Snuttock: Synth -pop, Industrial, Ambient
Interview conducted April 19, 2021
By Dan Locke
Who: Snuttock is the duo of Bryan Lee and Christopher Lee Simmonds.
What: Playing the alchemist, the band melds the darker edges of synthpop with industrial rhythms and the occasional ambient interlude to produce a diverse pathology of electronics. Sure to please those who hunger for all things electronic.
What is your upbringing?
Christopher: I grew up in Battle Creek Michigan, in a small neighborhood. A bit of a suburban dwelling in a country school district.
Bryan: Christian
How did you discover music?
Christopher: My parents always played music in the house and the cars. I was was attracted to KISS early in life, at around 7 years old (1977). That expanded to Ted Nugent and Van Halen and then quickly into heavier metal as it developed. I was into Metallica and Slayer by the time I was 13.
Bryan: I was lucky enough to grow up in a musical environment, my mother, a Peabody Institute grad, taught piano in our house and was the organist and choir director at our church. Between piano lessons, singing in choir, and constantly playing my father’s Herb Alpert records while he was at work, music was, in one form or another an everyday occurrence.
How did you start to write music?
Christopher: Started playing guitar when I was 13. Got a cassette 4 track, and started learn other guitar riffs by KISS and Ted Nugent, and recording myself playing them. From there I started making up my own riffs and grooves… By the Time I was 15 I was writing full Heavy Metal compositions.
How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?
Christopher: It was my 13th birthday gift from my parents. Yes, I still have it. It is a basic Yamaha acoustic…but It’s now over 40 years old and plays great.
What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make and model?
Christopher: I have and play many. I currently am loving my pedal steel and lap steel guitars, my ukulele and my cigar box guitar… But My favorites are my Custom built Warmoth guitars. I build them myself with the bodies and necks made by Warmoth.
What was your first performance at like?
Christopher: It was a High School talent show…It was pretty awful.
What makes a good songwriter?
Christopher: Good stories, good melodies, and a unique approach.
What is the process of writing your music?
Christopher: I assume you are asking about Snuttock specifically; It is mostly Bryan’s writing, and we collaborate on the growing and finishing of each song. Occasionally Bryan may have something completely finished and occasionally I may have something mostly finished. But lyrically it is 100% Bryan. I may have named a couple…
How did your band form?
Bryan: A purchase at Guitar Center. I walked in looking to buy a hard disk recorder, the sales guy told me to wait and he’d go get “this guy who knows everything about this stuff”, that was Chris. Not knowing much of anything about recording (still don’t), I talked him into stopping over and helping me get familiar with the (now prehistoric) Roland VS-2400 he had just sold me. We hit it off, and everything went from there. Wasn’t until later that I found out he’d toured the US in the opening band for Skinny Puppy’s Last Rights tour, played percussion on Filter’s platinum album Title of Record…
How did you get your bands get the name Snuttock?
Bryan: Nothing exciting, but I wanted a name that we’d have no trouble keeping. Our music attorney suggested we make up a name, so I combined two words I find amusing, Snafu and Futtock, and surprisingly, nobody had claimed that domain name yet!
Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer- songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?
Bryan: ASCAP
Tell me about your video Stay (Robot Mix)?
Bryan: We were fortunate to pull that shoot off, it was October 2020, and everything was at a standstill. As luck would have it, our video “Dream Team”: Director Ernie Mosteller and Actress/Model Alisa Baksheeva were both in Florida, and it all just fell into place.
Why do you have Ernie Mosteller (director for Frogger 2 and Candy Ring Pops) to direct most of your videos and Alisa Baksheeva as the focus in the video?
Bryan: Ernie / http://friedokra.tv has directed an extraordinarily wide range of projects over a long career – everything from high fashion, to kids’ commercials, to groundbreaking special FX, to documentary features and music videos. We hire him because we like his vision and what he brings to the project. The first video we were lucky enough to work with Alisa on was “Why”. Ernie and I were discussing the concept, he said we needed a Muse. Lucky for us Alisa was in town and answered Ernie’s casting call. That was the start of a fantastic working relationship, as she and Ernie work seamlessly together. Lastly, for me, having a professional glamour model be the video focus evokes a bit of an ’80’s music video feel, and I’m fine with that!
What is B-Side about?
Bryan: It is about an odd little world that comes alive when the needle touches the record and drifts back to sleep when the song ends. The Director, Laurie Smith / https://l76media.wordpress.com did a fantastic job on that video.
What are you’re feeling about streaming music?
Christopher: I love and hate streaming music. It’s easier to get your music out to the people. But it’s even harder to get anyone to listen to you.
Digital vs. vinyl?
Christopher: BOTH!
What have you been doing with your self-quarantine?
Christopher: I have not been quarantined!!! I reject this notion!! That being said, while this unnecessary global shutdown has been imposed on, we the people, I have been writing and recording a lot of music. A LOT OF MUSIC! I released 14 songs in 2020 under the band name Gods and Aliens. I also wrote and recorded roughly 30 more that are yet to be finished.
Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?
Christopher: Pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, mandola, ukulele, 3 string cigar box guitars, and the kalimba.
95% of people said that they have changed the way they watch television. This includes people who don’t have television and using their computers to do streaming of programs and movies. Which is your favorite streaming channel?
Christopher: I watch Infowars, and Cloud TV news channels. I occasionally enjoy some shows on Netflix…
How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merchandise to them at the show?
Christopher: Constantly record and release new music. Don’t stop putting out new music.
Is pay to play still a thing? Now pay to play also means things like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.
Christopher: Pay to Play has always been and always will be “a thing”. There is no organic path to success in the entertainment industry. If you are 100% organic, no one knows who you are outside of your bubble.
What about Holographic concerts in our living room?
Christopher: NO
In the past if a musician stop doing music, they find a new career. For example, David Lee Roth from Van Halen became a licensed EMT in NY for 6 years, San Spitz (guitarist for Anthrax) became a master watchmaker, Dee Snider (Twister Sister) voice over work for SpongeBob SquarePants. If you can’t do music, what would you like to be doing?
Christopher: I will never stop making music. Whether or not there’s any money, I will always write and record my music until I’m dead.
What is your happy place?
Christopher: The gym and my recording studio.
Spotify just deleted 750,00 songs, mostly from independent artists. Was your saved?
Christopher: All of our songs are still available. We did not lose anything!
Anything you would like to say in closing?
Bryan: Yes, “Thank You!” to UnRated Magazine for taking the time to put together this interview. Also, anyone that read through the entire interview, we’d love to send you a free (we’ll pay the shipping too!) T-Shirt, while supplies last. Send an email to: [email protected] with: “UnRated Free Shirt” in the subject line.
You must be logged in to post a comment.