South coast grit pop trio snake eyes‘ new single ‘scuttlebug’ is “a song about lonerism and feeling cut off from your mates when they don’t make the time,” says vocalist and guitarist Jim Heffy. “i’m not good at being on my own but i think it’s super important to be able to be your own company and entertain yourself.”
It’s also a song that made Heffy’s purchase of some extraneous new musical gear entirely worthwhile…: “if you’re ever having an internal argument about whether or not you should get that new pedal/weird bit of gear that you don’t absolutely need, do it. you might get a new song or two out of it. i saw one of my friends was getting rid of a delay pedal so i told him i’d take it. he had this little vibrato pedal that he was willing to chuck in for a couple extra quid so i said “sure”. i had the intro bass riff recorded in the voice notes on my phone and as soon as I started messing around with the vibrato pedal, the guitar part came straight away. it wasn’t originally supposed to be on the mixtape but i knew I wanted to get it on there. we finished the arrangement of the song the day before we tracked the drums and i wrote the final lyrics in the shower the day i tracked the vocals.”
snake eyes are uniting their recent slew of vibrant, riff-fuelled singles on ‘the lovehate mixtape’, which is set for release 19 November via Killing Moon Records. Aptly, the release will be available on actual cassette tape, available to pre-order now. The collection of tracks follows the band’s debut EP ‘skeletons’ which was released last year as the pandemic took hold. Heffy explains snake eyes’ journey to this mixtape thusly: “for our second full release, we knew we wanted to switch things up a bit. i had so many songs written and the thought of doing another ep didn’t make any of us particularly excited. i think tom floated the idea of doing a mixtape “with skits and that” and that seemed a lot more fun. i realised that some songs seemed sorta like love songs and others not so much. there’s more good vibes within some of the tracks (than on the skeletons ep) but more anger in others. there’s definite themes of self love and self destruction too, so “the lovehate mixtape” was born.”
This mixtape is a veritable party of a record which provides an insight into snake eyes‘ world and is a fun, wild ride, complete with a killer collection of tunes. Kicking some punk attitude in with their grunge and brit pop influences (think hints of Nirvana, blur, Reuben, a dusting of Wolf Alice & a splash of Weezer), snake eyes self-produced their first EP but this time around have collaborated with friend and producer James Simpson (Indoor Pets). Dan Coutant (Drug Church, War on Women, Gnarwolves) delivered on the mastering mystery magic.
The live-music-prohibiting events of 2020 meant that snake eyes launched with merely one gig under their collective belt, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this time round you’ll be able to catch snake eyes in actual real life, blowin’ ya noggins off as they rip rock shows up and down the UK. They’ve already started to set stages alight with their fire riffage. See below for upcoming dates.
‘the lovehate mixtape’ full track list:
1. (bright idea)
2. dig
3. (the real take)
4. happy pills
5. hello stranger
6. (alien punx)
7. another world
8. (infamous)
9. scuttlebug
10. (neighbourhood dogs)
11. big deal
12. sink
13. (the b.f.s)
14. nuf
LIVE DATES:
19/11/2021 • norwich, voodoo daddy’s showroom • w/ pin ups
22/11/2021 • sheffield, record junkee • w/ waco
23/11/2021 • manchester, star & garter • w/ waco
24/11/2021 • chester, the live rooms • w/ waco
25/11/2021 • huddersfield, the parish • w/ waco
26/11/2021 • newcastle, think tank • w/ waco
27/11/2021 • nottingham, billy bootleggers • w/ waco
28/11/2021 • birmingham, the flapper • w/ waco
14/04/2022 • brighton, the prince albert • w/ weakened friends
15/04/2022 • southampton, heartbreakers • w/ weakened friends
16/04/2022 • bristol, crofters rights • w/ weakened friends
18/04/2022 • liverpool, outpost • w/ weakened friends
19/04/2022 • glasgow, hug and pint • w/ weakened friends
20/04/2022 • birmingham, dead wax • w/ weakened friends
21/04/2022 • leicester, firebug • w/ weakened friends
22/04/2022 • manchester, night people • w/ weakened friends
23/04/2022 • london, the shacklewell arms • w/ weakened friends
27/04/2022 • trier (de), lucky’s luke • w/ weakened friends
28/04/2022 • leipzig (de), conne island • w/ weakened friends
29/04/2022 • braunschweig (de), b58 • w/ weakened friends
30/04/2022 • berlin (de), cassiopeia • w/ weakened friends
02/05/2022 • hamburg (de), molotow skybar • w/ weakened friends
03/05/2022 • koln (de), bumann & sohn • w/ weakened friends
04/05/2022 • stuttgart (de), juha west • w/ weakened friends
05/05/2022 • wiesbaden (de), kreativfabrik • w/ weakened friends
07/05/2022 • paris (fr), the supersonic • w/ weakened friends (free entry)
09/05/2022 • liege (be), la zone • w/ weakened friends
10/05/2022 • antwerp (be), trix • w/ weakened friends
11/05/2022 • haarlem (nl), patronaat • w/ weakened friends