Get Ready for Some Rock 'n' Roll....Meet, Sharkmuffin

(photo David Burlacu)

To help kick you into a higher gear for your weekend pursuits , today we bring you…Sharkmuffin. They remind me of meeting Carol and Sue at a dance and they were telling us how they wanted to cut some girls hair off ,as they pulled scissors out of their pockets we thought we needed to get to know these badasses. Flash forward a few years and that’s the vibe I’m getting from these very cool pounding guitar and drums rock n roll tunes . This is no nonsense kick the shit out of your way rock, it’s X meeting up with The Ramones and Sharkmuffin delivers the goods. Cool stuff! Tell your friends and if your anywhere near where they will be playing be sure to go see them, I know I will…. They have a show tonight…Barranquilla (in bushwick) with Daywalkers (members of ONWE and Secret Crush), I am Sensation (members of Rubblebucket, Delicate Steve & Perfect Pussy) and Advertising.

Hi our name is….

Sharkmuffin

People say we sound like…..

Our friends at Bust said we sound like “the kind of badass babes you’d crash a rich kid’s pool party with, probably while wearing 4-inch platforms, definitely while swilling a bottle of Jim Beam.” That seemed pretty accurate.

We are….

Tarra Thiessen

Natalie Kirch

Nasimiyu Murumba

We are from…….

New York, NY

Who are some that have an influence on you

60s girl groups, Nirvana and The Ventures.

How old were all of you when you started to play and who plays what in the band?

I started to play guitar when I was 12 years old after I saw The White Stripes on the VMAs. I didn’t start singing until I was about 19.

What I think is really special about this band and the current line-up is that Natalie Kirch (bass) and Nasimiyu Murumba (drums) both didn’t start to seriously play the instruments they play in this band until they joined Sharkmuffin. I’ve heard a lot of people in their mid-20s say that it’s too late to pick up an instrument, but Natalie and Simi are proof that age doesn’t really matter, if you’re passionate and inclined enough, you can be successful and grow with any new skill you want at any time in your life.

And I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that they’re both total badasses.

Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the way through getting the songs out

It’s really different every time, sometimes I’ll be walking home from work and I’ll be singing some random melody I record on my iphone or Natalie will bring in a bass line to rehearsal that I’ll write a guitar part over or I’ll ask what time it is and Natalie will scream something and our drummer will randomly lay down some blast beats like in the track TEN TEN. —

What are some of the challenges you face as musicians and how have you overcome those challenges?

Being able to do everything ourselves is the biggest advantage but also biggest challenge. We’ve booked every tour ourselves so far which seems to be the most challenging thing to do organizationally but also the most rewarding. We’ve met a lot of amazing and insane people in the process.

Any crazy stories of touring that you would like to share….

I got kicked out of a house we were sleeping in Virginia at for eating 1 frosted mini wheat (out of a cereal box) and my boyfriend at the time poured out the whole box on their front stoop. Right before that, our drummer at the time almost got into a fist fight with a redneck drinking beer outside of a gas station at 2PM in Tennessee who kept telling us to go back to NJ. Those were both funny situations in hindsight.

Who are all of you currently listening to ....

A lot of Donovan, Broncho & Girlpool.

If you could open for any Band right now who would that be and why?

Sleater-Kinny

My youngest son is 13 and in a Band, what advice would you offer him…

To remember who your friends are and to never pretend to like shit that sucks.

The one thing we want you to remember while your listening to us….

That feeling of freedom and adventure you felt when you snuck out of your parents’ house for the first time to do something “cool.”

Our plans for 2015…..

touring down to SXSW, releasing our first LP and touring all summer!! hopefilly going to Europe and the moon.

get ready to rock…..