The artistic work of Jessie Warren — who has performed alongside the likes of Darren Hanlon, Washington, McKisko and Whitley — has manifested into Halfshark, a musical project self-described as ‘electro-metamorphic, dark pop’.
Headed to The Bearded Lady in Brisbane on 30th October, Jessie shares five marine creatures she thinks we should know a little more about.
Red-Lipped Batfish
The Angelina of the ocean. If I were a fish, this would be my girlfriend. Red-lipped batfish are also terrible swimmers; they use their pectoral fins to walk along the ocean floor.
Goblin Shark
A shark within a shark. Known for their protrusible mouth, the Goblin shark’s jaw can be extended to the end of their already long snout. If they weren’t already terrifying enough, just add 35–53 upper and 31–62 lower, nail-like teeth. Just cause.{youtube}eh_HUIJkRzU{/youtube}
Piglet Squid
These dudes kind of look like a Mr Men character turned inside out. They don’t do much, but their smile is ridiculously contagious. If I could keep any animal in my pocket at all times, it would be this guy.
Blanket Octopus
The superhero of the sea, the female Blanket octopus has a built-in cape — like all professionals should have if they take their job seriously. In making herself look bigger than she actually is, predators are deterred from getting up in her grill. An inspiration and role model to all lady sea creatures alike, the adult female grows up to two metres long. The male, however, is just a few centimetres. In order to reproduce, the male octopus has a sperm-storing third arm that detaches itself and crawls inside the mantle of the lady octopus. Shortly after getting intimate, the male octopus dies, with the lady octopus — the independent woman that she is — gliding off into the abyss (with over 100,000 eggs attached to her body).
Mantis Shrimp
I saved the best till last. I wrote a track last year called ‘Breath Of Man’ that talks about the animal-human hierarchical delusion that we are at the top of the pyramid. The song speaks about how weak and insignificant humans really are in regards to other animals, and how there is no straight-forward distinction between human and animal superiority. When it comes to animal ascendency, the Mantis shrimp is a psychedelic hero. A Mantis shrimp’s eyes contain 16 types of colour-receptive cones, as opposed to humans who have only three. It also has the world’s fastest-feeding strike; the force is so intense that the water around their limbs boils producing tiny bubbles, with the shockwave so strong that it can still kill its prey even if it misses the target. To top off the dance, when the bubbles begin to implode, the force of this emits short bursts of light, like tiny fireworks. Mr Kite meets Mohammad Ali, these guys are everything the Gallagher brothers wish they were.
HalfsharkHalfshark plays The Bearded Lady on Thursday 30th October.
