Artist description Chemistry. 12 years together. Rock and roll saved their lives repeatedly.

Music Style acid folk garage punk rock and roll

Musical Influences Beatles, Sonic Youth, Ween, Dylan, Spacemen 3, Kinks, Velvet Underground, Byrds, Wire, Damned, Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Neil Young, Nirvana

Similar Artists Strokes, Mooney Suzuki

Artist History Formed in 1990 by Paul, Tim & Derek while still in high school. Recorded debut CD with Kramer (Urge Overkill, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Bongwater, etc) in 1996 (released on BOMP records). Broke up in 1997, reformed 2001.

Group Members Tim Fogle- drums, Gemini. Paul Grafton- bass, Leo. Derek See- vocals, guitar, Gemini.

Instruments Tim: Gretsch drums, plus various percussion. Paul: 1981 G&L l-2000 bass, Epiphone Rivoli, Fender Bassman, silverface. Derek: Fender Stratocaster, '62 Jaguar, 63 Jazzmaster, '65 Duo-Sonic II.. Rickenbacker 330-12 string, 1972 Gretsch Chet Atkins Nashville. Fender Pro Reverb amp, silverface,big muff, univibe, doctor Q, Boss OD1, Wah wah, compressor, analog delay..

Albums I, Sharko (Bomp records 1996), I Sharko As Vegetables (2001), Lives In Gray (2003)

