Shark Island (band)


Shark Island is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, United States, that played during the 1980s and early 1990s, and reformed in 2017 and is currently touring clubs and hair metal festivals in Europe.

History

1979–1982: Early History and Sharks' formation

Sharks started in 1979 by vocalist Rick Czerny and lead guitarist, Spencer Sercombe. Czerny and Sercombe met in high school playing together and began writing original material. Spencer eventually began working for B.C. Rich guitars. While working at B.C. Rich, Spencer had a hand in the designing of one their most popular guitars, The Warlock.
The band practiced out of a small home in a commercial area in Arcadia on Santa Clara Street. The walls of the studio were lined with empty Mickey's Big Mouth bottles, the official Sharks beer and the inspiration behind the band's original logo. The band was completed by drummer Dave Bishop and bassist Jim Volpicelli.
The original band of Czerny, Sercombe, Volpicelli and Bishop released an independent album called Altar Ego in 1982. This album was produced by Jerry Tolman, and featured organist Mike "The Fin" Finnegan. Both had done work with Stephen Stills. Executive producer was Jeff Willmitt. It was recorded at That Studio in North Hollywood.
As well as Altar Ego, Sharks released three singles. The first was a unique "triple fin-shaped" 45, that when inserted into the jacket, cut through the ocean image on the cover. Side A was "Kid Sister" and Side B was "Your Car or Mine." Both were recorded at Mystic Studios in Hollywood, CA. "Hey" was a live single recorded on May 10th, 1981 at The Ice House in Pasadena, Sharks' hometown. On the flip side was Mark Bolan's "Bang a Gong ". The executive producer for both 45s was Jeff Willmitt. The artwork of "Hey" featured a black 45 rpm sleeve with "Live Sharks" across the top in bold red letters with three USDA stamps stating, "Guaranteed Live" on the top of the stamp. "Packed in Its Own Juice" was on the bottom of the stamp.
In the middle of the stamp it said, "U.S.D.A. Shark Meat Choice" looking like an actual stamp from the U.S.D.A. The other single was "I'm Electric" which featured a drum machine rather than Bishop playing real and live drums. On the backside of that single is "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". The lyrics are substituted and recorded to the tune of the Judas Priest song, "Heading Out to the Highway".
No artwork was created for this second single. This was considered a "souvenir" and was given out to the fans when Sharks headlined. Oftentimes, Sharks made themselves available after their performances to the dozens of fans who wanted, and somewhat demanded, autographs to these same "souvenirs."
During those years, Sharks became one of the most popular bands to emerge from the Los Angeles rock scene. American Heroes/Mondo Cane was an act that either opened for Sharks or had Sharks opening for them during their numerous performances. Moreover, there were multiple occasions when both bands played in the same venues such as the The Whiskey, The Icehouse, The Roxy or The Troubadour.
It was at that time that Lanny Cordola, American Heroes/Mondo Cane's guitarist and songwriter, began noticing the unique, one-of-a-kind and riveting stage persona and antics of Sharks' vocalist, Richard Czerny. Lanny seriously entertained the idea of Czerny being the frontman for American Heroes/Mondo Cane. However, both bands continued to perform separately without Cordola and Czerny ever discussing the idea.
Rick Czerny, who later changed his name to Richard Black, had his unique and signature stage moves and dancing that eventually inspired and were an influence to Axl Rose. When Axl Rose had been asked about this "influence", Rose either avoided or ignored answering those questions altogether and would immediately change the subject.
Dave Bishop was the drummer of Sharks while they were enjoying the height of their popularity in Hollywood, CA. Bishop used various shapes and sizes of cowbell instruments in his drumming giving him his unique sound along with his unusual style of playing. His drum kit had a shark's jaws permanently fastened to the outer drum head of his bass drum facing the crowd.
Jim Volpicelli was handlled the duties of playing bass guitar for Sharks. One of Volcipelli's bass guitars was custom-designed and had an air-brushed shark's head and teeth painted at the left side and at the end near the volume/tone knobs. Much like Michael Anthony of Van Halen, Volpicelli's vocals were strong and melodic bringing a very different sound to Sharks and Hollywood's rock scene. Many bands, at that time, only had the vocals of the lead vocalist with no background vocals. Clearly, this set Sharks apart from almost all of the current-playing rock bands at that time.

