Paul James Shull (born May 25, 1973) is a

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

promoter and television host who has worked in music, film and television. He is the host of the television show ''The Weapon Hunter''.

Early life

Shull was born in Kitchener,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and graduated with honours from St. Davids high school in Waterloo,

in 1993.

Career

Local years

In 1993, Shull became a music promoter, booking agent and band manager with

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

based company Sink or Swim Promotions. He worked to promote local indie bands and booked local, national and international touring acts. That year

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

NXNE North by Northeast (or NXNE) is an annual music and arts festival held each June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival's main focus is live music, but it also includes an eSports gaming tournament, comedy, a conversations series, a flea marke ...

festival enlisted Shull to scout for bands and performers to add to their festival roster. After three years, Shull bought Sink or Swim and helped promote

Elmira, Ontario Elmira is the largest community in the township of Woolwich, Ontario, Canada. It is north of the city of Waterloo near the Regional Municipality of Waterloo's northern border with Wellington County. The community was listed in the 2016 Canadian ...

based band, The Ludes. In 1996 Shull joined the Board of Waterloo Sounds of Summer Festival as director of programming. and spent five years organizing entertainment activities. The next year the festival attracted a crowd of about 10,000 people. Shull promoted Kitchener-Waterloo based psychedelic punk band Pablum in the US and booked bands regularly for local club, Angry Buddha’z in Kitchener.

International years

Shull became stage manager for Calc Enterprises (Kitchener, Ontario) and worked for Universal Concerts as an in house stage manager at local clubs in Kitchener,

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

and London, Ontario. He promoted touring acts

Garbage Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste produc ...

, Pennywise,

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

Catherine Wheel Catherine wheel may refer to: * wheel or breaking wheel, an instrument of torturous execution originally associated with Saint Catherine of Alexandria * Catherine wheel (firework), a firework that rotates when lit Arts and entertainment * Cather ...

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

, and Rodger Hodgson. In 2000, Shull went to work at California-based Odd Job Inc. as an international stage manager. He toured backline tech with ska-punk band Goldfinger. As a stage manager, Shull toured Canada, USA,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, and Ljubljiana working at small and large outdoor festivals, as well as TV and radio performances. Shull also went on to stage manage international and national tours for

Bloodhound Gang The Bloodhound Gang was an American rap rock band from Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1988 by rappers Jimmy Pop and Daddy Long Legs (now in Wolfpac) as a hip-hop group, before branching out into other genres as their career pro ...

Later years

In 2003 Shull left the road to head up Watch Dog East in Toronto and booking agency S.L. Feldman & Associates and Macklam/Feldman Management. Shull acted as an artist liaison with labels, publishers and lawyers provided booking, tour support and management. He represented

Sondre Lerche Sondre Lerche (; born 5 September 1982) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and guitarist, now based in Los Angeles, California. He has released nine studio albums. Early life Growing up in a suburb of Bergen, Lerche was heavily influenced by 1980s ...

, Kyprios, Stabilo Boss and Day Theory. He managed Kitchener alt rock band The Miniatures, Toronto hip hop group

Pocket Dwellers The Pocket Dwellers are a Canadian seven-member experimental hip-hop group from the Toronto area. The band's main genre is hip-hop, but their music is influenced by jazz, funk, soul and breakbeat. History The Pocket Dwellers began forming togeth ...

and

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

hard rock band

Out of Your Mouth Out of Your Mouth was a Canadian hard rock band from Calgary, Alberta. It was fronted by guitarist, vocalist, producer, and writer Jason Darr. History Darr, a singer-songwriter, brought together a group of local Calgary musicians under the name F ...

, and worked with local acts The Candidates, and

Paul MacLeod Skydiggers are a Canadian roots rock band from Toronto formed by Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson. Since 1990, they have released 19 albums/EPs and have had a number of singles that have appeared on the Canadian charts. Their most successful album i ...

’s band Hibakusha & Pimp. In 2004 Shull was named president of

DC Flag Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as ...

