Pressure is out now!
Image: Act Four Photography.
Melbourne trio Snark recently unveiled their new single, Pressure. We caught up with the three-piece to chat about the release, working with Kisschasy’s Darren Cordeaux and so much more!
Tell us a bit about your musical background and Snark’s origin story…
One of our favourite parts of our band’s origin story is that we were friends before anything else. We’ve known each other for over ten years at this point and that chemistry that we have bleeds across into every facet of our band. What can be better than forming a band and taking on the world with your best mates? Stefan and Pat had mucked around in some high school bands but Matias had never picked up an instrument before when we first started hanging out and jamming. We all loved the same kind of music and it just felt really natural. From there we never really looked back.
Your new single Pressure navigates facing what life throws at you, and the weight that can be placed upon your shoulders. What prompted you to explore and document this theme on the track?
Pressure was a song that we had to write. In a time when I [Stefan] was feeling completely overwhelmed by work, bills, lockdowns and all the stresses of life with no way to clear my head and spend time with family or friends, writing this song was the outlet that kept me together. Channeling all that frustration and anxiety into something creative really helps lift you in those times and we really hope that anyone listening to this song finds it similarly cathartic.
What are some ways you take the pressure off?
We’ve always been very into partying but obviously recent events have limited the opportunities to get on the sesh. The silver lining to that is rediscovering some of the other things that we love to do to blow off some steam. Stefan and Matias like to skate and both play for the same soccer team, Pat plays volleyball. The three of us will jump online and play video games together. Those kinds of good times with friends are absolutely something that eases the pressure. They are things that we all maybe took for granted but have really come to appreciate now.
The release continues your continued collaboration with Kisschasy’s Darren Cordeaux. How has that collaborative relationship evolved throughout time?
Working with Darren is still something that has us pinching ourselves to be honest. Our process is that we take a demo to him once we feel like it’s pretty much finished and then we’ll adjust and rearrange it with him from there. The main thing that has developed over time is that we speak the same language when it comes to music, sometimes it’s hard to get ideas across but with Darren we tend to pick up what he’s putting down pretty quickly. One of the biggest changes to our working relationship is that we’ve learned so much from him that our starting point when we bring him a demo now is miles ahead of where it used to be - and that gives Darren and us a better platform to build on and really elevate that song.
What’s one line from Pressure you find at times could be stuck in your head? Or a line that you come back to?
"Distance makes all the difference."
When we were writing this song this was a lyric I got really fixated on. I kind of fell in love with the idea that it could mean different things depending on how you choose to interpret it. Depending on the context of what is happening for the listener that distance could be physical, for example being far away from your loved ones in lockdown, or it could be distance in terms of time, maybe looking back at something that happened a long time ago and feeling like a completely different person for better or for worse. I think that’s one of the reasons we keep coming back to that lyric in this song.
You released your debut EP Impostor late last year and are already following it up with new music. How have you approached writing and creating this time around, compared to the creation of the EP?
Our writing process has changed a fair bit by necessity. The EP was largely written with the three of us in the same room at the same time, bouncing off each other. Pressure was written during lockdown so we had to get used to a whole new way of working - sending each other voice memos, messaging back and forth and putting together a demo by really roughly tracking things on our laptops at our respective homes. It was a bit jarring at first but now that we’ve got it down it feels like a really useful tool moving forward!
What does each band member bring to the writing sessions?
It’s a hard thing to define as the process can vary for different songs but generally Stefan will come to the session with the bare bones and basic structure of a song on guitar and vocals. Matias writes the drums and that really shapes the dynamics of the song, while Pat writes the bass and grounds us - he helps keep Stefan and Matias from going off on musical tangents. The end result is always something much better than the idea we started with.
Australia has a diverse and vibrant music scene, who are some of your favourite Aussie acts and why?
There are so many! Obviously there are the giants of the scene, like Slowly Slowly, Violent Soho, Ceres and Luca Brasi etc. and we adore them all. One of the great things about the scene here in Melbourne is that some of our favorite bands are the bands we’re mates with and that’s really special - bands like Drastic Park, Loose End, Paperweight, Lazy Sidekick, Reside, Future Static and Disillusioned. It’s awesome to discover these bands, really love their music and then be able to jump on stage with them. It just hits different.
Will we be seeing you hit the road-post lockdown, do you have any live show plans?
We have a post-lockdown party planned to celebrate the release of Pressure. We’ll be playing at Stay Gold on Saturday the 14th of August with some of our best mates on the bill, so it should be a pretty special night! We’d absolutely love to tour off the back of this but obviously it’s hard to plan those kinds of things at the moment.
What can we expect from Snark for the rest of 2021?
We’d love to release some more music and play some more shows. We’ve been writing more than ever before so new music shouldn’t be too far away.
RAPID FIRE
Biggest influences?
All: FIDLAR, Violent Soho, PUP, Ceres
Dream collaboration?
Matias: Ben from Slowly Slowly
Album that has had the most impact on you?
Stefan: Blink-182 - self titled
How do you define your musical style in 3 words?
Stefan: Angsty but upbeat
Best song of 2021 so far?
Pat: Lorde - Solar Power
If you could create the soundtrack for any film, which one would it be?
Stefan: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus?
All: Miley is a punk rock queen
A song you would love to cover on tour?
Stefan: FIDLAR - West Coast
Pat: Modern Baseball - Your Graduation
Matias: Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
Album you would listen to on repeat on a road trip?
Stefan: The Story So Far - Proper Dose
Matias: Vulture Street - Powderfinger
Pat: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
First concert you went to?
Pat: A Queen cover band, I think they were called It’s A Kind Of Magic.
Matias: Muse at Rod Laver arena. Matt Bellamy opened the first song with a knee slide from one side of the stage to the other. It blew my mind.
Stefan: Kisschasy were the first band I ever saw live
Best concert you have been to?
Matias: Bring me The Horizon
Pat: Rise Against at Festival Hall
Stefan: Green Day, My Chemical Romance and Jimmy Eat World at Etihad - what a line up!
First album you ever bought?
Matias: Oasis - What’s The Story Morning Glory and Radiohead - OK Computer.
Stefan: Green Day - American Idiot
Pat: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
Would you rather be a Spice Girl or a Backstreet Boy?
All: Spice Girl
If you were a Spice Girl, what would your spice nickname be?
Stefan: Angsty Spice
Matias: Spicy Spice
Pat: Sleepy Spice
Most memorable show you’ve ever performed?
Stefan: I genuinely feel like each show we play is better and more memorable than the last. Although that might just be a red flag about my memory.
Guilty music pleasure?
Pat: Carly Rae Jepsen
Stefan: I absolutely back that. Zero guilt though!
If you could support any artist on tour, who would it be?
All: Slowly Slowly or FIDLAR
A song you would love to cover on tour?
Stefan: FIDLAR - West Coast
Pat: Modern Baseball - Your Graduation
Matias: Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
An artist you think has had the most influence on the music industry.
Matias: Queen
Pat: The Beatles
Stefan: Nirvana
What advice would your current self, give your future self, for a year from now?
Matias: Don't listen to me!
Stefan: Get out there, get amongst it and say yes to everything.
The moment you knew you wanted to be a musician?
Pat: After watching Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Stefan: The first time I saw a band live.