The Snout - We Were a Band: Recent Episodes
John
I'm going to tell you a story. It;s going to take a while, but I think it's worth telling. You'll hear the entire recording career of a band that never really was a band & almost no one ever heard. We played in an attic for 3 or 4 years. I recorded everything and recently found the lost tapes. It's been 25 years & I want to go throught it all with you & let you watch a thing happen from scratch and then get forgotten for 22 years only to be revealed here on my podcast. I'm John Dundas & this is The Snout - We Were A Band.
Side 2 from our last tape together. It's somewhat sad to me that there are no more tapes, but I may have a solution for that. Most of this side is Calling Me Back to Cattle Lake. It's very good as Mike revisits William Peterson for another cool tale. This is very laid back & chill. It also goes on for over 20 minutes and is consistently good. Crazy Clown Song is the last thing we ever played & we did it in such a glib way. It ends with a fuck this and we are done. I feel like there should have been more.
After our last tape from April 1999, we jump ahead over a year to 8.2.2000. Matt had moved to NYC and the band was done. He came back to visit and we made this tape. I believe it is the best we ever did. This episode covers side 1. Side to will finish thing up next episode. Everything here is good. Vibing Our Way turns into Once it Was Forgotten which tells the tale of how civilizations rewrite history to suit themselves. Pop This Rock starts as a nice pop bass line and devolves into Snout feed. Picking Up On the Urgency is a little frantic. We end with a cookie break. lol.
This tape is from 4.11.1999. Are you dedicated to Arturo? Do you still have all your limbs? Mikes tale of sacrifice and dedication gets pretty dark. Deconstruct Your Theories is very strange, but good. Add freedom to you mind! There is something very regal about Marching on Geniuses Toes & Swing for the Denses, which I renamed It's Our Density. Chaos is Soothing is aptly named, as Mike talks about always wanting to be king. Chaos is Soothing ends things on an interesting note.This is a cool tape.
Today we are listening to a tape from 2.15.1999. It is only side A as side B has some weird sound effects I recorded for another project. This is an all instrumental tape. There is some really cool & weird stuff that culminates in Soft Rock Lullaby, renamed Soft Rock Anthem and it is beautiful. I really had no idea we could play something so nice.
The sides of this tape are from 2 different days. 1.31 & 2.12 1999. Both sides a good. Side one is mostly Snout evolutionary weirdness. Gazing Into the Eyes of the Snout starts it off and it gets very energetic. Side 2 has Cookin with Mike, which features Mike's screaming guitar. What Right Did He Have to Get So High? is out there for sure. Repairing Relationships with Power Tools rocks. My favorite here is You Can Enjoy This & Still Not Like It. It kicks ass.
It's 1999 and we have our first tape that year. This is a fun one. Moving with Purpose & Style In Social Settings is alot of fun once you get past the annoying breaking glass keyboards. Camel Walking bombs was renamed How to Become Journalist. It tells a tale of education & senseless war. The rest of the tape has really fun instrumental jams. We have come a long way.
This tape was discovered completely blank. I believe it is late 1998, so I put it here. This starts with just Me, Matt & Mike doing Thankyou Ladies & Gentlemen & it's very good. John joins us after arriving late. Trying to Think of A Story has Mike in Egypt. Painted By John is really nice. Born to Be A Coward rocks, but has tape damage. Skinned Alive is cool too. Side 2 has How Did We get Here?, which is very slick. Let's make Some Stew is an ADHD wet dream. Your Rejection is the sad closer, but it has great stuff in it.
This is a tape from 12.15.98. It starts with a nice instrumental called The Sun Also Rises & then we roll past miles & miles of oil rigs. Turn That Shit Down is a rocker. Full of It rocks as well. Left Wing Cowgirl Rides as wild. I Feel Dirty is solid. Imaginary travels is a good closer with some nice mellow sounds.
Mike watches TV alot, apparently. Some TV personalities died horrible deaths, apparently, as well. We figure out a melody mike came up with. Harem Dream is really nice and dreamy & I try some weird drum delay effects for a dub effect. Side 2 starts with Calling Them Home which is such a cool, dark thing with Mike telling a story of demons & minions. The Grinding Wheel grinds & We wind our way to oblivion to close. This is a good tape. They keep getting better.
This tape is from 12.3 & 12.5.98. We've been at it for a couple years now and it shows. This starts out with Groovy Toes which is, uh, groovy. Crowded Spaces brings out a hideous sound from my keyboard. Super Collider is cool. Side 2 has Mike more miserable then ever and we do along slog that is actually very nice.
