THE SNAKES
Who do they think they are?
THE SHORT ANSWER :
The Snakes are a UK based rock band formed in 2002. They have made 3 albums.
They are going to make another one.
THE SLIGHTLY LONGER ANSWER :
The Snakes were formed in 2002 by Simon Moor & Richard Davies, following a chance encounter in Muswell Hill, having not seen each other since their time together in a band called Band of Gypsies, back in the 80s.
In the 90s, Richard had been a member of Tiny Monroe (at the tail end of the Brit Pop thing), while Simon had been getting psychedelic with Celophane Aeroplane. Both bands having since split, it was a perfect time for Simon & Richard to renew their friendship and start a new band.
Simon had already written a number of songs that would eventually make up the debut album from the Snakes, "Songs from the Satellites", so they set about forming the band that would become known as The Snakes. Long time friend Dan Tilbury, who had been in both Band of Gypsies and Cellophane Aeroplane, became the drummer. Alex Culpin came in on bass from Richard's former band, Tiny Monroe.
1st Line Up :
Simon Moor - Vocals & guitar
Richard Davies - Lead Guitar
Alex Culpin - Bass
Dan Tilbury - Drums
A self released EP was released in 2004 and the band soon found themselves embraced by the emerging Alt Country scene in London that revolved around Barry Marshall Everett's night at the Borderline, as well as Come Down and Meet the Folks, Honky Tonk Sunday, What's Cookin', etc.
It was What's Cookin' who gave The Snakes a major boost by including the song "I'll Be Around" on the What's Cookin' Vol 1. compilation CD. This brought the band to a much wider audience, including grabbing the attention of Bob Harris, among others.
The 1st album, "Songs From The Satellites" was released in 2006 (on CD only at the time) on Holiday Disaster Records, selling very well for an independent release and establishing the band as serious contenders on the Alt Country scene (it wasn't called Americana then).
Around this time, with an increasing number of gigs, they invited old mate Peter Smart to join them on acoustic guitar and backing vocals. Pete had previously been the bass player in Band of Gypsies (check out the photographic evidence!) 2nd Line Up :
Simon Moor - Vocals & guitar
Richard Davies - Lead Guitar & Backing Vocals
Alex Culpin - Bass & Backing Vocals
Dan Tilbury - Drums
Pete Smart - Acoustic Guitar & Backing Vocals
Following a prestigious out door gig in London's Leicester Square and a Radio One session for Mark Lamaar (recorded in the legendary Maida Vale Studios), the band were on a roll! Unfortunately, there was a loose wheel! During the recording of the next set of songs, bassist Alex Culpin decided to hang up his bass guitar and do something completely different (he now owns and runs Ty Gwyn Cider in Wales!)
Alex's replacement was John O'Sullivan. Without knowing it, John had already passed the audition some months previous when he jammed with Dan Tilbury at Dan's birthday party in Wiltshire. You can't buy that kind of voodoo! He debuted with the band at Honky Tonk Sunday in the autumn of 2008.
3rd Line Up :
Simon Moor - Vocals & guitar
Richard Davies - Lead Guitar & Backing Vocals
Pete Smart - Acoustic Guitar & Backing Vocals
John O'Sullivan - Bass & Backing Vocals
Dan Tilbury - Drums.
The band recorded a 2nd EP, Extended Player and started work on the 2nd Album.
In 2010 the album "Sometime Soon..." was released on Red Eye Records. It received a lot of great reviews and a fair amount of radio play around Europe, most notably repeated weekly plays on Mark Lamaar's BBC Radio One Show and Ireland's RTE1 Radio. The band also recorded a session for BBC Wales. A couple of songs from the album were also featured on compilation albums : "Amaretto" was included on the Clubhouse Records release "Divided by a Common Language", while "Jesus in a Box" was part of a double album called "Country Rock Heads Vol.1".
In 2011 The Snakes were part of an art installation called Never Records (as part of the Merge Festival in London), recording a version of the John Stewart song "Never Going Back to Nashville" direct to 12" vinyl. There are only two copies of this record in existence, one is a permanent part of the Never Records project and the other is with The Snakes (see Discography for more info). Again as part of the Merge Festival, Simon & Johnny performed an open air afternoon set on top of the Blue Fin Building in Southwark along with Limousine (a very memorable day was had by all...I forget why).
Also in 2011 The Snakes began recording songs for what would become their 3rd album "The Last Days of Rock & Roll", recording 12 songs in a week long session at Mooncalf studios in Wiltshire (with Nick Beere at the controls once again).
