Arizona:
Shark Pants
CITY: Tucson
SONGS THAT GOT US: “Kung Fool,” “Flatside Negative”
ON THE TUBES: MySpace, YouTube
RECORD LABELS: Recess, Underground Government
WHY THEM? For a taste of the rocket-fueled mania that will leave your ears feeling like they were just sucking on the exhaust pipes of a Bonneville Salt Flats racer, tune into “Kung Fool,” which kicks off with what sounds like the mating call of a psychotic toucan. It’s winking surf music for adrenaline junkies, with MC5/Rob Tyner–esque vocals. But Shark Pants isn’t about kicking out the jams — they’re about thrashing them down to, like, 90 seconds in length and then stomp-ing the crap out of them. (See the band’s debut album, Porno Snakehead, which tears through nine songs in less than 16 minutes.) Wham, bam, thank you, Pants.
BONUS BIT! It’s no Jacko-esque Thriller, but their frenetic video for “Kung Fool,” shot live in Japan, features them as zombies.