Insulin Shock

Insulin Shock was a semi-uncontroversial Indie Rock band which formed in Staten Island, New York in 2006. Insulin Shock gained some minor notoriety after their 2008 debut album, Type One, drew the ire of the American Diabetes Association. Their second album, Type Two, was delayed for years due to creative and personal clashes between founding members Matthew Poole and Sarah Park, their lead singer. After much anticipation, Type Two was released on September 12th, 2012. However, it was lambasted by critics and fans alike for abandoning the "raw, mercurial energy" of their first album in favor of a more polished sound. The negative reception from Type Two led to Insulin Shock being ignominiously dropped from their label, and the group disbanded soon after.

History[edit | edit source ]

High School[edit | edit source ]

Insulin Shock, originally named "Rosengarten zu Worms" (a reference to something presumably very obscure and heady), was formed by childhood friends Matthew Poole, who played rhythm guitar; David Shookz, on the keys; Marty Pallor, on bass; and Sarah M. Park, singing lead. With the exception of Pallor, who was intermittently attending community college classes at CSI Willowbrook, they were all juniors at New Dorp High School.

Poole, Shookz, and Pallor would meet to play music in Pallor's two-bedroom apartment. Park, who was Pallor's girlfriend at the time, quickly became their lead vocalist, as she was the only girl they knew. Poole was inspired by the musical stylings of indie mainstays like The Fiery Furnaces, The Wrens, and Beirut. The album Gulag Orkestar was a particularly major influence on Poole's attempts at music.^[1] Park, on the other hand, preferred songs from bands like Paramore, Flyleaf, Underoath, and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

Despite their differences in taste, Poole and Park became close and began taking music seriously as a career after graduating from high school. They, along with Shookz and Pallor, started recording Type One while working at a CVS.

Type One (2008)[edit | edit source ]

The "recording sessions" for Type One were notable for their complete lack of cohesion. Parts were recorded on tape, flip phones, laptop mics, and often in different tempos and key signatures. Poole strove for an eclectic, meticulous folk sound characterized by experimentation with unique instruments like musical saws, kalimbas, and, most concerning of all, a bassoon. Park was often unable to meet in person due to studying at NYU Tisch, so she would write songs and then record her vocals to tape on an RCA shoebox recorder, sending the tapes to Shookz and Pallor, along with lengthy written notes on how the drums, guitar parts, and bass lines were supposed to sound—notes that Shookz and Pallor would almost universally ignore.

Shookz would then create the backing tracks on a pirated copy of Fruity Loops using the default instruments, and Pallor would play the 1 and occasionally the 5 note of the key they might have been on.^[2] The few times they would meet to record in Pallor's apartment more often led to screaming matches about the nature of life, authenticity, and other sophomoric drivel, rather than finished music.

Although they had some minor success booking gigs in various community theaters, basements, and heroin dens around town, their differing schedules and utter lack of discipline meant they often went weeks without meeting in person. Critics have called them a forerunner of the remote Zoom-call bands that sprang up during COVID-19, although (at the time) local artists derided Insulin Shock for not having earned their bona fides once they reached semi-mainstream success.

Semi-mainstream success[edit | edit source ]

Due to an error in Apple servers, the album Type One was accidentally downloaded to every iTunes user account on the East Coast. Most people quickly deleted the album, with some users frantically calling Apple support to report a virus in their iPods. However, this incident caught the attention of indie record label owner Peter Donoghue. Donoghue became enamored with the band's sound, which he described as a "revelation" and "stretching the boundaries of what 'organized sound' means, in an ontological sense." Insulin Shock was signed to Donoghue's label, Dirge Records, soon after.

Insulin Shock first performed to a reasonably sized audience at Kankfest 2009 in Manchester, Tennessee,^[3] opening for a local close-up card magician whose name has been lost to time. The band rose in popularity, to the point that Type One became the 26th most downloaded album in the iTunes Alternative category for the week of August 16th-22nd, 2009. The 4th track, "The Suddenness of What Appears to Be/e", became a sleeper hit and as of 2025, the band's only song to top 1M streams on Spotify.^[4]

American Diabetes Association controversy[edit | edit source ]

The American Diabetes Association released a statement on September 17th, 2009, decrying what it called "highly offensive stereotypes" found within the song "The Suddenness of What Appears to Be/e," particularly the lyrics: "So I binge on unknown merits / Just to purge my unborn shame / Sits your sweetness, my obsession / And I'm nothing but to blame." The ADA interpreted the lyrics as blaming sufferers of Type 1 Diabetes for their own condition, due to bingeing on too many sweets. The ADA also claimed that naming a musical group after a potentially life-threatening condition, insulin shock, was highly offensive, and called on the band to rename themselves immediately.