Press Reviews "One Kind Radio" September '03 ("Lives In Gray" album review) I, Sharko's sound might have changed... but the attitude still remains the same. Keeping with it a sound like if the White Stripes had found out how to play true indie rock!!! This is one great raw recording... might need a bit of work in the studio before I would call it a radio collection, but who has the money these day to afford a stronger mokey behind the boards. If you like a raw, garage sound from a band that has put out hits that no one has heard... pick this one up for your earger listening garage indie-rock ears. Illinois Entertainer, September '03: I, Sharko's three-song, self-titled CD is for people who embraced The Lyres' raw 1960s revivalism long before "garage" became a buzz word. "Stop Stop" is a playful rocker about boredom and frustration that opens with lead vocalist/guitarist Derek See singing, "You can't use your stupidity as a prop." "Insatiable" is even more reckless, as Lee and fellow lead guitarist Sam Carlson cut loose on their instruments. Sandwiched between these two cuts is the more melodic "Slow Down," which features Lee and Carlson on some nice harmony vocals. (Contact: isharko.com.) Alternative Press, September '96: Like a more concise My Bloody Valentine or Spiritualized, or an Americanized, more garage-band Ride, Chicago's I, Sharko play atmospheric songs with a hard-edged rock base. On the six-year-old group's self-titled effort, they merge spacey psychedelia with a structured rock style that works nicely on the fuzzy but focused "Water", which combines attitude with atmosphere (along with some weird synth effects), and on the reverbed, vibrato, melodic guitars and chorused vocals of the poppy "Sun Comes Early." --Laura DeMarco The Big Takeover, September '96: They cite Ride and Spacemen 3 as influences, but these guys sound like the just strode in from a lost volume of Nuggets. Derek Culimore's voice (sonic) booms over the swells of sound. He doesn't swathe himself in the psychedelic stir, and he doesn't have to. The songs are all sturdy--guitars and lots of keyboards swimming gracefully, with Paul Grafton's controlled basslines towing everything along nicely. The shorter tracks ("Soul So True", "Fallen Hope") are gentle and balmy, while longer pieces ("Untitled", "Eyes") tend to develop into full-on firestorm jams. More inclined towards whetted riffage than drone, I Sharko are a refreshing antidote to the lazy hordes of electric mainliners. --Jack Rabid -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chaotic, Critiques, September '96: This interestingly-titled band plays some dreamy pop that reverberates around in your head like jello in a mild earthquake, and closes the gap between retro and modern rock without falling entirely into a single category. Relaxing and hypnotic, I Sharko navigates its daze with confidence, dripping unobtrusive psychedelics into your consciousness and sweetening your mind like thick honey. Opener "Sun Comes Early" is the most direct song, leaving the remainder of the album a dreamy, smoke-filled playground drenched in discursive, effects-laden solos and wavering vocals that drift like a mirage on the desert horizon. On occasion, the band will break the spell and launch into a bolder passage, as seen with the guitar solo of "Water", which acts as a counterweight to the band's passive demeanor. Well-meaning and contemplative, I Sharko put forth a very convincing platter of psychedelia that is experienced as much as it is heard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magnet #24: I, Sharko opens its album with "Sun Comes Early", a romping sprint that's popped along by dashing chink-a-chink guitars, with typical but tolerable sinbg-a-linging by guitarist Derek Cullimore. The next track, "Eyes" reveals Sharko to not be some indie rock, Slumberland-like outfit, but a psychedelic hound who's no doubt memorized Smashing Orange's recordings circa 1991. The third track, "Flowers For You" jumps up and down with more chinking guitars of the strummy, flowery sort; it's followed by the drifting-on-water "For Anybody", where the guitar evokes images of an empty bottle floating in the ocean. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New City, April '96: There are quite a few sharp turns on the self-titled debut from Chicago's I, Sharko. While it starts out sounding like common distorted jangle fuzz, the Kramer-produced CD gently veers off into ethereal shoegazing. On the expansive "Eyes", a song that highlights the crack production, layers of echo-laden guitars, crisp drum and bass and keyboard doodles inconspicuously weave in and out of the mostly instrumental jam. While the acoustic songs bring to mind a more psychedelic Aztec Camera, the extended electric workouts summon a modern-day blend of Youngian guitar mixed with the twisted rock language of My Bloody Valentine and a less Manchester-beat influenced Verve. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bucketfull of Brains, August '96: Given the tenuous advance information I had, I was expecting the sound of their debut album to fall somewhere between that of Spiritualised and Bongwater. Actually though, only the shimmeringly trranslucent euphony of the second track, "Eyes" and the complex dynamics of the closing "Untitled" live up to expectations. For the most part, this Indiana band's sound is unassuming, harmony laden, 12-string pop which reaches a head on the Sundial-ish "For Anybody", with its rousing guitar/keyboard close. More of the same next time would be a real treat. --Phil McMullen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Astro-Zombie: A youthful quartet who play drug-induced indie pop, which is not a particular favorite genre but nevertheless they do it well. Imagine the Wonderstuff and Pop Will Eat Itself vacating to the US for six years, having a huge identity crisis because nobody there wants their over-inflated ego shaw and so to gain any attention they must remove their inflated heads with poser hair-extensions from their very loose backsides and come to grips with reality and you have I Sharko who are far more musically superior. There are many free-form, tangential spiralisations where incredibly well performed, the bass wraps around your spine while the keyboards shuttle up inside the spinal column towards the back-brain. I'm describing the last three minutes of "Eyes." The vocals are acidic folk similar to REM, Thee Morning Glories and the Petals, made distant by tons of reverb and giving that essential psychedelic quality to an otherwise nineties Indie pop band. --------------------------------------------------ROLLING STONE on-line: Right from the opening bass line and the initial guitar twang, it's clear that this quartet likes their drone; happily, they like their rock as well. Indeed, perhaps the most enjoyable thing about I, Sharko's full-length debut is its balance of impulses. Derek Cullimore's vocals are echoed but not always epic, the general feel of the album warm and winning rather than freaked-out and gibbering, rave-ups as important as just plain raving. Those who want to live only on the psychic edge of collapse may sneer, but they're doing themselves a severe disservice, as songs like "Sun Comes Early" and "Fallen Hope" make plain. Keeping central folk-rock melodies at the heart of the songs serves the band very well, especially with the arrangements providing more bite around the edges than if everything was unplugged. When it comes to beautiful blissed-out head-nodding vibes, meanwhile, I, Sharko find themselves right where a young band should be -- still derivative, perhaps, but clearly talented enough to build on clearly present strengths. There are nods to everyone from the original late-'60s pioneers to later avatars like Spacemen 3, and on the gorgeous "For Anybody," the softer electric flow of early-'90s Telescopes or the Boo Radleys in their quieter moments. Cullimore's guitar playing trips out and doesn't stop, proving once again the salient point that solos need not be excuses for extreme wankishness (the mind-melting stuff toward the end of "Eyes" is especially inspired). All members but bassist Paul Grafton are credited with keyboards, and the addition of psych-inspired organ flow adds to the wonderful feeling throughout. Check out the extreme-and-then-some flanging that makes the quieter parts of "Water" still somehow seem just on the verge of floating away into the atmosphere. ~ Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

Location Valparaiso, IN - USA

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