ or Prince would be beyond mind blowing. There are recent YouTube vids of Michael pitting down those songs we all know by himself at home or at the studio just him and the engineer. Mind blowing.”
What part of the music-making process do you love the most?
“Collaborating and making music together in real time. And the mixing process.”
What’s your favorite memory from performing live?
“So many. My band had a festival show with Cheap Trick early 90s at some hundreds of concert goers took over the roads out of town to the location making two lane two way road into one lane going in. We couldn’t get thru and weee going to miss our set time but talked a state trooper into helping us. We piled in her trooper car and got the full lights and siren escort doing 60 thru the grass along side the road, thru the back of the crowd and dropped us at the sound and light board where we got out and run to the stage and played a vicious set on time. I felt like I was in Led Zeppelin for an hour and it was glorious.”
What advice would you give to your younger self when you were just starting out?
“Learn to play as many instruments as you can and focus on song and lyric writing. You can be the person making $100 a night covering someone else’s song, or the person that wrote it.”
What’s a risk you’ve taken creatively that paid off?
Photo by Lilli Newhouse | @lnewhousephotography
“TBD. I only recently consider myself taking creative risks. I’m currently wrapping up a long project that’s a very different genre from my usual comfort level. We shall see where that goes but I’m very excited to be doing something different and playing different beats onto tracks that are not some derivative of 80s/90s rock.”
What message or feeling do you want to leave behind as an artist?
“If I can leave behind music of any kind that gives the listener enjoyment or feeling with the message and that has that undeniable “bounce”. If they bang their head, tap a foot or mosh…. My job is done.”
What made you decide to buy the studio lot and revamp it/keep it going for local musicians?
Photo by Lilli Newhouse | @lnewhousephotography
“I’ve had a passion for audio and recording my whole life. I was usually the band member making the band demos after windows95 came and softwares developed so we could do what we call bedroom recordings. I also (I’ve heard other drummers say as well) when listening to a record, am focused on the drumming and then the mix of the track. The souls, the vibe, how the bass drum hits you in the chest at high volume. When the opportunity presented itself to restore Avalanche Recording to its former glory and make it a semi private spot for my own music as well as artists we work with from around the world, I didn’t think twice about it and nothing was going to stop me. The restoration and build were some really great days in life.”
Out of all the musicians you’ve worked with over the years, who has been your favorite/the most fun and why?
“Lately, the most exciting is Colorado artist Ethan Mesple. Absolute beast of a drummer and composer who brings in insane top talent studio musicians. Really something to be able to watch up close and record masters of their craft and we never know who Ethan is bringing in so every recording session brings happy anticipation.”
Do you have a favorite piece of equipment in the studio?
“I have some fantastic Brady drums from Australia that are a highlight for me. They are hard to find and record like nothing else on earth. Most interesting piece is a piece of recording hardware. A compressor from the 70s by the company Eventide called an Omnipressor. It’s a piece of audio gear history that the audiologists used to be able to hear the 18.5 minutes of erased audio recording on President Nixon’s watergate tapes which eventually led to his resignation.”
