Shark Island is an American glam metal band from Los Angeles, California, United States, that formed in 1986.
The walls of the studio were lined with empty Mickey's Big Mouth bottles, the official Sharks beer and the inspiration behind the band's original logo.
[6] The band was completed by drummer Dave Bishop who knew Volpicelli from the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC, where the two grew up.
The original band of Czerny, Sercombe and Bishop released an independent album called Altar Ego in 1982.
The Hollywood scene was alive those years, and The Sharks shared bills with various heavy metal acts such as Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, and The Michael Schenker Group in venues like The Whiskey, The Icehouse, The Roxy or The Troubadour The Starwood.
Rick Czerny, who later changed his name to Richard Black, had his unique and signature stage moves and dancing that influenced Axl Rose.
The line-up now included Richard Black on lead vocals, Spencer "Burner" Sercombe on guitar/vocals, Walt Woodward III (ex-Rachel, Americade) on drums/vocals, Tom Rucci on bass/vocals/keyboards and Michael Guy on guitar/bass.
During this time, the line-up continued to shift with drummer Walt Woodward III leaving to join the Scream.
[8] Chris Heilman and drummer Greg Ellis joined in 1989 to record and release the band's first album: Law of the Order.
[7] With the disappointing CD sales of the album and no promotion from Epic Records, the band vanished from the scene with most of its members joining other projects.
That included bonus tracks culled from the July 14, 1989 Bastille Day - Alive At The Whiskey EP, "Father Time" and "Dangerous" from the 1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure[11] soundtrack, "My City" from the 1991 Point Break soundtrack, and LOTO era live cuts, "Spellbound' and "Sanctuary".
[12] In 1994, the band attempted to re-form with the new line-up of Ricky Ricardo on bass, Eric Ragno (Takara, Seven Witches) - keyboards, Richard Black - vocals, Simon Wright (AC/DC, Dio) - drums and Damir Simic Shine on guitar.
In 2005, Shark Island reunited to re-record various previously written and demoed songs for the album Gathering of the Faithful, produced by guitarist Spencer Sercombe with additional production from German Villacorta and vocalist Richard Black.
In 2013, Black put together a new line-up of Shark Island and played classic-era material in Europe including a show in Zagreb, Croatia.