In a day and age where bands are trying to stretch the limits of their craft, often at the expense of the song itself, it is refreshing to find a band for whom the description “indie rock band” is all that’s needed. Sharks and Minnows is one such band, combining the feral guitars of the Replacements and Husker Du, the passion and angst of Rites of Spring and Sunny Day Real Estate, and the punk/pop songcrafting of Jawbreaker and Superchunk.

Sharks and Minnows has its beginning in Atlanta in early 1999 when Christopher Simony and Chad Spangler, one-time high school classmates and long-time bandmates, recruited Daniel Heisel, another former classmate then toiling in a local punk band, to join their band. The band immediately hit upon the right formula, honed its first batch of songs onstage, and subsequently released the EP Julie et Cetera in 2000.

The band returned to the Red Laboratory Studios in Atlanta earlier this year to finish off Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board, its first full-length release. Most of the songs will be immediately recognizable to fans of the band, as they have been part of the band’s live set for the better part of a year now. The uninitiated, though, will be treated to a record in which the song was treated as the number one priority.

Live, Sharks and Minnows crank out the setlist in rapid-fire succession. Drawing from a repertoire much deeper than their catalog of releases (just wait ’til the next record!), the band has become an opening favorite of touring bands. Recently, the band has played on bills that have included the Dismemberment Plan, the Alkaline Trio, the Pinehurst Kids, Songs:Ohia, the Rosenbergs, Elizabeth Elmore, Rainer Maria, Mock Orange, and the Rock-A-Teens.

The band is currently at work on The Cost of Living, which will be released on Two Sheds in the fall of 2003. Fans can expect a lot more instrumentation and layers and a broader pop feel. To facilitate performance of the new material, Devin Simony has joined the band as a full-time member.