What I'm Into... with Shark School
Galway noise trio Shark School are into Die Spitz, Amyl and the Sniffers, Fiona Apple, Big Thief, Wolf Alice, Elena Ferrante, the Cavan Burren and keepie-uppies in Galway
What I’m Into… is a new weekly series where Irish artists share a snapshot of what they’ve been enjoying lately - music, books, films, places, and whatever else has been sticking with them.
Galway trio Shark School (Nora Staunton - guitar/vocals, Peggy Ford - bass, and Meg Bruce - drums) formed in 2023, releasing a string of killer tracks. The latest single is ‘Don’t Trust a Man’, which they say is an “abrasive and raw track lamenting the desperation for women to comfortably just be; to just exist free of the burden and disappointment of living within a gendered social hierarchy”. It’s taken off their debut album Selachimorpha, which is due for release on June 26 via Strange Brew. Preorder it here.
Artist/song/album you’ve been listening to a lot lately
Peggy: Something To Consume by Die Spitz
Nora: I’ve been listening to a lot of Amyl and the Sniffers lately, especially their first album.
Meg: Fiona Apple has had an unparalleled chokehold on me for the last year. Her whole discography is insane but Fetch the Bolt Cutters is especially high on my rotation right now. The percussion is so unique, and the production techniques make it feel even more intimate than her other albums.
Irish act people should know about
Peggy: For Nina. Every time I see them I’m mouth open eyes wide mind blown. And also such a lovely group of people.
Nora: Infidel from Galway I think they are class and I’m excited to see what comes next for them.
Meg: Mother Of Pearl from Limerick - definitely one of the best live acts going right now.
Most recent/best gig
Peggy: Nora and I saw Wolf Alice in Dolan’s in Limerick last year. I think that gig will stick with me forever. Their song ‘Yuk Foo’ blew my mind when I first heard it at 15, so it was really meaningful to see them with Nora in such a cool venue.
Nora: The most recent excursion I took was to Limerick to see Big Thief in Dolans, they played for nearly three hours and I was just in awe of how Adrianne Lenker played that guitar and how perfectly they all formed the sound together on that stage.
Meg: I saw Pretty Happy opening for Sinead O’Brien a couple years ago and it was face-melting.
TV/streaming/film
Peggy: I always go back to O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Nora: I’d have to give a shout out to Skate Kitchen here, it has to be one of my favourite movies by far.
Meg: I’ve just finished an Aussie crime drama called Mr Inbetween and I can’t believe it’s not more well-known; it’s one of the best character studies I’ve ever seen. The violence is interspersed among a lot of mundane domestic scenes, making it much more believable and horrifying.
Book
Peggy: I’ve been reading the My Brilliant Friend series by Elena Ferrante. I love anything about female friendship.
Nora: Stiff Little Fingers: Song by Song has been the most enjoyable book I’ve read as of yet! I don’t read much so it takes a very interesting book to get me to finish it.
Meg: Just Kids by Patti Smith. It’s an incredible book in its own right, but I think it’s the book that found me at precisely the right moment in my life more than any other.
Podcast/radio
Peggy: The Blindboy Podcast
Nora: The Infinite Monkey Cage has to be my favourite podcast. It’s where I get all my niche facts that I love telling people and that people do not love hearing me tell them.
Meg: Journey Through Time is probably one of the best researched history podcasts I’ve come across, especially the series they did on the Salem witch trials.
Play/exhibition/other
Peggy: I was at Beyond the Pale in 2024 and I saw a cabaret as Gaeilge, I think it was called Cabáiste Cabaret. It was awesome.
Nora: I’m gonna go with “other” here and say I very much so enjoy watching the man who does keepie-uppies with the football on Shop Street in Galway city. I think he is class.
A place you love going
Peggy: Tigh Neachtains in Galway. Sitting outside with a cup of tea and watching all the people go by.
Nora: My granny‘s garden in the summer so we can all sit outside in the sun, drink lemon cordial or MiWadi and eat lots of biscuits.
Meg: The Cavan Burren! No one seems to know about it outside of the locals but it’s breathtaking and there’s loads of Neolithic structures and a huge portal dolmen called the Giant’s Grave. Its also my family dog’s favourite place to go so it gets extra points.
Something you think deserves way more attention
Peggy: Brands anglicising Irish words to make them more palatable and profitable for tourists. It doesn’t sit right with me.
Nora: The war in Ukraine.
Meg: Animal liberation.
What are some of the influences on your latest single ‘Don’t Trust a Man’?
Nora: At the time of writing this song I think I was listening to a lot of Black Midi and Lightning Bolt but also Wet Leg and a lot of that kind of indie rock stuff so I think it perfectly forms the genres together into this sort of weird metal-but-not sort of sound.
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