Sharkbait

Example Album: Blowtorch Face-Lift

Location: USA

Years Active: 1986-1996

Style: Metal percussion, noise rock, sound collage

    Sharkbait were an industrial group from hailing from San Francisco. Like many of their contemporaries in the late 80’s and early 90’s, flirted with elements of metal, techno, sound collage, harsh noise, spoken word and general avant-garde experimentation. It’s difficult to pin them down to a singular style as listening to an album from them is akin to listening to a “best of industrial” playlist. One moment it feels like you’re hearing an unreleased Godflesh song featuring pieces of metal pipe in place of the typical Alesis drum machine grooves, then it’s as if Gibby Hanes featured on a Test Dept. track as opposed to a Ministry song, and then five minutes later you’ll be treated to straight up Einstürzende Neubauten worship backing a series of radio broadcast samples. Overall, the closest band I can think of to their sound is the NYC band Missing Foundation, though Sharkbait's metal percussion is more pronounced. To me, Sharkbait sounds like a distinctly American take on metal percussion.

    Though they only released two LPs and two EPs (barring the compilation record that came just before their split), they left a big impression on the local industrial scene of their time, often ending shows by handing out their scrap metal pieces to audience members to take home. Their discography is like a crash course on every style of industrial up to the early 90s performed and recorded with incredible attention to detail and care. Blowtorch Face-Lift stands as one of my personal favourite industrial records of all time.