Shades McCool is the comedic alter ego of Tony Gidlund, of Fever Sleeves and Rob Crow's Gloomy Place. His act sometimes involves hard rock versions of local-centric TV theme songs for merchants like Bob Baker’s Auto Group, Mossy Nissan, Drew Ford, and Toyota of Escondido.

Gidlund as McCool has been backed at various times by drummer Brian Garbark (Modern Rifles), bassist Daryl Thompson (Modern Rifles), and keyboardist Taylor Semingson. A debut EP was released in 2016, collecting The First Four Demos, recorded with Rob Crow and featuring guests Ben Johnson and Adam Gimbel.

The Shades McCool single "The San Diegan National Anthem" was produced with Ben Moore and Nick Reinhart and released in May 2017. A full-length finally followed in 2019, Pretty Good Guy.