4.52am Issue: 008 13th November 2016

SHARKS
Killers On The Loose Again
The story of the Sharks is one of classic
Rock & Roll, it has everything – a 1970s
Supergroup, a killer lead guitarist, an
awesome singer, a car with a fin on top and
teeth in the grill, broken promises, jealously
and a world of potential before it all failed
spectacularly.
And the Sharks really were the supergroup
that should have been household names,
but ultimately weren’t, and although they
say there are no second chances in life, 40
years later the Sharks have reformed to find
out whether there are and whether they can
still cut it.
That is the key though, they are too good to
be anybody’s heritage act, with a London
date and a new album in January they want
to show that they are still vital and to find
out whether their time is now after all.
I was really pleased to talk to singer
Stephen ‘Snips’ Parsons and guitarist Chris
Spedding about what happened with the
Sharks and what comes next.
It is 1972, Andy Fraser has left Free and
along with Chris Spedding they are intent on
following the likes of Cream and Led
Zeppelin, and forming a supergroup of their
own, and we find Fraser and Spedding
auditioning for a singer. I asked Steve
Parsons to talk us through how he came to
be involved.
“I have to admit, with looking at the
documentary we are making about the
Sharks, I can remember the early days a
lot better than I could as we have spent
so much time thinking about them and
then talking it all through. I was living in
Hull where there was a thriving garage
band scene at the time. Some top-quality
bands were playing and all the local
towns seemed to have their own bands
and we all played everywhere up there.
The standard was so good that you had
to make sure you were up to it or you
wouldn’t get a look in.
There were people like Robert Palmer and
Mick Ronson and Rod Temperton all
playing in bands at the time, but London
was always the target. We all knew we
had to go to London because that was
where all the management companies,
recording studios and everything were, it
was just the way it was then, so that was
what we all did. We’d travel down to
London, looking and acting the part, and
trying to get gigs down there before
coming back home afterwards. We did
this for a few years and I finally started to
get offers to sing with a few London
Bands, which was good.
It was after doing a gig at a Folk Club,
that Muff Winwood, who was Steve’s
brother and had been the bass player in