On Our Radar: Fake Shark has no interest in revisiting the past in video for "Feel Alive"

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      Ever find yourself amazed at where a person once was, and where they are today?

      Think about your Uncle Ronnie, who'd show up to every family function piss-drunk, knock back another four shots of Jack, and then spend the night recreating Tom Cruise's Risky Business scene with a tattered K-Mart lampshade on his head. Today Uncle Ronnie is living proof that, while 12-step programs work, they make every one of their success stories 12,000 times less fun. 

      Sometimes things not being what they once were can, however, be a good thing.

      On that note, the Straight has had the pleasure of sitting down with Kevvy from Fake Shark many times over the years.

      There was the coffeeshop patio on downtown Granville Street in the '00s, where he cleverly blew off a hustler selling homemade (and in all probability blank) rap CDs.

      That exchange, a testimony to one man's ability to think on his feet even though he was sitting down, went something like this:

      Guy on the street: "Hey, do you guys like hip-hop?"

      Kevvy: "No!"

      The joke on the guy, who immediately slunk away, was that the exact opposite was true. In fairness you would never have known it at the time. Fake Shark (then known as Fake Shark-Real Zombie!) was in a phase where it specialized in abrasive metal-tipped electro-punk far removed from the sound that made Compton famous.

      Some time later, in 2013, the Straight sat down with Kevvy again for a Fake Shark cover story, this time at a semi-fancy South Granville Cajun eatery. The band had dropped the dash and exclamation mark to become Fake Shark Real Zombie, and was in the process of rolling out its epically audacious third album, Liar. The record served up, fantastically, everything from nuclear funk to sparkling pop to, um, white-boy hip-hop. It was also, at times, fucked right up. Consider Liar's "Get Weird", which more than lived up to its name. (Click here. But don't click if you are currently ripped). 

      Where Kevvy has been in the past doesn't, however, bear a lot of resemblance to where he is in 2018. 

      During the interview for the Liar cover story, the singer spoke glowingly of nu-soul artists like Frank Ocean. And no less than Frank Ocean might be impressed by Fake Shark's new single "Feel Alive", which meshes Kevvy's deliciously smooth vocals with breezy yacht-rock guitars and keyboards straight outta '80s Motown. 

      Close your eyes to the video below, and you might even be able to imagine Uncle Ronnie slow-dancing in his underwear with a '70s-vintage K-Mart lamp. Smelling like Jack Daniel's and, more importantly, a whole shitload of pre-12 step fun. 

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