Band Of The Week #326 - Shark School
This week's Band of the Week is Galway garage-punk trio Shark School - who have just released their debut album 'Selachimorpha'.
Formed in Galway in 2023 by Nora Staunton (guitar/vocals), Peggy Ford (bass) and Meg Bruce (drums), Shark School have rapidly become one of the most talked-about underground bands in Ireland. Their sound collides garage punk, riotous indie rock and abrasive noise into something that feels simultaneously cathartic and chaotic; often compared to the collision of Wet Leg and Nirvana raised on Catholic guilt and feminist fury.
Their debut album 'Selachimorpha' promises to be a blistering statement from a band entirely uninterested in restraint. Furious, exhausted and defiantly alive, the record explores emotional collapse, gender politics, identity and inner turmoil with sharp wit and unrelenting honesty.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together
Hey there Shark School, how are you? So your album is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?.
Spectacular this is our first big body of Work that we get released into the wild and it’s with full hearts that we can say we are proud of the work we put into it and just excited for others to hear and to enjoy or to hate but either way to listen to our rock and roll creation!
It is called 'Selachimorpha' – what is the meaning behind that?
I think it’s only fitting that the meaning behind that is Sharks! (To put it into simple terms) Selachos: Ancient Greek for "cartilaginous fish, sharks, and rays".
Morpha: Ancient Greek for "form or shape"
There you have Selachimorpha (all modern sharks)
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
We formed these angry compilations of noises in Attica Studios Co Donegal, I cannot tell you how many Haribos were consumed in the making of this album but I can tell you it was definitely more than one…
What are the key influences behind the album?
A lot of the influences in this album come from dealing with the emotions and just the exhausting suffocation that comes from dealing with assault and with that not being able to trust, sleep, eat or even just feel happy. Ending it with the lyrics “deemed to dream, so it seemed to seem, she had been seen.” More so saying she lived happily ever after or at least just felt heard.
If the album could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
Sharknado specifically all of the six movies, actually a little part of us was making this album for the Sharknado series franchise, but they did in fact release it before we finished the album but if they make a seventh one, we are sitting idly by staring out our windows waiting for their call.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
“pressure coming awful woman
pressure coming awful woman”
This is from the last song on the album called when I see her, this is my favourite set of lyrics from this album as it’s quite repetitive and very cathartic to me as in the song it starts off quiet and I get to build it up to something that just lets all of that pressure out.
Now the album is out there – what next for you?
Another one more music, more music and more music because that is what we are here to do and we cannot wait!
