How big a band are Sharks?

When I heard that Sharks were supporting Tribes this spring, although Tribes have only got a debut album out as well and none of the history of Sharks, I wondered how big a band Sharks are.

Maybe the easiest way to look at this is by way of the number of Facebook likes, so here is a comparison using related bands:


The Clash 2,279,738

Social Distortion 714,859

The Gaslight Anthem 155,410

Gallows 100,981

Tribes 15,672

Sharks 13,891

Great Cynics 1,406


As for the Tribes and Sharks comparison, I assume most of Sharks' 'likes' are actually from North America, and that Tribes' are from the UK.

museums wrote:

When I heard that Sharks were supporting Tribes this spring, although Tribes have only got a debut album out as well and none of the history of Sharks, I wondered how big a band Sharks are.

Maybe the easiest way to look at this is by way of the number of Facebook likes, so here is a comparison using related bands:


The Clash 2,279,738

Social Distortion 714,859

The Gaslight Anthem 155,410

Gallows 100,981

Tribes 15,672

Sharks 13,891

Great Cynics 1,406


As for the Tribes and Sharks comparison, I assume most of Sharks' 'likes' are actually from North America, and that Tribes' are from the UK.

FB 'likes' as of today

Tribes 19,811 (i.e. + 4,139)

Sharks 16,008 (i.e. + 2,117)

I'm just trying to judge what impact 'No Gods' has had and, to be honest, even looking at their Wikipedia page hits, it has been modest, despite the great reviews; why do people listen to so much rubbish instead?

People are so thick aren't they (just look at the current petrol situation).

The general public won't wake up to Sharks until someone from Radio 1 gets paid to do a voiceover on one of those annoying TV adverts saying"you need this album in your life" during a commercial break for X Factor or a mind numbing reality show. But more likely Patient Spider will get a lot of summer airplay and then the music zombies will start taking notice at last.

Tribes are just about ok / slightly good but really don't have ANYTHING like the amount of conviction or quality of songs that Sharks have so I really can't understand why they're a bigger band than Sharks. I guess it's got more to do with one of the Tribes guys are dating someone famous (I forget who) so they get covered in the gossip blogs / magazines. Tribes are just this years Vaccines (in my opinion)... pretty average festival fodder.

To be honest I quite like it how not many people know who Sharks are.

EF wrote:

To be honest I quite like it how not many people know who Sharks are.

Yeah I kind of do too. Like a cool secret that not many people know about. They do deserve to be bigger though.
I see them getting kind of Gaslight Anthem big in the next year or two. Which is a really nice size / audience .
It's awesome seeing Sharks at small shows still. Like when they play hometown shows with no security or barrier.

moreblue wrote:

EF wrote:

To be honest I quite like it how not many people know who Sharks are.

Yeah I kind of do too. Like a cool secret that not many people know about. They do deserve to be bigger though.
I see them getting kind of Gaslight Anthem big in the next year or two. Which is a really nice size / audience .
It's awesome seeing Sharks at small shows still. Like when they play hometown shows with no security or barrier.

I agree with this, it's like "our little thing". I definitely don't want them to stay a small small band though, A "big small" audience like Gaslight's would be awesome for them.

...Well it would be for me, anyway!

Sharks now have 17,261 likes on facebook, so thats almost 4000 likes in 2 months..not bad!

gloveinhand wrote:

Sharks now have 17,261 likes on facebook, so thats almost 4000 likes in 2 months..not bad!

Just for the usual comparison though, Tribes gained 5755 over the same period (they now have 21,427).

And I do wish the new album had gained us a few more forum members.

Frankly, that 'No Gods' didn't make the charts is a scandal.

Quote :

And I do wish the new album had gained us a few more forum members.

Maybe we could get more people if we added 'other bands' and 'general discussion' to the forum categories? At least I would get more involved, it's not everyday you have something new to say about Sharks.

Fallen On Deaf Ears wrote:

Quote :

And I do wish the new album had gained us a few more forum members.

Maybe we could get more people if we added 'other bands' and 'general discussion' to the forum categories? At least I would get more involved, it's not everyday you have something new to say about Sharks.

Good idea. Done!

Can't believe how people aren't getting into Sharks. I have never listened to an album as much in such a short space of time as I have with No Gods

Sharks now up to 19,523 on FB

Sharks now at 21,948 on Facebook

They'll probably be one of those bands who'll never be big but people will look back to in 30 years or so and say they changed/shaped music/influenced lots of future bands. I hope.