Although still retaining some elements of the Alt Country style (a guest spot from Hannah Elton Wall of Redland Palomino Company on one song), the album included some more ambitious material, notably the title track "The Last Days of Rock & Roll" and "Look What We Could Have Been", both harking back to a 70s Mott The Hoople vibe!
The album was released in May 2013 on the Bucketfull of Brains label. Prior to the release of the album drummer Dan Tilbury departed (family commitments requiring a relocation to Denmark) and his place was taken by Chris Jones (formerly of Mega City Four fame). Pete Smart also left around this time to concentrate on his photography career.
4th Line Up :
Simon Moor - Vocals & guitar
Richard Davies - Lead Guitar & Backing Vocals
John O'Sullivan - Bass & Backing Vocals
Chris Jones - Drums
The album boosted the band's reputation, with songs like "The Last Days of Rock & Roll" and "The Band Played On" becoming instant live favourites. A particular live highlight from this time was a tribute night to Warren Zevon at The Betsey Trotwood in London. The Snakes closed the show, aided by Ben Folke Thomas on vocals and Tim Hughes on keyboards.
Again, with things seeming to be on the up, another wheel fell off the apple cart! Richard decided to take a break from the band in the Spring of 2014. With some interesting live opportunities a head, including supporting The Rockingbirds at The Lexington and playing at the Summertime Festival in Newcastle and a Bucketfull of Brains night at The Prince Albert in Brighton, it wasn't the best time to lose your lead guitarist! The band invited Tim Hughes to join full time on keyboards for these up coming shows. However, the lack of a suitable lead guitarist was a problem though and it was decided not to book any further gigs for the time being.
In 2015 Simon Moor, Johnny O, Dan Tilbury & Nick Beere were invited to help out their old pal from Texas, Tommy Hale, who had decided to make his new album in England. Simon acted as producer for the project, with Nick engineering (as well as playing keyboards and guitar). Both Simon & Johnny helped Tommy with the songwriting and arranging of the material and the mighty Dan Tilbury laid down some fantastic drums. It all turned out very nice indeed and the album "Magnificent Bastard" was released in 2016 on Holiday Disaster Records (CD & Download)! It was decided to gather the same team to tour the album around the UK in 2017 (from Exmouth to Edinburgh!) and a great time was had by all! (Another album was started in late 2019, but had to be postponed due to the death of Tommy's father. Two reschedules were scuppered by Covid 19. We are hoping to get the wheels back on the project as soon as possible!)
Richard, in the meantime had been playing around Wiltshire with a local blues band and then joined Pete Smart's Creedence Clearwater Revival covers band called Creedence Clearwater Revival Revival (you see what he did there?) The band also included Chris Jones & Tim Emery. They supported Tommy Hale & The Magnificent Bastards on the Swindon & Bristol dates of the UK tour in 2017.
Simon & Johnny had been playing gigs under the name Hot Snake Time Machine (sometimes as a duo, sometimes as a rocking 3 piece with Dan Tilbury!) The idea of the band was to play obscure cover versions of some of their favourite tracks (Nick Garrie, Bobby Charles, Nimbo, The Action, etc). They had also started work on an album of original material, which is almost finished (as of Oct 2020).
5th Line Up :
Simon Moor - Vocals & guitar
Richard Davies - Guitar & Backing Vocals
John O'Sullivan - Bass & Backing Vocals
Dan Tilbury - Drums
Nick Beere - Guitar & Backing Vocals
As if by magic, The Snakes started rehearsing again in 2019 with the line up of Simon, Richard, Johnny, Dan & Nick and were very soon invited to play a special gig at the Borderline in central London on 26th July 2019 as a special tribute event for the late great Barry Marshall Everitt. The sold out show also featured Danny and the Champions, Alan Tyler Show & Bex Marshall. The band were back on top form and gave a rocking performance. They were subsequently included on the What's Cookin' Last Days of Summer Festival in South East London in Sept 2019.
Prior to this, Richard had started work on his first solo album, which was completed and released in June 2020 as "Human Traffic" by Richard Davies and the Dissidents (Bucketfull of Brains). Live shows were planned but Covid 19 got in the way once again!
However, eventually, there was some live action in 2021 with Richard & the Dissidents making their London debut at the Betsey Trotwood, followed by shows at the Lexington and What's Cookin'. The Snakes also came out of hiding for a special fund raising gig in Basingstoke for some friends. The Snakes will return again at the end of the year for an Xmas special at What's Cookin'.
And what of 2022? Well, there will no doubt be more ongoing work on albums by Richard Davies, Tommy Hale and Simon, Johnny & Dan and gigs I'm sure. Who knows, we might even release something!
THE EVEN LONGER ANSWER :