The surge in the Coachella Valley’s metal, hardcore and counterculture scene can be attributed, in part, to the meaningful songwriting from many bands.
Shark Fin has been giving the desert something to mosh about, as their mix of metal and hardcore hits even heavier when someone listens to the lyrics—helping the listener understand the message of the band. The rockers from Twentynine Palms are Joseph Gonzales (vocals and guitar), Malachai Rosmino (bass) and Seth Garleb (vocals). Shark Fin is set to release the album Eventide on Tuesday, July 9.
During a recent interview with Joseph Gonzales, he discussed how the hard and heavy band was formed out of the ashes of an indie-rock group.
“Shark Fin was formed in 2018, and it’s the product of me and the bassist,” Gonzales said. “We just were getting out of another indie band where I was playing drums, and we were itching to play our own music, because we were playing another person’s music and a lot of covers. We essentially talked to our high school buddies, and we were like, ‘Hey, let’s get the old high school band back together,’ and that’s pretty much what we did.”
Shark Fin’s mix of intense riffs, spiraling lead lines, ferocious drumming and emotionally driven screams and growls reared its head in the early stages of the band’s formation, taking inspiration from each of the founding members’ styles, resulting in a concoction of punk, emo and hardcore.
“We recorded our first at-home EP, called December, and we just recycled some old songs that we wrote in high school and tried to make them better, and wrote some new ones,” Gonzales said. “Instead of playing indie stuff, we wanted to venture into the heavier music that we grew up listening to together. It’s a clash of genres. Our bassist was really big into punk; I was really big into emo; and our singer at the time brought a more hardcore aspect to it.”
New singles “Distilled Habits” and “Lurking in the Depths” contain catchy riffs and vocal phrases that have engaged audiences—but there are deeper meanings behind lyrics like “Another excuse to avoid the blame / Blatant misuse to block the pain / End of the day, it’s all the same,” from “Distilled Habits.”
“We wanted to make our favorite music that we could put a message behind that we agreed with,” Gonzales said. “We’ve (borne) witness to having addictions, not just alcohol, and that’s something that’s been prevalent in our lives. If we’re feeling like this, someone else is bound to feel like this as well. We wanted to put that in our music.”
Gonzales said the band is very lyric-oriented.
“You’ll hear it on the album, but we’re trying to paint a picture and tell a story, and I think people will appreciate that,” he said.
Eventide providesa brutal mix of metal jams, and the stories enhance the depth of what listeners will take away. “Liquid Courage” discusses the dangers of alcoholism with the refrain, “Drink all your liquor so you get sicker,” while “Buried in Black” deals with loss via lyrics like, “I fucking miss you, now there’s no turning back.”
“I feel like struggle is a part of the human condition, and some people either learn to roll with the punches, or let them overcome them,” Gonzales said. “I think maybe some guidance in some places might help people overcome that, and maybe see that they’re not alone. I hope people draw comfort from that.”
In other moments on the album, the members of Shark Fin swim through multiple subgenres of metal. “Artificial Enemy” is reminiscent of classic thrash metal, with some moments of hardcore breakdowns sprinkled in; “Breaching the Water” experiments with the trippy, effects-pedal fun of modern metalcore. This genre fusion is one of the many reasons for Shark Fin’s growing support across the desert.
“The valley has been so supportive of us—and we’re not even actually from there,” Gonzales said. “It’s so hard to get things going up where we are (in Twentynine Palms). You could count on one hand how many actual hardcore bands are up here—and it doesn’t even have to be hardcore; it’s just any heavy bands.”
Even the band’s name plays a role in the overall message of their journey.
“The band name Shark Fin is derived from the idea that the shark is your problem, and you’re cast out to sea, and a lot of people are afraid of that,” Gonzales said. “We want the shark to represent your fears and troubles.”
The stunning album cover for Eventide features a swirling vortex in the middle of the ocean, while a ship, trapped in a bottle, is seen between the vortex and a giant shark fin.
“We use a lot of symbolism in the lyrics and also in the picture itself, because the ship in the bottle is supposed to be you—and you’re in turbulent waters,” Gonzales said. “Maybe in your life, you’re going through some stuff, and the vortex is about to suck you in, surrounded by maybe toxic people in your life. Having gone through a lot of things myself, I really related to that picture.”
Gonzales is most excited for the desert to hear the final track on the album.
“The last track on the album, ‘Megalodon,’ is probably the hardest song, musically and lyrically, but it also sends a really awesome message that I love,” he said. “One of the opening verse lines is: “‘Stuck in the dark of our minds / Don’t even have a place to hide / We’re searching for the answers / and the bottom of a bottle holds advice.’”
Learn more at instagram.com/sharkfin_music.