Orange power equipment being unloaded at the Shack. It’s not all that unusual a sight – until you get closer and realize those aren’t chainsaws or weed whips, but rather electric guitars, amplifiers, and a sound mixer. The full rock band setup arranged before the humble chicken coop is an anachronistic pairing – yet in spite of that, or maybe because of it, the excitement and intrigue is palpable in the air. That, and the voracious mosquitoes that refuse to be repelled.
On a Saturday evening in early July, the Wisconsin metalcore band Vacant Voice paid a special visit to the Aldo Leopold Foundation. The group’s drummer, Shane Murphy, has been passionate about ecology and conservation all his life. “I was obsessed with watching Animal Planet and Discovery when I was a child,” he said in an interview over email. Murphy first learned about ecology thanks to an aquarium his mom put in his childhood home. “My mom used to talk about how all the different chemicals in the water had to be balanced just right to support the life in the tank as well as having specific niches in the community that had to be filled.”
Murphy’s fascination only gathered momentum as he got older. As an undergrad, he majored in biology with a concentration in ecology and minored in environmental studies, and eventually served as president of Purdue Northwest’s Environmental Club. He participated in various environmental research projects, ranging from “regeneration of native ash tree saplings,” the cascading impacts of invasive insects on stream banks, and “active vs passive restoration on old-field habitats.” He subsequently went to grad school to study behavior in a bi-parental burying beetle species.
His early career roles include a public-sector position as a biological field tech in the Indiana Dunes National Park and a private-sector gig as a restoration technician removing invasive species and introducing native plants. Currently, he works as an ecologist and environmental scientist at Stantec. “My day-to-day usually includes identifying, collecting data on, and mapping wetlands and waterways subject to local, federal and state regulations for our clients,” Murphy said. “I also assist in botanical monitoring of areas on restoration projects to fulfil mitigation obligations.”
This commitment to the environment extends beyond academic studies and job titles. Murphy centers conservation in everything he does. “I try my best to reduce my ecological footprint in my dietary choices, types of clothes I purchase, being conscious of where my purchased goods are sourced from, and the choice of vehicle I drive,” he said. “I realize that I am more on the extreme end of things when it comes to conservation but even I have days that I feel like I am not doing all that I possibly can.”
Like many, Murphy was first introduced to Aldo Leopold and A Sand County Almanac while in college. “Two of my professors I still greatly admire and respect told me about this book” and that “I had to read [it] if I truly want[ed] to understand the history of conservation and ecology in the Midwest.” He now describes Leopold as one of his conservation heroes.
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Murphy’s musical journey was also taking place at the same time. Hard rock and heavy metal formed the soundtrack of his childhood; bands like Kiss and Van Halen blasted from the kitchen speakers, and Murphy’s dad and uncle, in their own arena rock cover band, practiced in the basement every week. Young Shane watched every practice and pitched in to help unload equipment when the band returned from shows. “With a band practicing every week at my house, I would of course want to be a part of one some day,” Murphy said. He took after his uncle, also a drummer; he got his first “kiddy” set at age 6, and a full-sized drum kit at 11. Not long after, he started his first band with some school friends in seventh grade, a group that evolved some as its members reached high school. Called To Trust a Liar, they played shows around the Chicagoland suburbs and went on two Midwest tours.
It was on their second tour, in 2015, that Murphy met two of his future Vacant Voice bandmates, Mikeal Dollak Posch and Brad Wilson, who were touring with their own high school band, Eleventh Hour Onset. In 2022, Dollak Posch reconnected with Murphy and asked if he’d join a new project that had started a few years earlier. The band was christened “Vacant Voice” in August 2022 with the arrival of guitarist Ethan Taylor. They released their first single in February 2023, and their debut album came a few months later, in June. According to Murphy, Cathartic Beauty “really focused on the introspective conflicts we all face as people…. anxiety, depression, religion, coming to grips with the inevitable end of life, finding beauty in self reflection, and the want to give back to the people we love for all they do for us.”
