“I’ve had it with these motherfucking SNAYX on this motherfucking plane!”
Formed in Brighton in late 2018, SNAYX have quickly built themselves a solid following, primarily due to their dynamite live show. They are officially a duo, comprising Charlie Herridge on vocals/guitar and Ollie Horner on bass, but they play as a trio, having a number of session drummers around the country who come out to play live with them.
Musically, the most obvious reference points for their sound would be Soft Play (TBFKA Slaves) and Kid Kapichi, whom they are currently supporting on a nine-date UK tour. While their music does have elements of the Mercury Award-nominated storytelling of the former and the cutting satire of the latter, though, there are a lot of other things going on here that gives this band their own unique appeal. More on that later.
Before SNAYX, though, we are treated to a set from fellow Brightonians Monakis that totally takes this author by surprise. This band’s early singles had shown promise, but with the exception of the fabulous ‘DripTease’, had felt a little generic. Tonight, though, we see a totally different side to them.
With recent single ‘Screw Loose’, and particularly with unreleased tracks ‘War’ and ‘Ride’, we witness a Monakis with a much harder, grungier sound, and it is absolutely fantastic. Singer James Porter has an incredible voice, a gravelly tone that sits somewhere between Staley and Cobain, and guitarist Aaron Butler and drummer Joe McTaggart more than have the chops to back it up.
The songs are great too. Don’t think of the horrendous post-grunge of Creed and the likes – we’re talking the early days of grunge, when it was raw and punky and proper exciting. Close your eyes and you can almost imagine you are in a sweaty Seattle club circa 1990, witnessing the start of something quite special.
Follow this path, Monakis, and it will take you far.
Then it’s time for SNAYX, and we see their legendary energy straight from the off, insane amounts of it. Right from the beginning of opener ‘Work’, Horner is bouncing around the stage, while Herridge has his head halfway into the crowd, goading each audience member into motion individually.
The message is clear. SNAYX are not a band you merely ‘watch’. This here is a fully interactive experience.
Fortunately, this band have a very solid understanding of what makes a human being want to get up and jiggle around. ‘Body Language’ could almost be a Kasabian song, given how catchy and danceable it is. The members of SNAYX have a keen interest in nineties dance music, and even though their music is very much punk rock, the dance influence really shows in how they construct their songs.
This band isn’t just about the energy, though. ‘Cigarettes’, especially, is clear evidence of their songwriting skills, a clever track lamenting a toxic relationship, while ‘False Friends’ features a truly gorgeous melody in the chorus. ‘Drill’, meanwhile, takes the tempo down but the volume up, relying more on savage metal riffs and Herridge’s hip-hop-style vocal leadership.
The crazy live experience, though, will be what takes them to the top. For set-closer, ‘Fayx’, Herridge encourages the crowd to foster a more inclusive moshpit, bouncing only, no pushing and shoving, and the results are brilliant (wish more bands would do this). Herridge himself takes to the pit, not for the first time tonight, and the end result is a fast, groovy, dance-punk party, a fabulous end to the set.
There is literally nothing on earth that is more fun than a SNAYX show. Samuel L. Jackson would want these on his motherfucking plane, no question.
Go see them now, before they get huge.
