Zombie vs. Shark
Norman, Oklahoma, United States | SELF
Music
Press
"Zombie vs. Shark play proto-punkish rock n' roll-the kind of stuff that came out of the early/mid-70s with heavy inspiration from late-60s Detroit - "Wunderkind" nods to Sonic Rendezvous Band. It's rock n' roll, nothing more, nothing less. "Dogs and Guns" takes a straighforward High Time-era MC5 approach, rocking the stereo with call and response verse and a catchy, sing-a-long chorus. When it comes down to it, this is just unpretentious - the kind of thing you want to hear in your favorite bar while drinking with friends after a tiring week. So grab a beer."
- Chuck Foster, The Big Takeover #70 (May 25, 2012)
- The Big Takeover #70
Consistent “OKG Pick” from editors for live music-Oklahoma Gazette Magazine
“I love the sound you guys have ....Do you have anything on c.d.? I thought you were really tight last night and I love the guitar sound you and Matt have! Not sure why bands like yours are not signed.. I think we have a lot of local bands right now that some record company should pick up on!!”
-Chuck Ivey, bass player and singer for the legendary 1970s Oklahoma punk band Debris’ - Live Show Review
"Norman’s Zombie vs. Shark embody a lot of the purest tenets of rock ’n’ roll, the foremost being the long- standing premise that loud, rude guitar music is one of the best, most fun ways of waggling a middle finger in the face of The Man." "In everything they do — aesthetic, lyrics, garish performances — the guys behind Zombie vs. Shark challenge conventional lifestyles without wandering off into sonically dissuasive territory. May they forever rock." - Zombie vs. Shark - Dogs and Guns, and Wunderkind
"Could be the best band out of Oklahoma since the early Flaming Lips or Defenestration" - The Big Takeover
Discography
April 2012: 12" album, re-release of Wartime Sugar in vinyl format on Modern Peasant Records. Re-master by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios.
April 2012: 7" single with "Cold Machine" and "Practicing" to be released on Modern Peasant Records. Engineered and mixed by Trent Bell at Bell Labs-Norman, Oklahoma, April 2011. Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios.
November 2011: 7" single with "Dogs and Guns" and "Wunderkind" to be released on Modern Peasant Records. Engineered and mixed by Trent Bell at Bell Labs-Norman, Oklahoma, April 2011. Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios.
2010: CD only: Wartime Sugar-Modern Peasant Records; Recorded January 2010 at Bell Labs-Norman, Oklahoma. Engineered and mixed by Trent Bell (guitar player for Chainsaw Kittens). Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios. Tracks available for listening on Bandcamp.
12-song album available to record labels for licensing and distribution from Modern Peasant Records.
Tracks include: Idee Fixe, Hall of Mirrors, Purify, Irene, Let My Children Hear Music, Shower Scene, Sexy Belushi, Candyland, Past My Prime, Channel, Wartime Sugar, and
Rock and Roll Love Song
2008: Zombie vs Shark-Winter Demos Recordings-December 2008 formerly available on Myspace.com
Photos
Bio
Zombie vs. Shark formed in the fall 2007 in Norman, Oklahoma when Ron Haas and Matt Bokovoy met at Bill and Dee's Bar on Main Street. Both are longtime veterans of the punk underground, Ron in Austin, Texas, and Matt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With shared tastes in psychedelic garage rock and songwriters, from The Stooges, Come, The Damned, The Dream Syndicate, Swervedriver, MC5, and Kyuss to Bardo Pond, Mike Johnson, Mark Lanegan, and Low, they began to craft a sound all their own.
After playing for about a month together without other band members, Ron brought over Robert Scafe, a veteran punk guitar player from Seattle, Washington who had played in the band The Putters on Empty Records, and who toured with the Supersuckers and other Pacific Northwest bands during the 1990s. Robert is the most accomplished musician in the band, having recorded numerous albums with The Putters for Empty Records and with lots of touring experience.
The band played for a couple of months until Jeremy Gragg, a gnarly bass player reminiscent of Cliff Burton (RIP) joined the band, and thus the four-piece was born. Jeremy shares the songwriting duties with Matt and Robert, and also sings on the tunes that Robert doesn't sing. Jeremy is a native son of Anadarko, Oklahoma. In the fall of 2009, the band added Phil Rodriguez to the line-up for the completion of a powerful, two-guitar MC5-like rock formation with a front man who plays tambourine and dances frenetically.
Phil Rodriguez appeared on the "Wartime Sugar" album, and has since left the band to pursue other musical projects and formations.
Known for their loud, clear, and raucous live shows, Zombie vs. Shark is putting the big "P" back into PUNK ROCK and PSYCHEDELIA, where commercial “alternative” music usually puts the little “p” back into “poseur,” “pussycat,” and “pathetic.” The band knows those that love loud guitar-based music are smart and deserve better than what is currently available.
Zombie vs. Shark has recently played the Norman Music Festival 2010 and 2011, Amnesty International Human Rights Week-Oklahoma, and shared the stage locally and while on tour with The Lepers, Magentlemen, Love Canal, Aliens vs. Robots, John Wayne’s Bitches, Plaid Rabbit, The Electric Primadonnas, Your Mom, Psychotic Reaction, Edhochuli, The Ethereals, The Needles, The Vingins, Shaun Sparks and the Wounded Animals, and Debris', a legendary Oklahoma band that was a formative influence on Sonic Youth and other noise rock bands of 1980s and 1990s.
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