As the group started thinking about their next body of work, Murphy said that “we really wanted to branch out from our inward looking perspectives” and “focus more on other ‘vacant voices’ in the world.” He’d always been inspired by artists with music driven by raw emotion, and recently started seeking out groups who focused on topics bigger than themselves. Spotlighting our non-human relatives and the land as a whole made sense for the band as the next step. “I felt it important that we give conservation a voice in our next musical endeavors. Our band’s mission shifted to be more than just a group of friends that wanted to create art together,” Murphy said. “[We want to try] to leave [the world] better than we found it. We want to leave a positive influence in our community.”
While Dollak Posch, Wilson, and Taylor are all based out of southeastern Wisconsin, near Racine, Murphy is the only non-Wisconsinite. (He grew up in the southwest suburbs outside of Chicago and now lives in Indiana.) Yet, somewhat ironically, he was the one to bring A Sand County Almanac to the rest of the group. “I remember saying to the guys, as the only non-Wisconsin resident, ‘If you guys care about the environment and are from Wisconsin, you need to know who Aldo Leopold is and read this book!’”
The introduction to Leopold’s masterwork also made an impression on the rest of the group. “Natural conservation means a lot to us,” said Dollak Posch, guitarist and vocalist for Vacant Voice. “Learning that one of the leaders in spearheading the conservational movement was from right here in our home state resonated with us.”
The band's new song, “Quiet Decay,” takes inspiration from A Sand County Almanac. Gentle electric guitar riffs open the song and mirror the Almanac’s month-by-month vignettes, an auditory representation of Aldo’s attentive rapture of seasons changing around him. But don’t let that surface sweetness lull you into comfort. Just as condemnation and mourning for the state of nature seep out of Leopold’s essays, “Quiet Decay” explodes with rage and grief. Vocals veer between Wilson’s rough-edged, growling screams and Dollak Posch’s plaintive singing, with lyrics like “Our dogma of comfort in all that we see,” “When did the sun stop being enough?” and “We will all be buried in the barren prairie sea.” Murphy’s percussion exhibits a similar duality, sure and steady like the earth’s rhythms but building to an energy bordering on urgency.
Given the connection to the Almanac and Aldo Leopold, it only made sense to shoot the accompanying music video where it all began: the Shack. For Murphy, making art in the same place as one of his heroes was a surreal opportunity. “I am so incredibly honored and thankful,” he said. The excitement of visiting such a historic restoration spot was almost too much to handle – having to choose between admiring the native wildflowers in the prairie, setting up his drum kit, and absorbing the gravity of standing where Leopold stood.
Except, in that moment, the stars aligned. He didn’t have to choose.
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Metalcore may be a new look – or rather, sound – for this historic chicken coop, but music has always been part of the Shack’s history. The Leopold family often brought guitars and played Spanish folk songs together – a legacy from Estella’s side of the family and a way to connect to their roots. And others since have taken musical inspiration from this place: more than a decade ago, Wisconsin singer-songwriter Tim Southwick Johnson produced an album, Sand County Songs, based off essays from Leopold’s book.
Aldo himself long advocated for “putting the sciences and arts together for the purpose of understanding our environment.” The diversity of art that Leopold's legacy has inspired is a testament to the power of this combination – whether that art be literature, visual arts, or songwriting. People connect to the land in myriad ways and come to care about it through different means. And, ultimately, that’s a big part of why Vacant Voice wrote “Quiet Decay.”
“I hope that with this song and spreading the word of conservation and … teachings of Aldo Leopold, we can inspire some of the younger generation to be more conscious of the natural world around them,” Murphy said.
“Quiet Decay” is out now, and you can watch the music video they filmed at the Shack here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt6iJ1wi9Y8&ab_channel=VACANTVOICE
Learn more about Vacant Voice and check out their music at their website: https://www.vacantvoice.com/
The Aldo Leopold Foundation was founded in 1982 with a mission to foster the land ethic through the legacy of Aldo Leopold, awakening an ecological conscience in people throughout the world.
