I’m guessing Brooklyn’s Shark? hears the term “surf-punk” a lot, so I’m sorry for that. I haven’t read anything about them using the description, but it’s just the perfect genre-combination to capture what they play. The four-piece relies on consistent chugging (but interesting) bass and drums underneath a rhythm guitar wailing on power chords and a screeching and squealing lead guitar, both equalized so that nothing even close to a low note escapes them and run through all sorts of distortion. Their sound finds a midpoint between 90s college rock staples Screaming Trees and the more modern no-fi of early albums from Girls and Wavves. If it’s lazy to compare them to Nathan Williams, whose radio station in Grand Theft Auto V is now giving them a sudden taste of widespread attention, I do it only because the influence is so direct (though I’m guessing their stance on California girls differs).

This is a show review, but first, a few words on the new album they’re touring in support of:

I struggled with Shark?’s new album Savior. The problem I had is that for most of the record I was trying (and unable) to find the songs’ hooks, or something that makes any one stand out among the others. In terms of production, the overpowered distortion of the often incoherent guitars, and tidbits of the band: someone asking “all right, ready?” before the first song, guitars tuning, fuzz hanging on too long, etc. give it that seemingly ubiquitous sound in this genre: the sound of a band going out of their way to seem like no effort was spent for the recording. As if they wrote the songs, showed up to the studio, played them for thirty minutes, and left. But since this is 2013 and recording studios/programs are easier to access and more user-friendly than ever, when something doesn’t sound well-produced, it’s not raw. It’s either trying to sound raw or it’s an artistic choice. If it sounds like I’m dismissing their album entirely then just hold onto your seat, because I’ll be back to blow your mind.

Now for the show. Shark? steps on stage, they check their levels, and they play. It’s good. Real good. It’s fun, fast, consistent, professional punk-rock. The first song is not a build up to what they’re going to sound like—from note number one, it’s what you should expect and will get from the rest of the show. The lead singer never cracks a smile, even during the more lighthearted moments, but it’s a kind of apathy that works for him and didn’t distance him from the audience the way it easily could have. He’s definitely studied his moves, pounding his fist on the body of the guitar for a noisy boom right after a break in music, swinging his guitar around to get the perfect squealing feedback that seemed a bit much on the album, but works here. Both of the guitars, I realized, are not for sounding good—they’re for being played.

Seeing the bassist, who also sang backup vocals, you can appreciate that he’s really putting his work in on both fronts. Along with the lead guitarist’s incoherent noisy shredding, and the drummer, who was banging away exactly as you would expect a punk-rock drummer to bang away, the rest of the band wasn’t shy about enjoying themselves.

If there is a spectrum that every band falls somewhere on: having brilliant, well-written, carefully crafted songs, or having fun songs to experience and see and hear live, Shark? is way on the latter. I wasn’t looking for any hooks, like on the album. Every song had them, and a lot of the time it wasn’t a melody or rhythm. The hook was the deftness and fluidity which which they played their quick, dumb songs. The way people they got people dancing with no effort at all. When they finished, I wanted more. Please appreciate how little that actually happens today: someone shows up to see a band they’ve heard only a little bit from, isn’t terribly impressed with that they have heard, hangs out for a full set, and wants to hear more songs. I went away with “California Grrls,” Savior‘s first single, which I had entirely dismissed, stuck in my head. That album I struggled with? I’ve already relistened and I’m going back for thirds.

Shark? isn’t going to be able to sit back from touring and stay relevant. If they’re going to win over an audience, it’s going to be one show at a time. And if someone goes with an open mind, it’s definitely going to happen. It’s certainly a path with more work than sitting back and producing your album obsessively, throwing around instrumental gimmicks and trying to get your lyrics to rhyme. Would I recommend their live show? Absolutely. Would I recommend their album? Only at the merch table afterward.