Sharp/Shock composed of UK exports Davey Warsop (Beat Union, Suedehead), Dan Smith (The Dear & Departed) and American drummer Korey Kingston (The Aggrolites/Suedehead) have just released their new album Unlearn Everything, which can be purchase on iTunes. The band have provided us with the track by track for the album, which you can read now below.
For the members of Sharp/Shock, growing up with the bands that defined music with an honesty and passion that can be rarely found in modern times, cleared a very obvious path for what they wanted to do with their own lives. Sometimes in music, the storybook tale of determination, sacrifice and despair can be thrown around hastily. To some, those three things describe a reality that very few can truly understand, and for the members of Sharp/Shock, they are only a few attributes that make up their unique story.
Track By Track
Sub Society
In the last year I’ve found myself revisiting some of the crusty/ anarcho records and politics that I was maybe more in tune with in my teens. This song sums up the idea that absolutely everything about the way we live is learned behavior. From the kind of food you were told to eat as a child, to your sexuality as an adult, or even the car you think you need in order to get by. Just because you were taught something, doesn’t mean it’s right (for you). It can be hard to think outside the box, let alone LIVE outside that box, but it is imperative that we try. Question absolutely everything and live YOUR life according to YOUR own conclusions.
Troublemaker
I lived in England until I was roughly 25. This is a nostalgic song about my adolescence and growing up there. When you’re a kid, you think you and some of your closest mates will be as thick as thieves forever. Then the older you get you look back and see the different paths people took – some right turns and some wrong turns – in all of our lives. But I find it really interesting wondering how we all make these different choices and decide what’s right or wrong for us in our guts. I’ve seen some really “switched on” childhood friends make some negative decisions and go in the opposite direction to what everyone expected.
The Tension
It’s hard to properly explain this song. It was written in about 15 minutes, from the gut, without really trying to make a clear point or have anyone else understand it. I guess it’s about anxiety and being overwhelmed with what I’ve created in my life. And some self destructive behavior I think I’ve maybe had since I was a child.
Away From The Man
The first song I wrote for this band and the first song we recorded. I came up with the main chorus hook whilst driving home. I then grabbed the guitar and wrote the rest in 30 minutes. It’s a fun and idealistic song about living life off the grid – quitting your job, closing your bank account, losing your phone and going offline. Easier said than done, right!? Told you it was idealistic.
I Don’t Wanna Be A Millionaire
I ended up living in southern California somewhere in my twenties. Why do most people move near or to LA? To chase a dream. There are a shitload of extremely rich and monetarily successful people here. As well as a shitload of annoying “hopefuls” that dedicate their days to chasing that same kind of success, so shamelessly. It can make you embarrassed to have a passion for music, let alone live a life in or around the music industry, for fear of being tarred with the same brush as those idiots. At one point I stayed here almost 5 years without visiting my home country of England. This song was written in a brief moment of bitterness and disillusion towards those who play the money/fame game and also me questioning why I had ended up living here. Cause the sun shines and it rules!
Bees And Honey
This was written about my time spent as a thief in London. Hopefully the law don’t hear this one.
Infatuation
Most of this record is made up of brand new songs, but I wrote this one about 10 years ago. As the title might suggests, it’s about obsession and jealousy and a realization that a lot of monogamous relationships can end up losing sight of what love is really and truly about. I think I might’ve consciously, or sub-consciously, borrowed a line from a Billy Bragg song somewhere in here. I hope so!
SMSMS
Social media… can’t live with it, can’t live without it! Here’s a silly song where we get to shout and have fun. cause music can get all too serious sometimes.
Life At The Top
I fear that this song could potentially come across like it’s championing class war. Hopefully it’s quite the opposite. This song is about the fact that we have no control over the backgrounds that we come from and should never be judged by them. Every single one of us has our own set of privileges in life and our own set of hardships, all of them to greater and lesser degrees. They’re relevant only to us and not for others to judge. We’re all guilty of jealousy and envy sometimes, but we must try our best to accept and embrace our lives and do the best we can with them.
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