Prior to their celebratory set at Bedford Esquires earlier this year, I caught up with Steve ‘Snips’ Parsons and Chris Spedding of reformed “car crash super group”, Sharks, for a brief, pre-gig interview.

 

UR: I suppose some people will be surprised at the re-emergence of Sharks, but as the two of you hve worked together sporadically over the decades, it made sense to you?

 

SP: Having worked together on Chris’ ‘Joyland’ album and together in King Mob, and now we both live near each other again, it just made sense. So, about 2 ½ years ago, we thought about doing Sharks again. Chris and I did a gig as Power Shakes, just for fun, with bits from all of our repertoire, including Sharks. Then, Andy Fraser died, so it wasn’t going to happen as we’d imagined. But, we were asked to do some tribute gigs, they went well, so we thought about how to do it now. The Sharks songs sounded good, so…

 

CS: Yeah, they’re well-constructed songs. We’re playing songs from all our albums, as well as new songs.

 

So, was there a catalyst for getting together and writing new songs?

 

SP: Yeah: we got a record deal! So, it was time to do it. The next album isn’t entirely brand new: we took some ideas that weren’t finished. ‘Music Breakout’ was from 1974, which will be on the new album, some songs that I’d been writing myself, as well as new songs for Sharks. So, a mixture, but we just went with what sounded good. What sounds like Sharks. Chris was responsible for ensuring the new line up had the signature sound of Sharks. It was a good call, ‘cause I’m more likely to try anything in the mix. He knew that we should take a step back and get the right sound for the band.

 

Will there be any King Mob songs on the tour?

 

SP: No. We were going to, but decided that, really, we have enough Sharks material. There’s three albums, one unfinished one, plus a brand new album.

 

CS: The King Mob gigs, we didn’t play any Sharks songs. It was a different feel.

 

Perfect timing! (In walks Toshi Ogawa, Sharks/King Mob bassist). Toshi, was it during King Mob that the three of you first met?

 

TO: Yeah, I did Presence with Steve before that, just the last gig with King Mob, then Sharks now.

 

Is there a release date for the new album?

 

SP: Yeah, it took a little time to get organised. The single’s out now with the video, ‘One Last Thrill’, then the album, ‘Killers Of The Deep’, is out in January. We’ll do some more dates then. Re-launching a ‘failed supergroup’ seemed like such a mad thing to do, that, if we pull it off, it’ll be the success of the century. If not, we’ll have had a good time doing it. We’re happy with it.

 

 

Thanks again to the band for fitting the interview into their schedule. And put the album release in next year’s diary now.

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