Shark Attack

Shark Attack was commissioned by my dear friend Dr. Brendan Ige. It was composed during the summer of 2022, while I was preparing to defend my dissertation at Michigan State University and was composing my solo heavy metal tuba album, The Human Element. When Dr. Ige reached out to me about composing a piece for him in the heavy metal vein, I was immediately excited. I had written numerous pieces for him already, but I knew that this would be the most fun project so far. My mind was fully steeped in heavy metal music while I working on my other projects, and I was excited to create something new for him. Dr. Ige asked for a piece that was extremely challenging and aggressive, one that would demand much from his already formidable level of technical skill. He also wanted something that captured his particular favorite styles of the metal genre, and something that would fit with his forthcoming album theme of a “carnival of the animals.” What resulted was a piece rooted in the nu-metal style, one which he and I both grew up with and were huge fans of in the early 2000’s, but it is heavier, meaner, and more melodic than most of the nu-metal acts of that time. The piece also takes some inspiration from instrumental progressive metal act Russian Circles, using synthesized sounds and repetitive, driving guitar riffs. The title Shark Attack references one of our oldest inside jokes and memories of our time studying together at the University of Michigan. One night, we found a little plastic shark on the sidewalk while hanging out around Ann Arbor. We dubbed him “Sharko,” and carried him with us for the rest of the night, joking and poking it in each other’s faces and yelling “shark attack!” We lost Sharko that night, unfortunately, and we were never able to locate him again. In the following years, we would celebrate a great run of a piece or get pumped up for a performance by yelling “shark attack!” as an ode to Sharko. This piece is dedicated to the Legend of Sharko and to Dr. Ige, both of whom inspire me to tackle life’s challenges each and every day.