Speaking to Sharna Liguz, AKA Sshh Liguz, a racket could be heard in the background. “Could you stop it?” she says. When asked what the commotion was all about, Liguz replies “the usual…the usual when you’re in a band with your partner.” SSHH (pronounced Shoosh) are an electronic-punk duo comprised of the aforementioned Sshh Liguz and her partner Zack Starkey. The duo, make “music to fuck to and fight to,” according to Liguz.
Liguz is a singer and Australian native, Starkey is a long time drummer and just happens to be the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. The group formed during a jam session ten years ago in Devlin while the couple were “tripping balls”. Liguz was “singing like a lunatic” and Starkey experimenting with the guitar. The result: a melding of punk, techno, reggae and rock sounds, with an inimitable stage presence.
This is a group who give great acknowledgment to their influences. Their 2016 album Issues covers songs from artists the duo are directly influenced by, featuring the original artists themselves on some tracks. Starkey gives a who’s who of his early influences citing; “glam rock, David Bowie, a band called Dr Feel Good, which was kind of different, and then obviously The Ramones and Sex Pistols.” Liguz adds Alex Harvey, Nina Hagen and Grace Jones to her list, culminating in an eclectically-informed creative method.
The group seem to work off both positive and negative energy from their relationship and incorporate it with their performance. “We try to use the stage as our therapy couch, it releases some tension. It’s like having a really heavy duty sports massage,” Liguz says.
The resulting act is hostile and particularly carnal. “It’s a punk-rock show and we’re able to let loose, you know how sometimes cartoons say things that people really can’t? It’s the same sort of thing, you can do stuff on stage that you wouldn’t do in real life.”
Their new single ‘Rising Tide’ is a techno-rock belter evoking the likes of Peaches and Lords of Acid. If SSHH make music to fuck and fight to, ‘Rising Tide’ appeals more to the former. Liguz’s vocals are seductive and mesmerising over a throbbing bassline that is simply relentless. What’s the track about? “Dirty fucking, club sex, blood, anger, you know –passion,” Liguz says.
Starkey sees it slightly differently. “That is a song about me being an arsehole to my girlfriend. And her looking out the window at the pouring rain and saying ‘This guy’s a fucking arsehole, but I can’t stop loving him.’ That’s what the song’s about,” he says.
The single was released with an eight track EP featuring mixes of ‘Rising Tide’ from different artists. Liguz compliments her collaborators. “I like how different artists interpret our music. We’re into Youth Solar Meltdown’s mix a lot, it’s got that gritty, dubby sound. We’re into that kind of music. Also, Rob Jevons mix, has that aggressive electronic style which is cool,” she says.
‘Rising Tide’ is also accompanied with a music video that plays into the track’s decadent nature. With a colour palette of pinks, reds and purples flashing in a frenzy, the clip indicates nothing but pleasure. SSHH conjured the design for the music video from various places of inspiration.
“The films of Kenneth Anger [and] stuff you stumble across when you’re up at night looking at weird shit online,” Liguz says. “And Neighbours and Home and Away,” Starkey adds.
On top of their new release, SSHH have been touring Australia as the opening act for Primal Scream and performing some of their own shows too. “[Primal Scream] have the correct audience for our music so it’s gone down really well. And also, they’re so good that you have to step it up. We respect them so much that we have to take it to their level”.
Another EP is underway for SSHH, as well as a collaboration with Jamaican reggae duo Sly and Robbie. While SSHH is made up of two seasoned musicians, they’re a new group with a palpable sound. For fans of cyber-punk music and sweaty rave sex, this is a group to keep an eye on.
