UK legends Snuff have just released their newest studio LP, Crepuscolo Dorata, on 22 Apr 2022 via SBÄM Records. TGEFM was about to band out a few questions for guitarist Los Wong for a round of Roll of the Dice. We rolled a SIX.
1) OK, seriously, what’s the deal with Snuff and insanely long album titles? First there was Snuffsaidbutgorblimeyguvstonemeifhedidn’tthrowawobblerchachachachachachachachachachachayou’regoinghomeinacosmicambience (aka Snuff Said), then Demmamussabebonk (I think everyone can say that), and now Crepuscolo dorato Della bruschetta borsetta calzetta cacchetta trombetta lambretta giallo ossido, ooooooh cosi magnifico! (Aka Crepuscolo Dorato), which Deepl translator tells me means “Twilight golden bruschetta handbag sock trumpet lambretta yellow oxide, ooooooh so magnificent!”, although it may be wrong. So… seriously… what’s the deal? (Laughter)
Ha-ha! We do kind of push it with the silly album titles. It’s a running theme of sorts, although saying that, it’s a way less thought out process than you’d think.
Basically the way it works is: No real effort is made at any point by the band to come up with a proper title within the allotted time. Then all of a sudden we’re up against the deadline for artwork. At that point Duncan usually suggests something completely ridiculous as a title and we all agree straight away.
The translation you have is pretty spot on. Either way, as a title it is total nonsense but it sort of rolls off the tongue if you say it fast enough because it’s in Italian, which is clearly the best language in the world!
I guess it’s obvious we don’t really take album titles and that sort of stuff too seriously, we tend to be irreverent about these things as well as old & quite lazy and old.
That reminds me of the “one that got away” stupid album title story. Numb nuts was supposed to be called “Numb nuts, Wee sacks and Ball bags” but our manager at the time vetoed it, stating “I believe this title would be detrimental to your careers at this juncture”, maybe he had a point……?
2) This is a common question for bands nowadays, but you released The Wrath of Thoth EP in 2020 and, I’m guessing here, that was pretty much in the can before the pandemic really let loose. Was the process of Crepuscolo Dorato different because of, well, everything going on?
Yes you’re right. We had the Wrath of Thoth in the can prior to the first wave lock down of 2020.
Side one were all taken from the previous album sessions done at VADA studios in 2018. Side two are 3 newer songs (one cover) and these are the first recordings we did with Dan Goatham (our new – maybe not so new now – bass player). These tracks were recorded at Unit 2, Park Royal in NW London in late 2019 with Ady.
Crepuscolo was a totally different approach in terms of writing and rehearsing and recording for this album, mainly due to the pandemic. The UK lock down rules meant we couldn’t get into a practice room for about 6 months straight, that time was just lost to the ether.
We all kept writing in an individual capacity, I know Duncan never stops writing but then again he’s in about 50 different bands at any given time so I guess that keeps him on his toes. (Fifty bands may be an exaggeration).
During that first lock down we ended up meeting outdoors in local parks to jam and chat (as the rules would allow), this was not so productive but it was all we could do in that time.
As the first lock down eased off in Autumn 2020, we did manage to get back in to the practice room for a short while and the new songs began to shape up but as we were also “breaking” Dan in on bass etc. the new song practice time was cut short going through older songs.
Then lock down wave two kicked in and we were back to square one again. I guess all bands, well everyone really, can relate to the loss of the ability to play/see music together, all momentum was lost and it was pretty demoralizing to say the least. You also lose the social aspect of a rehearsal, i.e. hanging out with your best mates is also part of the deal and losing both (on top everything else) to lock downs was a bit of a crusher.
Personally I worked my day job all through the lock downs, this pretty much kept me on the level mentally. Saying that, I work in an NHS Hospital here, so I saw the true hell of COVID front and centre, it was proper grim.
I have so much respect and love for all hospital and clinical workers worldwide for their tireless work in saving as many lives as possible during this awful pandemic and then delivering the vaccine. I’ve had COVID recently but I’m fully vaccinated so it was mild as hell for me and for that I’m truly grateful. So many were not so fortunate. (ed. Hear! Hear!)
Back to the point, its at that time where we had an unbelievable piece of good luck occur. A friend of Duncan’s, who happened to own a local bar/live venue (The Trinity) in Harrow on the Hill, offered us the upstairs live room for a practice space as it was closed to business at the time due to the lock down rules.
We double checked the rules but as we were working i.e. rehearsing and not socializing, we could crack on. Within a week we were set up and making a racket as much as time would allow. I think without that time at the Trinity, the album would not have been ready to record in the time we had set ourselves so in terms of a lucky break, that was the big one for this album.
Those rehearsals were also purely as a three piece. We wanted to strip it back & make sure the band could go out live with or without the brass/keys and still sound and feel like it should.
So the main part of writing & arranging of the album was done at the Trinity. As I’ve mentioned, a huge part of rehearsing is the banter and general hanging out, practice soon became my lock down social life as it was the only time I spent with other humans outside of work. Anyway, we recorded a lot of those sessions on our phones and worked at home on the bits that needed tightening up etc. It was all good and made sure we went into the studio as prepared as we could be.
Additionally, at that time, with Dan being somewhat new in the band we were a bit uncertain how it would pan out with him writing wise but we shouldn’t have worried, his overall input on this record was/is outstanding. It’s not just his bass playing and vocals, he really did bring a lot to the table when he joined Snuff, on many levels (being as he was already a very good friend of the band for many years before joining), having him in place now has been a real boost to the rest of us and I think this shows on the new record in the energy levels of each track.
As for the recording process proper, we went in the studio with 10 finished songs which is, for me, always the best method. I know a lot of bands can use studio time to write but I can’t get on with doing that and it costs a lot of money so not really viable for most of us.