This tape is all over the place, from very weird to almost pop rock and everything in between. Mike get philosophical on The Instigator Challenges the Creator. It was hot in the attic & Cool the Pits is about tthat. The Same Old room is good except the drums just don't fit. Mike does his best Tiny Tim on Will You Come lookin' for Love Again. The Weight of the State is really very good as Mike tells a story based on The Painted Bird. Side 2 has us looking for the source in Found it Again & Waiting for the Other Shoe. Living Up Here is just very nice. We all fit well.
There is only 1 side of this tape. Aah Aah Aaahh starts it off and is again quite weird. Mike tells the tale of an encounter with the police & goes off angrily. Trying to Lose My Shadow is pretty cool. This is a shorter episode than usual.
We struggle with an attempt at structuring a song instead of just doing our thing. It is slow and boring. We pick it up and then it gets very noisy & chaotic which is fun sometimes. We weave our snout into a Nirvana riff and it's interesting. The attic is not air conditioned. Born with Hepatitis C goes into Crazy and it's weird as hell. Alton Darwin's Dying Words get cut off at the end of the tape.
6.11.98 - We must have taken a break over the summer, or some tapes are gone. The last tape was 4.16.98. This starts with Automated Sweetheart which is a lot of fun. Building Up to a Let Down has been renamed I Wish I was a Cowhand. Get aboard transcendental Airlines as it's a weird trip. That's Fucked Up Right there lives up to its name. Another Happy Cowboy Song is great but too politically incorrect sounding to put out there. Xmas at Mike's must be weird. A trip to the OCB gets cut short which is fine by me.
4.16.98 - This begins with Love the Smell & Texas in the Summer Time. These are both pretty cool. The carnival ride song is hard for me to listen to as I hate my keyboards on it. Soap Oprah is a blast & we all yell together. The virtue of girth is exalted in Fortunately She was Big. Hillary Gets A Massage is a pretty solid closer. lol. We are definitely getting better and having fun.
4/9/98 - This tape has Mike singing about his gypsy next door neighbor and being surprised by a kiss. Catching Satan in a Jar is really fun and will be the song I release for this tape. Mike tries singing & then reminisces about the good old days of suspensions, acid, transvestites & park pavilions. We get all spiritual and shit and head way down south. It's a good tape.
We get spaced out with Daddy drives a UFU/Family Trip. Mike destroys the universe. @ guest guitarists sit in along with Mikes brother Dave on the recorder. Rick plays the Hawaiian Steel guitar and Ryan rocks out on a couple songs. Mike vents a little on I Wish the World was Black & White, then it gets dark. As I lay Dying shows more of Mikes literary side. We do another version of Caterpillars & Alligators with Ryan & it's very different & very good. We close out with some deep philosophical shit.
This one starts out rockin' but there is an audio issue. I get a blowjob from God. Jazzy Cat has his last hurrah. The other side of the house is very interesting and long (27:50). This is another very experimental effort.
This starts with a very slow plodding thing I called Out of the Depths. This is an all instrumental tape. I find a pretty new keyboard sound. There is a lot of experimenting that doesn't always lead to the best results. On side is just one solo reggae thing i must have dona around the same time as it is on this tape. I will release the solo track with this episode.
This tape starts with Just One Note. This is the tape that also had "The Day Mike Was Really Pissed Off" on the cover. Mike was not happy & ended up leaving. He was dealing with personal shit. Matt is back on guitar. We manage some decent stuff.
Here is a link to the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/7x64eVdts2c
I big opener with Napolean's Penis & it just gets better. Heavy Metal Beauty Queen is the single that would have launched us. This is the first time John Mosedale plays with us. He fits in immediately. He is a very good player. Mike has some convoluted thoughts, William Peterson creeps out of the swamp & Tom Robbins get a tribute. It's a really good tape.
Here is a link to the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/JP3utpN4nTc
This tape has some fun stuff. Phone calls during songs, rape, incest, murder & cannibalism all in one little jazz tune. Some Bluesy stuff tells us Matt is back on guitar. We play that one blues thing and get to Snout Music, which is much more satisfying. Furnace & Duct Cleaning existentialism. It's all very Snouty.
Her is the link for the to the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/leMfQskrV4Q
This tape starts with me singing poorly. It makes me cringe. My First Day is a good Snout tune. There's another march of the evolutionary variety. It's just Mike, Matt & I on this tape. We do pretty good.
Here is the link to the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/M0t7SSBgihE
This one has some very long evolution themed tunes. A bizarre attempt at funk We are trying to adjust to Matt as a guitarist. It's a interesting mix of weirdness. Improvement? Maybe, but the last tape was so different it's hard to say. The first side is very snout/ evolution themed. Side 2 gets funky as we play as our alter ego band - The Great Deeps. Some weird mix of instruments closes it out.
