Snakes in your head? We’ll been there, right? How about Snakes Snakes Snakes in your head?
Chris Sanchez (bass), David Cooper (drums), Jon Messenger (vocals, guitar), and Dan Tripp (guitar) are Snake Snake Snakes. The band released a five-song EP in 2010 followed by a single “Outsider” b/w “Thieves” in 2012. The EP was a surprise success at college radio in 2010, charting as high as #46 on CMJ Top 200 without any tour support from the band. The EP and singles also had legs when it came to placements and licensing. Almost every song the band released was featured, respectively, in campaigns for Sephora, Tommy Hilfiger, and Tabasco and in movies and TV like Spectacular Now and Vampire Diaries.
By the time the band finally traveled outside Arizona to SXSW in 2012, Paste Magazine had listed them among “Twenty Must-See Bands at SXSW 2012” and “10 Arizona Bands You Should Listen to Now”.
After a few false starts on recording themselves, the band returned last year to Flying Blanket Recording in Mesa, Arizona, to work with producer Bob Hoag on a full-length record. The band and Hoag had butted heads throughout recording the EP five years earlier, but both had changed their processes considerably over the interim. With a newfound respect for each other, the LP came together like magic. The project went smoothly enough to record even a couple more songs than planned, and in three weeks they emerged from the studio with the 12 songs that are Tranquilo.
On April 15, local labels Common Wall Media and President Gator (Phoenix NewTimes “Best Local Label 2015”), will be releasing Tranquilo on 12” “Blood Red” transparent vinyl and digitally. The band will be performing an album release show in Phoenix at The Crescent Ballroom on Saturday, April 9. The album will be available for pre-order with a special edition T-shirt through President Gator’s web store.
“‘In My Head’ was the second song we wrote for the record,” said Messenger. “Like most rock and roll songs, it’s about ex-girlfriends that you can’t get over.” We can’t get over how good this song is! Brash and bashy, with tricky rhythm shifts, from Pixes swagger to polka-punk, “In My Head” might get stuck in yours, too.
