aaamusic | On 08, Oct 2010

After their free and much acclaimed free debut self release, the ‘Shallow Waters’ EP, midlands 4 pieces SHARKS are finally set to release their full on debut EP ‘Show Of Hands’ through Best Before on October 18th. Born and raised in Royal Leamington Spa, Midlands UK, SHARKS are a British rock ‘n’ roll group with absolute heart, that embellish their hardcore D.I.Y ethics with the raw power of the soul.

Their Musical influences may range from the Buzzcocks, The Clash, Nick Cave, Joy Division, Husker Du, Black Flag and many more, BUT they have set out to sound like themselves and themselves only, with an appreciation of the things that influence them daily in their lives, whether it be musical or not. No cheap imitations, just honest emotion. SHARKS are merely a band that speak their mind, keeping to their roots and emotions as honest as they can, never trying to compromise the reality of who they are for the short way round.

As Andy (Bayliss, guitar) states, ‘I’m obsessed with songs. It’s a constant fascination, seeking out the design and the art of great songs. I’m always trying to write better music, and James is always trying to write better lyrics. ‘Show of Hands’ wasn’t written for the punk scene, or the indie scene, or for anyone in particular – It’s a record that was written for us.’

Vocalist James (Mattock) adds, ‘We believe in an uncompromised art to be embraced by any one who wants to listen. We don’t seem to fit to comfortably in any particular music scene anyway, and we’ll continue take it as a compliment and to be our own. The songs on ‘Show Of Hands’ vary from our first ever song (Trains) to some of the latest. Trains, being the first song we wrote, means that we were sixteen when it was written. I still remember writing the lyrics in a free period at college. Even though it’s old, it still felt right and relevant to include in ‘Show Of Hands’.

‘Show Of Hands’ tracklisting:

1. Trains / 2. Three Houses / 3. More Blue / 4. It All Relates / 5. Glove in Hand (featuring Spencer from Trash Talk on vocals)

Spencer from Trash Talk popped into Fortress Studios during the recording (along with the rest of TT, whilst they were stranded in the UK due to the Icelandic Volcano), stripped off naked and performed a spoken word piece on the EP track ‘Glove in Hand’. As Andy states, the guest spot has nothing to do with trends or cool, ‘Inviting Trash Talk onto the record, was a way of us embracing a year of touring we’ve had with many diverse bands. It’s inspiring to play and work with different bands, it breaks down the segregation between scenes and exposes people to music they wouldn’t have otherwise known about. Trash Talk and ourselves come from a very honest place, and when people share this common belief in what they’re doing, you find genre becomes absolutely irrelevant.’

On top off all this, David Gedge of The Wedding Present, on hearing the guys cover of ‘Brassneck’, has now invited the band to support them at their ‘By The Sea’ festival and Brian Fallon From The Gaslight Anthem joined the band live on vocals across various nights on their recent UK headline tour to perform a cover of The Replacements ‘Cant Hardly Wait’. Mick Jones has also recently invited the band to get involved in the Strummervillie charity, which is being put in motion over the coming months.

Live wise, SHARKS have spent the last year playing and touring extensively with the likes of The Gaslight Anthem, F***ed Up, The King Blues, Babyshambles, Gallows, lostprophets, Mando Diao, Trash Talk, Rolo Tomassi, The Joy Formidable, Alexisonfire and City And Colour. They have also played 2 NME Awards shows, one with Girls and Frankie And The Heartstrings at the Scala London, and the other was headlining in Cardiff .

Without an official release, the band have also had plays and support across national Radio 1 with Zane Lowe, Huw Stevens, Mike Davies, Steve Lamacq and Daniel P Carter.

SHARKS /// are:

Vocals / Guitar – James Mattock

Guitar – Andy Bayliss

Bass – Cris O’Reilly

Drums – Samuel Lister

Catch the band on the road with The Gaslight Anthem next month dates up at: http://www.myspace.com/sharksuk