Blowing up out of the UK via Spain. Snide is a great punk band and newer addition to the UK underdog scene. No non-sense street punk. Snide has played a lot of shows in the UK and Spain and have released a cd. I got Nobby to tell their story...
Introduce yourself…
Hi, I'm Nobby, bass player and founder member of UK punk band, SNIDE.
How did the band start?
The band was formed in 2006 when I was living in Spain. The local area was full of small bars, which catered for the ex pat British community. Unfortunately, the only shows they ever put on was either kareoke or one man playing a guitar to backing tracks and the few bars that could hold a full band tended to play bad tributes and covers bands that didnt play any music I enjoyed. SNIDe was formed by a chance meeting between my self and a guitarist called Dan and we both hated the local 'music scene'. SNIDE was originally formed as a punk covers band, playing songs from the Sex Pistols, the Clash and many more early punk songs. Gigs were still hard to come by, so after a year or so, we decided to chang direcetion and write our own material and play the venues around Spain.
How did you come up with the name?
SNIDE is a slang term for 'cheap and shoddy goods' which along with the other meanings of the word, summed up our feelings towards the whole music scene around us at the time...as well as a nice 'punk' name.
Who would you say are your influences?
Influences....I honestly dont know who my influences are....far too many to mention, but I guess that the American scene including Bad Brains, CH3, DK and so on, along with UK bands such as the Ruts, Rezillos, UK Subs..oh the list goes on....well, they probably are/were my influences.
What was the punk scene like in Spain?
The punk scene in Spain is very minor in comparison to other and more traditional musicr styles. Because of their oppressed history, very little in the way of 'western' music managed to get in, including early punk. They have their definate style, which is mostly Hardcore mixed in with Ska and latin/gypsy rhythms. Otherwise, the Skinhead and OI! movement is quite large out there. What amazed me was the massive popularity of the Ramones. In the UK, not many people really knew too much about them, but in Spain, they are very popular still with many tribute bands all over the country.
How do you feel the scene in the UK is different?
Even though there are venues to play in Spain, they work on a pay to play basis, in UK there are many venues and promoters who will just organise a gig and leave it to you to play...generally speaking for free, unless you can get a crowd. To play punk is definately easier here in UK as well as trying to find musicians with similar ideas.
What is the song writing process?
Up to now, I have been the writer of most of the songs, a few were written by Dan (in Spain). The process was simple, we'd turn up to each others house with an idea, play it, recored it and away we'd go. Mostly the tunes would be the first part and then a phrase or chorus would come into my head and the song would develop from there.
What have you guys released?
We have released a 9 track cd called 'Disorder' which was put out as download through Amazon and the like, but if anyone wants a hard copy, they can get one direct from me. we hope to get some more recorded in the next few months, as there are a lot of new tunes being written at the moment.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
So far, in the UK they are mostly DIY shows with other bands like ourselves, Emergency Bitter, Skurvi, Rage DC, however, we have done gigs with Clan Bastardo from Italy, UK Subs, London, Gene October (Chelsea), The Dual and we have shows coming up with Choking Susan, Rust, TV Smith (the Adverts) and in a couple of weeks, we are supporting Sham 69.
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Dont care where we play to be honest, as long as the crowd is responsive..or even turn up. Apathy to shows generally in UK is quite bad at the moment. People are too comfortable and resigned to their lot generally, where punk was and still is a protest music, the kids of today have other ways of expressing themselves and in other music styles.
Where have you toured?
Guys of my age should be at home, feet up, gardening...nah, bollocks to that.
Haven't really toured, played a lot of shows around Spain, which could have been classed as a tour, but nothing official. would love to tour properly, especially Europe, USA and the far East.
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
I love the Guys from Emergency Bitter, they are nice guys, friendly, relaxed and have a real good time, so they would be my choice of gig share or band to do a tour with. Saying that, they do like their drink, i dont think my liver would cope.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
I like all venues....its the attitude of the promoter/sound engineer or other bands on the bill that piss me off more....There have been some right twats. (no names to be mentioned)
Do you see a future of Snide?
The Future?...well as the average age of the band approahes mid 40's, time is against us. I would like to play as many shows that we can get offered, record as bit, do some tours....who knows? What can anyone offer?
How can people contact the band?
We can be contact through email snide-punk@hotmail.com or through the following sites; www.reverbnation.com/snidepunkuk or www.snidepunk.co.uk and of course through the Facebook page.
0 comments:
Post a Comment