Here is the link to the song from this tape:
https://youtu.be/plE38QIsk_I
We have a surprise guest named Ramid. One of us was helping him move and he decided to sit in. It's weird, hilarious and he has a hard time. Suzy the Stripper, Rude Nipples, We Don't Need know Existential Parody, Rooting Around at the Bottom. They are all different & all interesting & weird. Matt comes in and joins on guitar again. The Banjo comes out again. I got the new cassette deck and am very pleased with it.
Here is the link for the song from this tape:
https://youtu.be/G_v6bGnRrdk
I learn how to get the keyboards to slave to the drum machine and I'm not sure if I like the result. I like this tape, but it lacks the story telling from Mike. I believe I learned a lot here. There is some very cool stuff going on. Are we good enough to do purely instrumental stuff? that is hard to fathom at this point.
Her is the link for the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/x-bATy5mf-Y
Banjo! More Happy Cowgirl. I am a groovy Space Cadet. A little funky tune about Mike, Midori & the Butcher have an adventure. The playing and recording continue to improve as we keep going at it. Matt is back as our 2nd guitarist. Can we steer him away from the blues rock thing?
Here is the link for the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/6SqHpj15nF8
A new guitar player sits and dominates a little too much. The Snout is not a blues rock band. It is some good jamming and we learn from Matt L. He is a very accomplished player of bar band cover songs. He was around a while but he disappeared without a last name. More weird and interesting things happen musically. Caterpillars & Alligators is the best yet.
Here is the link for the song from this tape.
https://youtu.be/amog44HKQmQ
Mike can make it worse. He also appears to have a problem with Bill Gates. The company dance is fun, but someone brought another Mike to the party and it doesn't go well. The pieces are improving.We still have a way to go. The weird Oboe song seems to mark a turning point in our music. It's almost jazz.
Link to the song from this tape:
https://youtu.be/E7M3ZVopBjg
We get pretty dark & heavy as Mike spins tales about The Stranger, Rasputin's Testicles & more Brautigan. The hits keep coming with a continuing progression of playing & recording ability. I ponder how we could do this music project & then just forget about for over 20 years.
Back with a tape from late Nov. or early Dec. 1997. The B-side was not marked at all. Damn chords! Maybe I can find the positive. I found more tapes! It's the reel to reel of some multi track recordings I did. I am looking into getting them transferred to digital.
Grandpa Catfish comes a callin'. I talk about The Snout. Our reasons for choosing it as a name & it's levels of meaning. Matt sings Uncle Bills got Herpies as Bill Clinton. Lol. Still no bass amp.
10.9.97 & we are seemingly, dare I say, rocking out, at least in our limited capacity. I try to explain what was beginning to happen that that brought The Snout up from the depths. Finding out your leading when you thought you were following is odd.
We ara kind of in between names here. We do a little cheesy sci-fi tribute to Ed Wood, More Brautigan, Things get heavy with Black Plague. I haven't found a lot success playing fast. No, we are not communists. Scopes Monkey Trial fits the evolutionary theme. The Anthem is Epic! It's all still pretty bad, but we don't know any better.
Rancid Bear Grease, Cowboys & Alligators & much weirdness ensue as I add the sampler in and we keep trying to get better. The Magic Attic is helping. The Snout's developing air breathing ability. The sampler is a neat novelty, Mike just reads from a random book on Virgins of Pump #3, while embellishing just a bit. It's all still bad.
Happy Cowgirl gets 2 treatments on this tape. She's Scratching her face is weirdly interesting & has improved drastically. Without much ability, we are finding a feel for different moods & beginning to play together a bit. My bad vocals are apparent. The Anthem is perfectly bad.
We are listening to 26-34-68. Mike loved Cynthia Meyer, The Valley of the Dolls & the whole B movie thing. The music may suck but it is weird and maybe a little bit interesting. The whole process just seems to be moving in a direction but we have no idea what that direction is. Dead Oceans is weird as can be.
Mike does not give a fuck about a fucked up girl. I try to remember where I got The Tascam Studio 8. Things are improving. "Scratching Her Face" is a definite step toward The Snout becoming itself. The photo shows the cheap-ass microphones I was using.
The multi tracking is getting fairly layered. I'm adding many more tracks. The new deck is good but slow to FF & RW. We moved through quite a few songs today. The live jams are still basically unlistenable.
New boom box, new recordings. & an epic new instrument.
If you are the one person that downloaded this, I will not be placing any more episodes here as I won't pay $12.99 a month for one person to download it. lol. You can grab it on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwbiQxjkUbu7LApVPjkkww
The recordings start to take on a little character, very little, There is some improvement. This is a slow process, but I have years of recordings that get better and better. I have finally been listening to some of our last 10 sessions and there is stuff you will not believe. Come along and evolve with The Snout.
Starting at the beginning by listening to some of the first recordings I ever made. They are bad, but they show where we started from. This is an introduction what I hope this becomes.