more from
12XU
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Shoot Out The Cameras

by John Sharkey III

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    comes with redundant download code

    Includes unlimited streaming of Shoot Out The Cameras via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $17 USD

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Pain Dance 07:00
8.
9.

about

Written and recorded amidst the devastating bushfires which ravaged his adopted hometown Canberra, just before the wave of pandemic broke, Shoot Out The Cameras reveals John Sharkey III to be a master craftsman; honing in on the existential dread of living in a burning world, and the imperative to find beauty in what remains.

Perhaps best known as the creative force behind confrontational noise-punk band Clockcleaner, which erupted from the fertile soil of Philly’s DIY scene in the 00s, Sharkey’s solid underground creds include hardcore/punk bands such as 9 Shocks Terror and more recently, literate rock explorations as Puerto Rico Flowers and Dark Blue.

It was love (of course) that brought Sharkey from Philly to Melbourne in 2008, where he worked behind the bar at beloved venue, The Tote. Sharkey and his partner Yasmin moved back to Philly for several years; then, amid the darkening landscape of US politics, the couple decided to settle in Canberra, Yasmin’s hometown. A lunatic sports fan, Sharkey adopted the Canberra Raiders with the same fervour as his beloved Philly Eagles, and has connected with hardcore Rugby League fans, making several guest appearances on the wildly popular NRL Boom Rookies podcast.

At a physical but not psychological remove from the horrifying dysfunction of Trump’s America, Sharkey watched catastrophic bushfires encircle Canberra, raging through the hills of the Southern Tablelands, the city glowing orange, the suburbs suffocating in smoke. This is when the songs of Shoot Out The Cameras took form.

As if to echo the craters of “before” and “after” that apocalyptic events leave in our collective consciousness, the songs arranged themselves into a cinematic narrative arc, from the foreboding of disaster (Side A) through its aftermath (Side B). The background horrors of totalitarianism, paranoia and surveillance also stalk the album – the cameras of the title inspired by Canberra’s omnipresent CCTV and speed cameras – just to add to the unmistakable sense of impending doom.

Such heavy subject matter brought into his music, for the first time, a treasure that Sharkey had carried within him since his teens; the mighty influence of one of Americana’s great auteurs, Iris Dement. Dement’s ability to cut to the bone, in her sweet and devastating songs, deeply informed Sharkey’s songwriting on Shoot Out The Cameras.

“My grandmother raised me on country music – Ray Price and Patsy Cline”, Sharkey recalls. “When I was 12, my mother would flog Iris Dement’s first two albums on drives to the beach. I was into Black Flag, but come 16 or 17, I was sneaking into the car to steal her tapes. Iris Dement crept into my psyche, and never left. She taught me not to hold back, when it comes to death or sorrow, doubling down on depressive lyrics.”

Fate intervened in the shaggy shape of Philly hero Kurt Vile, who invited Sharkey onstage when he toured Canberra last year. In the audience that night was Canberra native Nick Craft, who stood mouth agape as Sharkey sang pristine country harmonies with Vile on a cover of The Highwaymen’s “Silver Stallion”. Once Craft heard Sharkey’s demos, he urged him to make an album.

Holed up in a small studio on Queanbeyan’s industrial estate, Sharkey and Craft captured Shoot Out The Cameras in two marathon sessions. Beautifully recorded, the starkness of Sharkey’s lyrical imagery and pit-of-the-stomach emotions are honoured with nothing more than guitar and voice, and, on the album’s closer, the glisten of Philly homie Mary Lattimore’s harp.

The result is an album of searing emotional depth, which faces the onslaught of disaster unflinchingly, with the hope and determination that families and communities must muster to pull through the personal and collective nightmares we all face. Sharkey remains a staunch optimist, his love for his adopted Australia only strengthened by watching it burn.

“We will adapt, we will get through this together,” he vows. “The most important thing to have in your arsenal of emotions is empathy. Not many people have it; so you have to build your own resilience and strength to deal with that too. You have to be tougher than anything the world can throw at you.”

'Shoot Out The Cameras' is released March 5 via 12XU (North America) and Mistletone (AUS/NZ)

(AUS / NZ orders : mistletone.net/label/john-sharkey-iii/)

credits

released March 5, 2021

John Sharkey III : vocals / acoustic guitar, Hammond organ, Electric guitar, percussion
Nick Craft : electric guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Harp on "Show Me The Way Through The Valley" by Mary Lattimore
additional Hammond Organ on "Picking Roses" by Duncan Lowe

All songs written by John Sharkey III
Produced by John Sharkey III and Nick Craft
Recorded and mixed by Duncan Lowe at Infidel Studios, Queanbeayan, New South Wales

Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Chicago IL
Cover photo by Yasmin Hassan

This record would not be possible without the support of the following people : Nick and the entire Craft family, Gerard Cosloy, Sophie and Ash Miles, Daniel Ballantyne, artsACT, Duncan Lowe, Mary Lattimore, Jeff Kardos, Andy Nelson, Kurt Vile and most importantly, Yasmin, John and Iris.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

John Sharkey III Canberra, Australia

contact / help

Contact John Sharkey III

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like John Sharkey III, you may also like: