“Jon writes the lyrics and he is pretty much in his own world; he’s really talented. He’s also a great kisser. Do you know Jon Messenger?”
And so went my conversation with Christopher Sanchez, the bassist from Snake! Snake! Snakes! After talking to Christopher, listening to their songs - and I have to say I genuinely like this band and especially their song “We Come Out At Night” - and looking at their interesting website, which boasts colored clip-in synthetic hair as the background, I walked away from this experience impressed by the up-and-coming band.
Snake! Snake! Snakes! made their debut in 2005 as The Tuning Room. Christopher came into play when the original bass player quit, even though Christopher says he wasn’t all that good yet at playing his bass yet. It was Jon, who Christopher identifies as "the hair/singer/guitarist," who taught him how to play his bass and really become a member of the band.In those times, their music was more on the dark side, with a Radiohead and Cursive sound to it, he says. The band consisted of Randy, Christopher, Jon and Joanna, who Christopher refers to as the "white tiger." Then came Georgie, whom Christopher deemed the "bow ties & black eyes" keyboard player. Now the band is extremely versatile; they play everywhere they can, from house parties with metal bands to coffee shops doing acoustic pieces.
Every band has bands that inspire them to create and share music. Snake! Snake! Snakes! says their influences primarily are indie rock kings such as Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, The Walkman and Wolf Parade. As for non-musical influences?
“Our families, friends, girlfriends, fans, ceiling fans, sunny days, the wilderness, mushrooms, love, people in general,” Christopher says. Asking Christopher about the genre of the band gets an even more eloquent answer: “gangsta-folk or gay friendly.”
Jon primarily composes the songs, but many are made up in the heat of the moment during a practice session, Christopher says.
“Dimmed lights, candles, wine and cheese always bring out the good music in our bones.”
The shows and performances themselves, as Christopher says, include a pretty simple and fundamental aspect of enjoying a great band: beer.
“Beer,” Christopher says. “More and more people are coming out and dancing their asses off. “Beer. Our sound is loud and our visuals are a couple of house lamps. Beer.” Who wants to go get a beer?
But the glamor of being a band on the rise has not gone to the heads of these members of Snake! Snake! Snakes! They still lead the typical life most do: full time jobs or school, significant others, family and friends. And, surprisingly, their partying has died down as well. Not common for some bands, but whatever keeps the music flowing.
For more about Snake! Snake! Snakes! visit their site snakesnakesnakes.com or one of their October shows. Oct. 1 they will be playing at the Tucson’s Weekly Pub Crawl Festival located at the Hotel Congress in Tucson and Oct. 7 in Roosevelt, Ariz., at the Apache Lake Music Festival.
Reach the reporter at vbishop@asu.edu