."Meet Mr. Butterscotch"
''Waterloo Chronicle'', May 01, 2012 The label's artist

MC Chris Christopher Brendan Ward IV, better known by the stage name mc chris (stylized in all lower case), is an American rapper, voice actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his high-pitched voice and for combining his "geek" background with the ...

had a top 10 single on iTunes in the U.S. and sold out 230 live performances. Other artists in the DC Flag family included hardcore punk super group

Hazen Street Hazen Street (also typeset Hazen St.) is an American supergroup that formed in early 2004. The band features Freddy Cricien and Hoya Roc (Madball); Toby Morse ( H2O), David Kennedy (Box Car Racer, Over My Dead Body, later Angels & Airwaves), ...

and indie rock band

Lola Ray Lola Ray is an indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York. It was formed when singer/guitarist John Balicanta re-assembled his high school band from Anaheim, California in order to record a demo for Peter Robinson of RCA Records. First band Balican ...

from

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

. Shull also worked with Talk's Cheap Management in co-managing psychedelic stoner rock band

Nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...

2006 - 2010

In 2006 Shull formed Shull Management, an artist management company based in Toronto. He provided artist liaison with labels, publishers and lawyers, and signed

Die Mannequin Die Mannequin is a Canadian alternative rock band from Toronto, founded by guitar player and singer Care Failure (born Caroline Kawa) in 2005. The band has toured across Canada several times, opening for Buckcherry, Guns N' Roses, Marilyn Manso ...

who were the opening act for

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

on the eastern leg of their North American "Chinese Democracy" tour. Shull teamed up with Die Mannequin's Care Failure and started the label How To Kill Music . Also in 2006, Shull became a member of the Artists Managers Expert Working Group and contributed to the planning and writing of the document ''Development, Marketing & Distribution in the Music Industry, a Competency Analysis'', a reference regulating industry standards for those working within the music business in Canada. The following year, Shull toured in support of

Buckcherry Buckcherry is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, ''Buckcherry'' (1999) and ''Time Bomb'' (2001), before dissolving in 2002. Buckcherry's first album ''Buckcherry'' was DreamWorks first a ...

, the

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...

and Canadian rockers

Finger 11 Finger Eleven is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 1990. They have released seven studio albums (six as Finger Eleven and one as Rainbow Butt Monkeys), with their album '' The Greyest of Blue Skies'' bringing them into the ...

, and booked Die Mannequin on a tour with

Sum 41 Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. Originally called Kaspir, the band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason "Cone" McCas ...

on their Strength in Numbers' tour followed by a European tour in 2007 with

Danko Jones Danko Jones is a Canadian hard rock trio from Toronto. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass), and Rich Knox (drums).Bruce McDonald, to film ''The Rawside of Die Mannequin'', an hour-long documentary television show created by

I Mother Earth I Mother Earth, or IME, is a Canadians, Canadian rock band. The band formed in 1990 and reached its peak in popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s. After an eight-year hiatus, the band reunited in 2012. Between 1996 and 2016, I Mother Earth was among ...

guitarist

Jagori Tanna Jagori Tanna (born ''Andrew Koshowski'', in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian musician. Together with his brother, Christian Tanna, he formed I Mother Earth around 1990. He wrote almost all of I Mother Earth's music, and produced much of it as wel ...

that featured a behind the scenes look at Die Mannequin on the road and writing their new album with their manager Mr. Butterscotch (played by Shull). The documentary premiered at Toronto’s 2008

Festival, 2008 and in 2009 it aired on Canadian digital specialty channel IFC and was nominated for two

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...

, Best Photography in a Documentary Program or Series and Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series.

Recent and Current Years

More recently, Shull developed and hosted the television show ''The Weapon Hunter'' which focuses on military artifact collectors and military history.

Personal

Shull began fencing in 2010, and became a C.I. certified fencing instructor. He also became President and a member of the executive of Excelsior Fencing Escrime. He served as chair of the Canadian Fencing Historical Committee in 2013.