Vid Pick: Sharp/Shock – Troublemaker


Southern California punk rock trio Sharp/Shock are a relatively new band on the scene, melding together their disparate upbringings – singer/guitarist Davey Warsop, and bassist/vocalist Dan Smith, are UK exports, while drummer Korey Kingston is from San Diego – to create a punk rock sound that is universal.

The band released their debut album, Unlearn Everything, last month, the latest single from which is “Troublemaker.”

I caught up with Warsop to find out more about the song, the retro inspired video, and the trouble they may get into while on their current tour with The Interrupters and SWMRS.

“Troublemaker” is the third single off of your debut album, Unlearn Everything. The third single signifies a unique marker for an album – not only does it represent the album is doing well, it’s often the single where a band shows a slightly different side of themselves. Why is “Troublemaker” the perfect third single for you?

Well, we're a reasonably DIY punk band, to be honest with you. It’s not like our label – Heart & Skull Records – is giving us millions of dollars for a new video because the album is doing so incredibly well. In reality it’s probably the opposite way around – we're personally putting time, effort and money into making several videos to hopefully make for better awareness of our album.

We always thought “Troublemaker” was one of the stronger songs on the record, so we thought that we should save it for later in the album cycle, so that it hopefully reaches more people.

That’s hoping that we have more fans now than we did when we first started, of course.

The video has a distinct retro vibe. What went into the decision to make this a retro clip, and what did you have to do to pull it off?

The creative vision was mostly down to director Scott Parker, and his production team of Thatcher Anderson and Mike Hammeke. They had an old Super 8 camera, and they wanted to use it for a music video.

Scott is a big fan of motorbike culture, and the whole mods vs. rockers thing, so that, along with this old analog camera, makes things look pretty throwback, I guess.

All the Super 8 footage had to be transferred to digital for editing, so that became more time consuming than usual, but I think it was worth it. The video has a look to it that you just can't fake. 

In real life, is there anything about you that you would consider retro? Personally, I still like physical albums, and refuse to own a smartphone. Also, get off my lawn!

I adore physical albums, and have always liked collecting vinyl, and I think we all have plenty of musical/cultural influences that come from the past – we’re all in our 30s, so it’s hard not to – but we don’t really consider ourselves a “retro” band.

You’re about to hit the road with The Interrupters and SWMRS. With the lyrics to “Troublemaker” in mind, what kind of trouble do you hope to make with them while on tour?

We’re a pretty rebellious lot. There will be some staying up past midnight, some cursing, and some doodling on the walls, probably.

What’s your favorite troublemaking story from your past, even if it’s as innocent as something that earned you detention as a kid?

Good question. Errrrm … setting fire to a cricket pavilion was fun, especially since we got away with it.

Getting caught with drugs by a friend’s dad who was a cop … wasn't fun.

I didn't do too many bad things as a kid, but what I did do, I'm not that proud of.

For more Sharp/Shock check out sharpshockband.com

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