Poole saw the statement as an opportunity to promote the band as a defender of creative expression against the stifling governmental forces of censorship, unaware that the ADA was a private organization. He wrote several Tweets to that effect, which were liked and retweeted over 40 times. Park's reaction was more subdued. Pallor had by that time been replaced by bassist Dave Smithun, who was pre-diabetic. Smithun stated that the lyrics written by Park were "basically nonsense" and that, as a potential future sufferer of Diabetes, he and the band had a right to comment on the condition, and to keep their "offensive" name.

The controversy quickly fizzled out within a month, after the ADA couldn't find anyone to picket their performances.

Type Two (2012)[edit | edit source ]

Anticipation for Insulin Shock's planned sophomore album was high, and so was the pressure. Now with the resources of a midsized label behind him, Poole's compulsion to experiment with esoteric instruments, at the expense of musical cohesion, spiraled out of control. For the recording of Type Two, Poole spent hours playing and tuning zithers, erhus, crwths, gadulkas and other instruments in the hopes of replicating the sound they achieved in the demo. Poole fell deep into debt when an 18th Century hurdy-gurdy, loaned to him from a museum in Bristol, exploded in transit due to changes in humidity. Shookz and the engineers at Backroom Studios ended up replacing all of Poole's out-of-tempo recordings with VSTs and samples.

The strain of touring and an undiagnosed eating disorder led to difficulties when recording Park's vocals. Poole would castigate Park for her inconsistent vocal takes and lack of enthusiasm, and Park would call Poole a "whiny, effete loser with the aesthetic tastes of a tiny bug living inside an afghan rug." Shookz and Smithun would hide in the bathroom during these arguments.

The producer for Type Two, Mel Donoghue (no relation to Peter Donoghue), made significant cuts to each of the songs in the album, turning 6-7 minutes of what he considered overindulgent excess into tight, 3-5 minute pieces. Mel Donoghue allowed for one 8-minute song^[5] but otherwise, Poole's experimentation was reined in severely, much to his chagrin. The only exception to this rule was in Dave Smithun's bass lines: he, unlike Pallor, could play the 3 note of the key.

The release of Type Two was followed by a severe backlash from the band's most ardent fans. Reviewers and bloggers decried the album's "stale, corporatized" vibe. Type Two lacked the unpolished, raw sound of lips smacking, strings buzzing due to amp feedback, AC units running in the distance, the distant coughing of neighbors or the faded screams of Marty Pallor's mother banging on the bedroom door. Type Two was far too polished, the lyrics too comprehensible, the tempo too regular. Gone was the rubato of instruments weaving in and out of tempo or the hard clipping of Shookz's virtual samples hammering the limiter like a clubbed seal. Gone were Park's pitchy growls and screams, replaced by a voice that was full-bodied, deeply expressive, and at times mellifluous, yet ultimately too conventional for listeners to stomach.

Following poor sales of the album, and allegations of impropriety by the producer towards Park,^[6] Insulin Shock was politely invited to exist Dirge Records. They continued to tour for a little while, but the lack of enthusiasm, no label backing, and abysmal ticket sales made touring too expensive to break even, much less make a profit. Insulin Shock disbanded soon after.

Post-breakup music and failed revival[edit | edit source ]

Band members[edit | edit source ]

Former members[edit | edit source ]

• Mathew Poole – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, musical saw, kalimba, bouzouki, bassoon, harmonica, assorted nonsense (2006–2013, 2024)
• Sarah Park – lead vocals, drums (2006–2013, 2024)
• David Shookz – keyboards, organ, piano, backing vocals, laptop (2006–2013, 2024)
• Marty Pallor – bass guitar, drums (attempted) (2006–2008)
• Dave Smithun – bass guitar, double bass (2008–2013, 2024)

Former touring members[edit | edit source ]

• Barry Mcferrel – lead guitar, backing vocals, flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium (2024)

Discography[edit | edit source ]

• Type One (2008)
• Type Two (2012)
• Type One: 16 Year Anniversary [2024 Remaster] (2024)

Footnotes[edit | edit source ]

• Work In Progress
• American musical groups