Shark Island (band)
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Shark Island was a rock band from Los Angeles that played during the 80s.
The band was officially started in 1979 by singer Richard Black and guitarist Spencer Sercombe, with the name Sharks. Black and Sercombe had met in high school and were playing together for some time.
The band changed its line-up frequently during their first years, and released an independent album called Altar Ego in 1982. During these years the band turned into one of the hottest live bands from the L.A. scene.
In 1985 they changed their name to Shark Island and released another independent album titled S'cool Buss the next year.
Despite being dubbed as one of the best rock bands of the scene, the band failed to get a record deal. Supposedly they were signed by A&M but dropped later, only to be picked by Epic. During these times, the line-up continued to shift with drummer Walt Woodward leaving to join The Scream, and on-and-off guitarist K.K. Martin definitely parting ways with them due to "artistic differences".
Bassist Chris Heilmann and drummer Greg Ellis joined in 1989 to record and release the band's only official album titled Law of the Order.
After that, the band just vanished from the scene, with most of its members joining other projects. Apparently there were some unreleased songs recorded sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, but nothing else was released.
[edit] After the Break-up
- Richard Black went on to join failed supergroup Contraband in 1991, with Michael Schenker and Bobby Blotzer (Ratt), Share Pedersen (Vixen) and Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns). He later started a band called Black 13 in the mid-90s but never released any album.
- Greg Ellis left the band and played in Michael Monroe's band.
- Spencer Sercombe played in the band Riverdogs with Vivian Campbell (now with Def Leppard). They recorded a self-titled album in the mid-90s. Afterwards, he played in Bill Ward's band (ex-Black Sabbath) and recorded an album in 1997 called When the Bough Breaks. He also played in a ZZ Top tribute band called "Fandango".
- Chris Heilmann went on to play guitar with Chromosapien with Doni Castello from Burning Tree vocals,Dan Rothchild bass, formerly of TonicCraig McCloskeyGuitar, and LA session drummer Dan Potruch
In 2006 Shark Island released "Gathering of the Faithful" 13 songs of true Shark Island magic. Richard Black (Vocals) , Spencer Sercombe (Guitar) and Chris Heilmann (Bass) were joined on by Glen Sobel (Drums).
