Shark School’s ‘Choose Life’ Is a Wake-Up Call (With Extra Distortion)

In a generation where even our depression has to be aesthetically pleasing for TikTok, here comes a band that sounds like they recorded their frustration in a garage and didn't bother to sweep up first.

It's gloriously messy, deliberately unpolished, and exactly what I need right now.

Imagine Renton’s iconic Trainspotting monologue, but instead of heroin and consumer goods, it’s about peeling yourself off the mattress to face another day of late-stage capitalism. That’s Shark School’s “Choose Life” -- except this time, the existential crisis has distortion pedals and a drum kit that sounds like it’s personally offended by you.

GET UP OR GET FUCKED

Shark School -- Nora Staunton, Peggy Ford, Meg Bruce, and Cathal Curran -- have spent the last couple of years opening for bands like NewDad and The Love Buzz, quietly amassing a reputation as the group most likely to shake you out of your algorithm-induced brain fog. Their message? Stop wasting away on your mind-numbing bullshit. Less of a suggestion, more of a demand, delivered with the subtlety of a car alarm at 4 a.m.

The track opens with what might be the most relatable lyrics of 2025: "Today was a pretty shit day, didn't get much done." It's the kind of line that makes you wonder if they've been reading my diary. If that doesn’t hit you where it hurts, congratulations on your functioning attention span. The guitars kick in like they’ve just discovered caffeine and bad intentions, thrashing forward with the kind of raw, unpolished energy that’s been sorely missing from a music industry obsessed with sounding like a Spotify mood board.

(See also: The increasingly tragic decline of real punk rock in favor of TikTok-friendly sad-boy loops.)

THE SOUND OF GIVING UP (IN STYLE)

Musically, “Choose Life” is what happens when you take the fuck it, we ball mentality and shove it through a fuzz pedal. The guitars don’t so much enter the song as ambush it, while the rhythm section barely holds the chaos together, like a drunk trying to argue their way past a bouncer. The whole thing is superbly messy, the sonic equivalent of knocking over a pint and deciding to just let it spill.

And yet, underneath the scuzz, there’s something real sharp about it. The hooks are there, buried under all that distortion like a middle finger to anyone who expects their punk rock polished. It’s Mannequin Pussy meets SPRINTS meets the sound of your last frayed nerve snapping in half.

TECHNICAL BRILLIANCE IN THE BREAKDOWN

The band’s press release promises the track will have you “nodding your head in approval so hard that you’ll wake up with whiplash."

If nothing else, you’ve got to respect the confidence. In a world where most indie bands are still trying to perfect their “effortlessly cool” slouch, Shark School are too busy swinging guitars around their heads to care.

It’s the same energy that made Wet Leg a household name, except instead of ironic detachment and twee double entendres, it’s pure, unfiltered exasperation. Less “Look how quirky we are,” more “For the love of God, please wake the fuck up.”

The production is deliberately raw, with guitars that sound like they're being played through amps that have seen better days -- and that's kinda the point. The rhythm section doesn't just keep time; it sounds like it's trying to beat time into submission. It's the sonic equivalent of throwing your phone across the room and feeling better for it.

THE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK

Since forming in summer 2023, these Galwegian garage rockers have become festival favorites, turning heads at Beyond The Pale, All Together Now, and Electric Picnic. Their rise feels less like careful career planning and more like a series of fortunate accidents (which, again, is exactly the point).

“Choose Life” makes me wanna just beat up a guy (A bad guy). It hits like a brick through your bedroom window at 3 AM It’s not here to be liked, playlisted, or neatly categorized. It’s here to kick down the door, shake you by the shoulders, and remind you that feeling something—anything—is better than flatlining through another endless scroll.

Renton’s monologue in Trainspotting told us to choose life, but somewhere along the way, life got replaced with never-ending content, dopamine loops, and brands trying to convince us that rebellion comes in a limited-edition colorway. Shark School aren’t selling you anything. They’re just here to make a noise loud enough to drown out the bullshit—if only for four minutes.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Catch them at the Workman's Cellar on October 4th, where they'll presumably continue their mission to save us all from our "mind numbing shit" -- one riff at a time. Your neck may not thank you, but your soul will.