Jeffrey Shark (a.k.a. Jeffrey Thinschmidt) started chasing melodies nearly before he could ride a bike—recording himself at age 7 on his dad’s reel-to-reel Craig tape deck in the early '70s. Armed with a toy acoustic guitar and an obsession with 70s AM radio hits, young Jeffrey was already covering “Rock Me Gently,” “Little Willie,” and “Superstition” like his life depended on it.
By middle school, he was rocking out in the Atlantic City area as a founding member of the legendary (at least locally) band Javelin. Through the '80s, he led bands like Jeffrey Jones and The Mudsharks of Atlantic City, writing punchy, offbeat songs in the new wave and punk vein and gigging around during his college years.
After graduating from Stockton University in 1988 and Florida Atlantic University in 1993, Jeffrey took a surprising left turn—into neuroscience. But the music never left. Between breakthroughs in brain science, he recorded two home studio albums: Back From The Depths and Beyond The Great Beyond (both unreleased, but very real!).
In recent years, the old band got back together—literally. Jeffrey reunited with his Javelin crew to create quirky, underground albums under names like Timmy and the 12 to 2s and Subshark’s Toupee and the Melvinators (yes, seriously).
Now, in 2025, he’s taken things up a notch with his first fully produced studio album: Hey Leo — a 12-track indie rock ride recorded at Skylab Studios in Gainesville, FL, engineered by Kevin Terry and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Brian Lucey. It’s upbeat, heartfelt, and full of songs that reflect on life, love, and the beauty of the world we live in.
The kid with the tape recorder never left — and he’s finally turned the volume all the way up.