Snake Valley’s debut EP is a masterclass in acidic garage rock. Obviously, we were pretty stoked when they chose to share their track by track breakdown with us.
We’ve been fans of Snake Valley for quite a while now. From their 2019 debut to now, the Melbourne garage-punk purveyors have been serving up tracks with the potential to ignite stadiums. Acidic and bloodthirsty in the most addictive way possible, it comes as no surprise that we’ve had their debut EP Giddy Up! on non-stop repeat for the last week.
Fresh off the release, the boys were kind enough to share a detailed break down of each of the EP’s nine tracks with us.
Bipolar Express
This song was one of the first songs we ever wrote as a band. It’s a song about having crazy mood swings and having that voice inside your head always messing with your thoughts and feelings. It was written while observing friends and the way they cope with their mental illnesses.
New Age Slavery
Everybody has had a job they absolutely hate. In 2018, a friend got me a job at a Winery. I thought it would be a pretty sick job, but it turned out to be a living hell having your boss hurl abuse at you while making jokes and expressing his racist/sexist/transphobic/homophobic views and making you do unsafe work. After a few pranks and a call to Worksafe lead me to an (almost) lawsuit claim, I decided that I’d put my anger into words and write this song instead.
Scumbag Syndrome
Scumbag Syndrome came about when I was home at my parents in Ballarat for the 2019 holiday season and every decent place to go out and drink in Ballarat was shut. My friends and I were forced to go to one of Ballarat’s crappiest restaurant/nightclubs. The song was written about observing the absolute brain-dead wankers (who, strangely, all wore ripped black jeans and collared shirts) trying to punch on with each other and me. It was pretty much like a showcase of toxic masculinity and who could be the alpha male of the place. Scumbags, I tell you!
Golden Years Life Insurance
Golden Years Life Insurance came from the song Golden Years, which was one of the first songs we wrote as a band. The original song sounded like an indie bop. We recorded it and voted against putting it on the album, with our guitarist Walter saying, “it sounds too much like a life insurance ad.” Then, the idea came (much to Walter’s disapproval) to turn it into an actual Life Insurance ad. So, we ended up getting our mates Maddie and Jacob involved and turning it into a piss-take interlude.
Punches
If you’ve read this far, you probably think I’m a hot-headed person. I promise I’m not it. I just find writing about the things in the world that I’m pissed off with is better than retaliating in real life: keeps me out of trouble. Punches was written, from my brother’s perspective, against people going out of their ways to try to make people suffer for no good reason. I was pretty infuriated with unnecessary situations he has unwillingly been dealing with recently, so that’s where the idea of this song came from.
The Addiction Clock
The Addiction Clock is about having an addiction. This doesn’t exactly mean substance addiction, but could also mean being addicted to a person or object. The song, I’d say, has elements written about depression and trying different ways to be happy but, at the same time, having good friends around you to keep you away from the person/things that make you depressed.
Doctor Doctor
No, this wasn’t written about the current COVID-19 situation, but it’s very relatable when listening in the current climate. The song was written last year when I came down with a sickness while travelling through India and just wanting to get better. I hate feeling crook.
7:40 am
The name 7:40 am came from the 7/4 time signature that you hear throughout the song. I was also inspired by Arthur Russell’s That’s Us/Wild Combination when writing this song. The feeling of getting up and leaving everything behind and hitting the road to nowhere with someone you feel you’re attached to.
Bush Pig
Bush Pig tells a tale of those disgusting blokes that feel like they are above anyone and that every girl in the room has to hook-up with them. It’s a behaviour that I truly hate when on a night out. When writing this, I based it on an individual from my hometown and his negative interactions with female friends of mine. We nicknamed him Bush Pig, the same individual is a massive country bloke that someday wants to be a cop.
Now you know the Snake Valley story, chuck Giddy Up! a listen here.
