As a six-piece pop punk band, We Were Sharks’ original line-up first assembled in 2010. Although most of the band is originally from outside of Ottawa, this is where they started playing music together and are still based today.
“There’s a certain sense of pride being from Ottawa—people love being from Ottawa,” bassist Steve Creaturo said. “Now that we live here, we’re really proud to be from Ottawa.”
They credit local rock radio stations for giving their music frequent air time, and streaming services such as Spotify for including them in their curated pop punk playlists.
“We know that if you work your ass off, it’s gonna come back your way,” Creaturo said. “The ‘Pop Punk’s Not Dead’ playlist—we’re very fortunate to have had a lot of songs that have been on that playlist for a long time, so we’ve been very lucky to have that for a long time.”
For the most part, it’s songs from We Were Sharks’ latest album Lost Touch have been getting the most attention on playlists and radio. Staying to their local routes, most of the album’s production was done in the Ottawa area, while vocals were produced in Toronto.
“The pride of being from Ottawa—we wanted to do as much as we could at home,” Creaturo said.
The growing public acclaim of Lost Touch was evident during their most recent North American tour, which drew energetic crowds in places like Toronto, Cleveland, and Chicago
“The response for this album has been crazy, and hopefully—knock on wood—it keeps going up,” said lead singer Randy Frobel. “This tour was, I think, an eye opener for all of us.”
The guys from We Were Sharks also host “Homesick: Emo Night,” a monthly gathering for diehard pop punk fans at the 27 Club in the ByWard Market. Creaturo, who is one of the main DJs, said the night has grown since they started working it, but they also want to use that platform to encourage more people to come out to shows.
“It’s been neat to see so many people coming out to it,” Creaturo said. “We got to figure out how to get those people excited about going to a show, not just Emo Night.”
One thing that they’re keeping in mind is that despite their age, they’re still a new band to many audiences and they have to keep up the hard work.
“Tour and writing: that’s kind of where we’re at with this right now and we couldn’t be happier,” Frobel said. “Especially in the States, we are a new band, so we just take that attitude and grind, grind, grind.”
We Were Sharks seems to be enjoying the ride of success after years of hard work. But most of all, they’re thankful for all the years’ worth of support from their local fans.
“Thank you for everyone who has been supporting us since day one and supporting us now,” said Frobel. “It honestly means a lot we get to do that because of you guys.”
We Were Sharks will play a holiday show Dec. 21 at the 27 club.
Photo by Jeff Pelletier