1985–1986: Name change and ''S'cool Buss''

In 1985, Sharks changed their name to Shark Island. In the tradition of Van Halen, Mötley Crüe and other Los Angeles bands, Shark Island became the house band at Gazzari's on the Sunset Strip. Owner Bill Gazzari helped produce a cover of the Frank Sinatra song "New York, New York" which appeared on the band's independently released album, S'cool Buss, in 1986. The line-up now included Richard Black on lead vocals, Spencer "Burner" Sercombe on guitar/vocals, Walt Woodward III on drums/vocals, Tom Rucci on bass/vocals/keyboards and Michael Guy on guitar/bass. Rick Derringer produced most of the album and there were 1,200 copies made. "Palace of Pleasure" was the unofficial single of this album. The former Sharks' rhythm section, Jim Volpicelli and Dave Bishop are credited with co-writing four of its nine songs.
Sharks Island were able to secure a record development deal. They were signed by A&M Records for one year with no promise of being permanently signed to an official record contract. During this time, the line-up continued to shift with drummer Walt Woodward III leaving to join The Scream and on-and-off guitarist K.K. Martin parting ways due to "artistic differences". Rob Pace, from Chicago, filled in on drums during this time. Sercombe also did studio work with Sparks, playing guitar on the band's 1988 Interior Design album.

1989–1994: ''Law of the Order'', ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' and ''Point Break''

Chris Heilman and drummer Greg Ellis joined in 1989 to record and release the band's only official album, at that time, entitled, Law of the Order. The official single of that "debut" album, "Paris Calling" had an elaborate music video. Randy Nicklaus was the producer for Shark Island on that album on Epic Records. It's generally speculated that Randy was not familiar enough with Sharks/Shark Island's high-energy and bombastic live performances, and therefore not being able to fully capture Shark Island as they truly performed live.
With the disappointing CD sales of the album and no promotion from Epic Records, the band vanished from the scene with most of its members joining other projects. Law of the Order was re-issued in 2004 by French independent label, Bad Reputation, as a double CD. That included bonus tracks culled from the July 14, 1989 Bastille Day - Alive At The Whiskey EP, "Father Time" and "Dangerous" from the 1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure soundtrack, "My City" from the 1991 Point Break soundtrack, and LOTO era live cuts, "Spellbound' and "Sanctuary".
In 1994, the band attempted to re-form with the new line-up of Ricky Ricardo on bass, Eric Ragno - keyboards, Richard Black - vocals, Simon Wright - drums and Damir Simic Shine on guitar.

1991–2012: Break-up and solo projects

In 2005, Shark Island reunited to re-record various previously-written and demoed songs for the album Gathering of the Faithful, produced by guitarist Spencer Sercombe with additional production from German Villacorta and vocalist Richard Black. The line-up featured Black on vocals, Sercombe on guitars, piano, synthesizer and vocals, Christian Heilman on bass and new drummer, Glen Sobel, now with Alice Cooper. The album was released in Europe on Frontiers Records in 2006 and via Manifest Music in the U.S. in 2007.
In 2013, Black put together a new line-up of Shark Island and played classic era material in Europe including a show in Zagreb, Croatia

2019–present: New studio album

In 2019, the band released a new studio album, Bloodline. The album was limited to a worldwide print of only 1111 copies. The Shark Island family now consists of Richard Black, Damir Simic, Alen Frjlak and returning Shark Island member Christian Heilmann. Credit is also given to Marko Karacic. Bloodline was produced by Alex Kane mixed by Sylvia Massy. The collection has ten original songs and one cover of "Policy of Truth" by Depeche Mode.

Personnel

Current members

Studio albums