Shark Attack

***"Not to be overlooked is this three-piece hardcore band from Fayetteville, Arkansas called SHARK ATTACK. Influenced by Motörhead, the Stooges, Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, Shark Attack began playing its local dive, Lily’s, before receiving offers for coveted opening slots for Agnostic Front, Bad Muthu Goose (featuring ex-Big Boy Tim Kerr) and Just Say No (with its roster of ex-Meatmen and Fix members). Beginning at its 1990 inception, Shark Attack exhibited itself as an unyielding unit. Two studio sessions were recorded and a cross-country move had been accomplished by the dawn of the decade. In the band’s newly adopted home of Oakland, CA, it connected with fellow Arkansas transplants Econochrist. The two groups made a few appearances together, which introduced the local punk scene to this unknown trio from the Ozarks. Shark Attack shared bills with Rancid, Filth and Spitboy (among others). Shark Attack’s massacre of the West Coast was never meant to be. After a few months, two homesick members returned to Arkansas, ensuring an early death for the band. Its drummer remained in Oakland to become a permanent fixture on the East Bay punk scene, eventually joining mid-to-late 90s post-hardcore math rockers Cars Get Crushed. In 2021 Shark Attack’s thirty year old studio recordings made their way online. Once I became aware I insisted the band allow me to release a seven-inch. I chose three blistering, dark hardcore songs guaranteed to puncture eardrums. The pair of noisy rippers on Side A viciously leap from the turntable to split skulls in the way Discharge, Neurosis, Motorhead and C.O.C. once could. Side B is a solitary crawl through the sludge (more Flipper than Hellhammer), reveling in the same creepy reckless abandon that Shark Attack’s Southern kin Buzzov*en and EYEHATEGOD are infamous for. Play this record loud and let Shark Attack devour you alive!"—Cory Linstrum Sweet FA records