Band of the Day: Snow Burial

This pile never seems to go down… Another Day and Band. Reaching out Stateside today, we encounter three-piece Snow Burial (formerly Oxblood)…

How did you meet?

Andrew and I met when he tried out for my first band in Chicago, Doctor This Virus is Silence, back in 2005.  We didn’t end up jamming together back then but remained friends.  A friend of mine needed a new bass player a couple of years later and I recommended Andrew. That’s when he started jamming with Brandon in the band Canyon.  A few years later we were hanging out at a Shiner reunion show, all equally frustrated about our current projects and decided to start a band together.

How long have you been playing as a band?

We started jamming together in late 2012 with our first shows in 2013.  It feels crazy that it’s been 5 years already…

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

It sounded cool, wasn’t taken and nobody responds with “what?” when you tell them the name… not a whole lot more to it than that.

What are your influences?

We’re all huge music nerds, but Isis (the band), the Melvins and Mastodon were all big writing influences.  Outside of “big loud bands” listening to Dave Brubeck was pretty life-altering.  It was the first time I was aware of odd-time music that really grooved.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

Our combination of big riffs, atmosphere and songwriting combine to make something personal to all of us. We’re inspired by the challenge of writing songs that are beautiful and menacing all at once.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

The last record was about living through an apocalypse and and using that metaphor to convey what we thought was coming for the world. Sadly it seems like a lot of that (and a lot of satirical writing *Orwell*) came true and the last couple of songs have been about exploitation.   I am more comfortable writing relatively abstract lyrics but the past two years have been hard to live through and not become more direct.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

We love playing live and have so much fun with it that we really make an effort to deliver an energetic and crushing show.  I’m really proud of how well we’ve been able to convey our musical ideas in all kinds of venues with all kinds of borrowed or broken gear.  I’m into the hundreds of shows played but don’t have an exact count.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

One of my favorite experiences I’ve had at a live show was joining an insane mathcore band, Dead Hands, mid-set to play “air bass” for them in Bristol.  I tossed their synth player in the air and helped get some crowd surfing going in a tiny pub room with about 50 people in it.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

After hunting through a million variations of pedals, amps and guitars I’ve settled on an acrylic and aluminum baritone Electrical Guitar Company 6 string and a Fuzzrocious Demon pedal as being the absolute core of the Snow Burial sound.  I can get 90% of the sound I need out of almost any amp/speaker combo with those two beasts.

If I’m playing on my home turf I have a ’73 Orange OR120 that is fucking incredible and a pile of other great pedals from Chase Bliss, Dwarfcraft and Strymon that are a joy to play with.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

We are very excited to be returning to Europe for a two week tour covering the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland starting on April 23rd!  We are fortunate enough to cap the tour off with playing Desertfest in London.  When we get back to the states we will be releasing a split 7″ with our friends Aseethe on Hand Of Death records.  We should have vinyl copies of that ready for the Doomed & Stoned festival in Chicago on June 1st, which is very exciting.  Following that we head back into the studio to record our second full-length.

What are your plans for 2018?

After we get back we plan on recording a new album, booking the next big tour, get onto more awesome festivals and release said new record with a label that really embraces our music.  Keep playing with kick-ass bands like Aseethe, The Gorge, Druids, Scientist, Primitive Man, and Inter Arma…

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

Any combination of order Aseethe and The Gorge would be our front runners right now.  Love all of those guys and they both absolutely slay in very different ways.

From previous Band of the Day We Came As Romans: What was the best or worst prank you ever pulled on a band or crew member?

Mid-song I kept grabbing Brandon’s cymbals and moved them out of reach. Need to do that again…

From another BotD, Dark Phantom: Why do you play rock/metal and not another kind of music?

I absolutely love playing all kinds of music but there’s something about standing in front of a huge amp and playing a distorted guitar that just raises the hair on the back of my neck.  Nothing has come close to that feeling.

And from Verity White: If you were a cheese what cheese would you be and why?

Aged gouda.  It’s old and falls apart but it’s delicious.

Snow Burial: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | bandcamp | youtube

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