Scuzzy, fuzzy and with a satisfying clatter, Jaws The Shark‘s debut EP ‘Another Day In Paradise’ isn’t a release happy to go quietly into the night. Arriving via new talent mecca Nice Swan, Mr ‘The Shark’ guides us through the inspiration behind his debut EP.
The title of the EP and the title song ‘Another Day In Paradise’ are supposed to be soaked in irony due to the fact that this entire EP was written at the height of the global Covid pandemic. I had moved out of London and back down to the Devon countryside, where I grew up. I couldn’t face being stuck inside of my poky London flat for… who knew how long, back then! I only packed three t-shirts and a couple of pairs of trousers, and I ended up being there for six months.
As the days and months grew on and the world seemed to be getting more and more fucked by each passing hour. I wanted to write a batch of songs that gave people back a sense of fun and energy at a time when it felt like people needed it most.
Another Day In Paradise
I feel that lyrically this track is the most direct with the effects of dealing with a pandemic in general. I moved back to my family home after having lived independently for so long, and that in itself can be a pretty tough transition. The news and social media at the time were exhausting, so I switched off from it all and focused my attention pretty much entirely on just writing new music every day as a way of escaping it, I suppose.
Cold Feet
There’s no skirting around this one. This song is about getting messed up at a party and feeling preeeeetty weird about it the next day. I think I wrote it the day after my birthday party. It’s about being paranoid that you did something wrong or that nobody around you actually likes you. That kind of stuff. All the fun stuff that comes the day after, basically, but regardless, it was fun, and you’ll do it all again anyway. I wanted this song to not just be ABOUT a party; I wanted it to BE the party. It’s fast, loose and loud and so fun to play live.
Erase Myself
Probably my favourite track on the EP. Loads of energy and also really fun to play live. And easy, which helps because sometimes I suck. It’s about escaping and wanting to get away from the place I was in at the time, which was smack bang in the middle of a pandemic! It was too fun to be morbid, so I made it about going on a space mission to be the first person to ever fly to the sun. It’s kind of a one-way mission because you’d just burn up, but you’d be remembered for it forever.
Still Young
‘Still Young’ actually started off acoustically and sounded almost like a country version of ‘Beetlebum’ by Blur. I decided it needed a bit more scuzz and filth thrown at it to keep in line with everything I was creating for Jaws The Shark at the time, so after a few versions, this is the one that I stuck with.
Sometimes when stuff comes to an end, a relationship, a friendship, a band, a job, whatever it is, it can be hard to pick yourself up from the ground and keep your head above water. This is a song about accepting that, accepting the hurt or rejection, but realising that it’s not too late to ever change who you are or what it is that you want to do. If you feel up to a task, you’re ‘Still Young’ enough to do it.
Jaws The Shark’s new EP ‘Another Day In Paradise’ is out now.
