Snarski vs Snarski
Different Noises 60
If you’ve not aware of the music of the Snarski Brothers hitherto then you are in for a treat. If you have, then some fond memories should come rushing back. Mark and Rob were born in London, to Polish refugee parents, and grew up on a 36 hectare farm on the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia. Their musical career began in 1983 with the band Chad’s Tree after which they took separate career paths - Mark with The Jackson Code and The Nearly Brothers as well as two solo albums ; Rob has toured the globe with The Blackeyed Susans and as a guest vocalist with The Triffids and The Go-Betweens, as well as an impressive set of solo albums, and a new band with Lindy Morrison. October 2024 sees the release of Waiting For The Bell, a new album recorded by the two brothers . It’s the first recording they’ve worked together since their days in Chad’s Tree. Once that is out I will be sharing it with you - in anticipation of that release and to get you warmed up I have selected some highlights from the brothers careers. In addition there is the usual featured albums plus a selection of new releases towards the end of the show.
AUDIO
PLAYLIST
Chad's Tree "Crossing Off The Miles" from Crossing Of The Miles
The Jackson Code "Sophies Torch Song" from Strange Cargo
The Blackeyed Susans "A Curse On You" from Some Night Somewhere
The Nearly Brothers "Am I Diggin My Hole" from You Can't Hide From Your Yesterdays
Danny Short "Foolish April" from It’s Got My Name On It So Give It Back
The Jackson Code "Blood And Bones" from Draggin' The River
The Blackeyed Susans "Mary Mac" from Mouth to Mouth
Mark Snarski "I Know A Girl Who Builds Sculptures" from I Have To Burn Everything Before I Start Cooking
Rob Snarski "A Town Called Torago" from Song Gifts
The Go-Betweens "Apology Accepted" from Fountains Of Youth - Live 10 May 1987
SnarskiCircusLindyBand "Watching Re-Runs On My TV" from I Know I Know
The Jackson Code "Do You Feel The Pull?" from The Things You Needs
The Blackeyed Susans "American Sailors / Too Hot To Move, Too Hot To Think" from Dedicated To The Ones We Love
Rob Snarski & Dan Luscombe "Frank and Ava" from There Is Nothing Here That Belogs To You
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes "I Remember You (You're The One I Love" from NIght of the Wolverine
The Jackson Code "Hotel Stationery" from Del Musical Del Mismo Nombre
Rob Snarski "Robert Mitchum At Mitcham Station" from Sparrow And Swan
The Blackeyed Susans "Dream On" from Close Your Eyes And See
Rob Snarski & His So-Called Friends "Give The Man A Coin [featuring Gareth Liddiard] from Searching For The Heart Of It All
Gareth Liddiard "Strange Tourist" from Strange Tourist
Steve Wynn "You're Halfway There" from Make It Right
The Blackeyed Susans "Shangri-La" from Shangri-La
Cannonball Statman "Carlos Is On Fire" from Cannonball Statman
Chimers "Glossary" from Glossary
Chimers "3AM" from 3AM
Rockers Galore "Troddin Outta Babylon Dub - DJ Architekt" from Vamos a la Playa
Teis Semey "Atlanta Airport Special" from En Masse!
India Galley "Butterfly Shakes The Earth - III : Joining" from Butterfly Shakes The Earth
PIG "Comedown" from Feast of Agony
The Meringues "Phantom" from Pavlova's Dog
SHOW NOTES
Chad's Tree - In March 2010 Memorandum Records released a compilation album, Crossing Off the Miles, which included both studio albums, all the band's single and B-sides, together with eleven early demos and live recordings.
The Jackson Code - were formed in 1988 in Perth as a country, folk four-piece by Kenny Davis Jr on accordion and keyboards; Jason Kain on guitar (ex-Wet Taxis, Chad's Tree), Mark Snarski on guitar and vocals (Chad's Tree) and Kathy Wemyss on vocals and trumpet (ex-Wet Taxis, Chad's Tree) while Chad's Tree were about to disband. From September 1988 Snarski started writing non-Chad Tree material, which included tracks working with Kain and Wemyss. The group released four studio albums Del Musical Del Mismo Nombre (1989), Strange Cargo (1992), Draggin' the River (1993) and The Things You Need (1995) before disbanding in 1996.
The Blackeyed Susans - formed in Perth in 1989. Long serving members are Phil Kakulas on bass guitar, guitar and vocals; and Rob Snarski on vocals and guitar. They have released seven studio albums, Welcome Stranger (August 1992), All Souls Alive (December 1993), Mouth to Mouth (July 1995), Spin the Bottle (July 1997), Dedicated to the Ones We Love (23 April 2001), Shangri-La (21 July 2003) and Close Your Eyes and See (3 March 2017).
The Nearly Brothers - a super-group of sorts with one release in 2010 featuring Bass – Martyn Casey on Bass, Mark Dawson (as Bongo Fury) on Drums, T.B. Allen on Guitar, Mick Harvey on Keyboards, and Mark Snarski on Vocals and Guitar.
Danny Short - another track from Danny’s new album
Mark Snarski - his first of two solo albums from 2019.
Rob Snarski - from 2002 onwards Rob has released ten albums both solo and with “friends” including his most recent project with Lindy Morrison of The Go-Betweens called SnarskiCircusLindyBand. I’ve featured tracks from most of them. Described as the velvet-voiced troubadour Rob is the rock ‘n’ roll equivalent of the legendary Mel Tormé. Given the Lindy association I’ve also included a Go-Betweens song.
