Photo by: Gabriel C. Pérez
You may be asking yourself, “American Sharks? I love those guys! Where in Essos have they been?!” To paraphrase, living their damn lives and taking care of their damn souls. Their 2013 debut album took a note from Wire and the Minutemen: 11 songs in 19 minutes. With that album came an unexpected deluge of attention and success. They found themselves touring the world opening for acts like GWAR, the Sword, and Clutch (to name a few), and presented with a record deal. All of these things sound inspirational, like the story we want for all of our beloved Austin acts, but, as American Sharks quickly learned, the intended isn’t always as sweet as the reality. Fatigued from constant touring and still trying to rinse out the metallic taste of the realities of the music industry, the Shark boys took some time away from the current and focused on themselves.
The songs on 11:11 were written soon after their debut, which accounts for the mostly back-in-stride sound of the sophomore release, but with less back-of-the-beat stoner haze and more polished production. They stopped by our Studio 1A to play songs from 11:11 and to talk about mental health, Austin’s beloved SIMS Foundation, and share their story brushing with fame and having the agency to say, “this is what we want, but now how we want it.”
11:11 is out on May 17th via The End Records. The release show is THIS FRIDAY 10/10 at Mohawk with Kyle Shutt (The Sword), Drakulas, and Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol.
-Taylor Wallace, Weeknight Host
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Host: Taylor Wallace
Producer: Deidre Gott
Engineer: Cliff Hargrove
Cameras: Gabriel C. Pérez, Tristan Ipock