We worked with Pat Collier on this record at Perry Vale studios, Lewisham, south London and it was an absolute pleasure. Pat is a bit of a genius and really knows his rooms, system and desk very well, on top of that he’s an old skool punker from back in the day, he was in the Vibrators, so he understood pretty quickly where we trying to get to sonically, he’s also a lovely fella so we were all set up to make it work.
Unusually for Snuff, we were very very productive in that 10 day session. We got the 10 main backing tracks down in 4-5 days and that left us free to have a go at doing acoustic/variant versions of some of the new stuff as well as older songs. Oli (our regular trombone player) is very capable on the piano so we had a go at him bashing out a couple of new songs via very rushed piano arrangements, the outcome is an eye (or ear) opener, there are even stings involved on another track but I’ll say no more…
3) Snuff’s known for throwing out an instrumental every now and then, and the new album features “Barba Gelata” to fill this spot. However, I found this song to just feel way different than other Snuff instrumentals. It has a bit of a metal-ish sound to it, and doesn’t feature any organ or trombone at all. That’s not a bad thing but I found it a bit surprising, and exciting. Can I ask how this particular number came together?
Barba Gelata, (which means “frozen beard” in Italian), came about from a few riffs I had in the back pocket. I’m calling it “manga punk metal” style. Anime or manga lovers will get that reference, I think? I listen to a lot of instrumentals so I tried to write one. It’s not as straightforward as I thought. The arrangement is really important and I got stuck on that for a long time.
It was written in dropped D tuning on the guitar so that’s why it’s got that metal feel/sound but it is essentially a punk riff with an ice cream van intro and a bit of a “prog” metal outro. Snuff does actually have a bit of previous for metal-esque tunes (“I See” – off Snuff Said & “Hellbound” – off Reach) so I think “Barba…” isn’t so far out of the scope of Snuff instrumentals, at least the older ones.
But I do know what you mean in the sense that this one has a different vibe and sound compared to the older Snuff instrumentals especially as they were from the time of the original Snuff line up so I guess it’s naturally going to have a different “feel” at this point in the Snuff timeline.
We’ve actually tagged on a new ending to the track, so when you hear Barba live you get an extra burst of thrash, the song is still evolving, which is nice.
4) You’re also well-known for crafting infectiously catchy and melodic songs, interjected with some really noisy and frenetic numbers. What would you say are Snuff’s musical influences that have led to such a cornucopia of musical styles?
Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this one. Basically Snuff are musical magpies and borrow or take influence from any source available, especially if it’s shiny.
Outside of punk I know Duncan is a massive Northern soul lover so I guess that influence is one part of the vocal melodies he comes up with. He’s also a huge folk music fan, from Morris dancing to Chas & Dave, he’s usually up for some.
Dan is more of a 1970’s throwback which is odd for him what with the whole not being born yet scenario. Seriously though, Dan is an proper music fan and record collector and is very much a big supporter/promoter of the DIY punk world. He is also a great singer in his own right being the front man for the superb Spoilers out of Canterbury and his ear for a vocal melody has already paid off for us on a couple of the new songs.
Between us all, we have a pretty wide spectrum of tastes in music, so to name names at this point, the list would be so long…..
5) Two songs on Crepuscolo Dorota start with soundbites that are old school, I’m guessing WWII-era although one could be from a post-war film, and about famous WWII airplanes (DH.98 Mosquito, and the Supermarine Spitfire respectively). Wrath of Thoth features two racing seaplanes, of which the one in the forefront has striking similarities in color and fuselage design to several of Aeronautica Macchi’s entries in the pre-war Schneider Cup championships. Am I barking up the wrong tree, or do I sense a bit of aviation buff-ery going on?
That’s a good question. You’ll need to speak to our artwork chap (and trombone player) Oli.
Oli is:
A proper pilot.
He knows his airplanes and is an airplane aficionado.
He goes off on journeys aboard real Viking ships.
He lives on an island known locally to him as “Drug Island”.
He lives in a shed on a drug island.
Interesting bloke. You should interview him.
In terms of the Schneider cup etc., yes that is a thing in the art for Wrath but in what context, only Oli knows.
6) You’ve got a lot of gigs and touring coming up. Aside from the rescheduled tour with Frank Turner in September and October, anything else we should have on our radar, and what else does the future have in store for Snuff?
Ah, sadly the Frank Turner thing is just one show, not the whole tour but we are very happy to be doing that one show.
We’ll be rescheduling the 2021 postponed U.K. dates soon, we have some festivals here and in Europe in July and another block of Euro dates in late autumn (fall).
On the live show front we’ve been going out with a three piece brass section, since last August. Dave (Duncan’s older brother and the original trombonist for Snuff) is back in the fold and he’s brought his super talented daughter with him, Flo. She plays tenor saxophone and it sounds amazing. Hopefully we’ll be able to get her in the studio next time we go in.
We’re also itching to get back to the U.S. and Japan. I think the last time we set foot in the U.S. was in 2010 for the Fest and for Japan it was back in 2017 so long overdue on both fronts.
Unfortunately one of the main blockers at the moment is the cost of work visas, you’re looking at a few thousand pounds each just to get to the U.S. and be able to gig legally, if we go full band line up there’ll be seven of us to get visas for.
Either way we want to get as much touring of this record under the belt as possible.
We all really feel it is a banger of an album and deserves the exposure of proper touring, especially as the previous record didn’t get to go on tour at all, we really don’t want that to happen to this record.
Ok that’s all I’ve got! All the best and thanks for the interview.
Crepuscolo Dorato is available for purchase via Bandcamp, the SBÄM webstore, or streaming. You can read my review of the new album here.
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