Dave Graney 'n' the Coral Snakes - another track from Dave and Co from the seminal Night of the Wolverine album. The new album is due soon and here is a taster.
The Rob Snarski & His So-Called Friends album featured Gareth Liddiard, and that track is included so I have also added a track from The Drones/TFS front man’s solo album
Steve Wynn - another track from Steve’s recent album which I am featuring in its entirity
Cannonball Statman - the ever prolific Jesse Statman has a new album out which revisits some old material. A recently updated Bio says: Cannonball Statman is known for his soulful, playfully melancholic lyrics, and his unique guitar style Bob’s Aural Delights (that’s me about ten years ago) describes as “the edge of madness”. As noted in amNewYork‘s 2023 feature on him: “Growing up to become a staple in the music industry, producing over a hundred songs and releasing over a dozen albums, Statman has made a name for himself in the music scene, sharing stages with Jeffrey Lewis, Days N’ Daze, and Sunflower Bean.” He began making music in 2001, part of a wave of artists who, as he puts it, “saw art as a way to facilitate healing from the spiritual sickness of growing up in a racist police state”. His signature approach to recording was inspired by his experiences directing underground films as a teen; his albums are "movies without pictures", each with its own story and aesthetic. In 2024, DJ Stephen Doyle listed him as one of the Top 15 New York Artists of all time.
Chimers - Wollongong band Chimers, comprising the couple that is Padraic (pronounced Poric - it's Irish) and Binx (they are life partners as well as bandmates), have built a strong following around Australia n the back of constant touring and a great response to their first album and the couple of singles that followed it. With their second album 'Through Today' due November 8 and the first two singles from it out now, they've just announced a run of album launches to go along with upcoming shows with the likes of Party Dozen (whose Kirsty Tickle guests on the new album) and The Saints '73-'78. The band's arresting post hardcore sound has won them some influential fans including Henry Rollins, Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto and Matador Records co-founder Gerard Cosloy, who has signed them to his 12XU label for North America. They have played shows with the likes of Mudhoney, Built To Spill, R.V.G, The Mark Of Cain, Scientists, Body Type, Victims, Screamfeeder, Civic and Cable Ties
Rockers Galore - Formed in 2008, Rockers Galore revolves around singer / multi-instrumentalist Blayer Point du Jour and guitarist Adam Benites. With an infectious fusion of old-school funk and brand-new spunk, they cleverly blend roots, hip hop, reggae, rock, Haitian kompa music and Latin rhythms.
Teis Semey - Avant-garde innovator Teis Semey returned with En Masse!, presented through Loumi Records on 26 September 2024. Prone to misunderstanding, perhaps, but much loved among those in the know, the guitarist’s “arguably very niche modern free jazz” continues to build its reputation across Europe - promoting its message of loving unity to an ever-growing audience. Once referred to as one of the “angry young men of jazz,” but celebrated for his “angry staccato,” emotion and opinion are at the heart of Semey’s method both on stage and off. “My music is filled with love, power, compassion and joie de vivre,” Semey smiles. “But you'd be made of cold steel if compassion didn't also make you a bit angry sometimes. Empty apartments and homeless people. Stocked supermarkets and starving families. I think a bit of anger is justified. Let’s be angry together.
India Galley - American-Canadian cellist India Gailey's recorded output thus far has tended to put the work of other composers in the spotlight. Within recent years, the young Halifax resident has established themselves as one of North America's fiercest and most adventurous champions of contemporary music, however, along the way they have also offered glimpses into their own compositional prowess. Although the widely acclaimed to you through (2022, Redshift Records) featured a single, brief work of theirs amongst five others, and their debut, Lucid also included three originals, many listeners had yet to experience this aspect of Gailey's vision in full vivid detail. With the new mini-album Butterfly Lightning Shakes The Earth, we are finally treated to exactly that, coupled, of course, with Gailey's robust and insightful cello playing.
PIG - This EP arrives on the trail of the remastered reissue of PIG's landmark 1995 ‘Sinsation’ album (originally released via Trent Reznor's Nothing Records) and his latest studio album ‘Red Room’, released earlier this year - both albums released via Metropolis. Raymond Watts aka PIG has enjoyed a stellar career since starting out as a pioneering member of the mid-1980s industrial rock scene. As well as releasing fourteen albums as PIG, he has toured with KMFDM (he was a member of the band in their early days), Nine Inch Nails and Einstürzende Neubauten, written music for fashion and film (for Chloe, Marios Schwab, Halston and The Row), created exhibition sound design for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and collaborated with the late fashion icon Alexander McQueen. 'Feast of Agony' is the sound of PIG crushing the grinding wheel of grief with the seed of hope and relief. Watts’ anger burns and binds as he cooks up more kick-ass music, begging you to march to the drumbeat of hope with these encounters with the Lord of Lard, in which he brings word to wordless and truth to the truthless.
The Meringues - At the heart of The Meringues are Amanda Pants and Ted Evans, whose dynamic vocal interplay and onstage antics blur the line between playful banter and intense rivalry. Their unique chemistry is supported by the solid rhythm section of Jackson Baird on bass and Alastair Morrison on drums, creating a thrilling atmosphere that threatens to spiral out of control while maintaining a clear artistic vision. The driving backbeat and power pop melodies take the listener on a journey through genres such as Punk, Post-Punk, Alt-Rock, and New-Wave, creating a dynamic and eclectic sound that is both nostalgic and refreshingly modern.
