The group does just that with this 7-inch release, recorded back in the spring at Bell Labs in Norman, mastered by Garrett Haines at Pittsburgh’s Treelady Studios and distributed in old-school fashion by Seattle’s Modern Peasant Records. “Wunderkind” and “Dogs and Guns” are the two tracks, each a piston-pumping blast of up-tempo, hooky guitar rock fit to soundtrack any formal protest you may be planning.
Guitarist Robert Scafe pointed that out recently when he said “Dogs & Guns” was appropriate for the violence associated with the country’s rash of Occupy protests. The lyric “Do the math, girl / You’re getting the shaft / That’s a natural fact!” succeeds to combine this notion with a sexual innuendo, which is a major victory for rock ’n’ roll, as far as I’m concerned.
In everything they do — aesthetic, lyrics, garish performances — the guys behind Zombie vs. Shark challenge conventional lifestyles without wandering off into sonically dissuasive territory. May they forever rock. —Matt Carney
This article appears in Nov 16-22, 2011.