Interviews: The Snake The Cross The Crown
We sat down with one of the most hotly talked about modern indie rock bands out there, The Snake The Cross The Crown to discuss their future, their past, and how their guitarist Kevin has half-size human digits.
Smother: Tell us a bit about the formation of the band to start thing of and introduce our readership to your genius.
TSTCTC: Franklin, William, Carl and Kevin played in another band in Huntsville AL until moving to Santa Barbara a couple years back. They adopted the name The Snake The Cross the Crown and I ( mark) moved out a year later.
Smother: So why did you guys come up with your moniker, “The Snake The Cross The Crown”? It sounds like some sort of religious type of reference. Also “Mander Salis” is an interesting name as well, what inspired that title? Is it true it’s some sort of birthmark?
TSTCTC: The birthmark is actually a snake cross and crown found on William our keyboardsman's back. I suppose its a bit like looking at clouds and seeing circus animals but we consider it to be a message from the gods.
Smother: With the release of “Mander Salis”, your band is poised to create a huge stir within the music world, the album is more cutting edge than Ginsu, how do you respond to such glowing reviews? I’m sure our “Editor’s Pick” and subsequent “Band on Smother” selection had you blushing, but what about less meaningful rags like Spin and Rolling Stone—have they caught on to your supreme overlord status yet?
TSTCTC: Ha well thanks, we haven't really had anything in those magazines, we're hoping that the music will speak for us instead. I feel our record is a bit of a sleeper and that if the music is felt by people similar to how we felt when we were writing the album then other people will hear about it from friends and on the internet.
Smother: Speaking of critics, what’s one of the comparisons that the band has been associated with that you found the most odd or disagreed with the most?
TSTCTC: Before this record we definitely got the emo jab, with Mander Salis it has been different because we worked hard on music and developed a bit as a band.
Smother: Thus far, what’s been your favorite show or tour that you guys have been involved with?
TSTCTC: Bottom Louge in Chicago with Murder By Death was one of the best times I have ever had playing music. Chicago is our home away from home so the entire nite was really great. And if you could play with anyone living or dead of any style genre, who would it be? The Miles Davis Quintet. Miles, Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones
Smother: What’s some advice to young rock-n-roll stars who want to make it big or at least get signed by a label?
TSTCTC: LISTEN AS HARD AS YOU CAN. Play with as many musicians as often as possible. If you focus on the music, the business aspects of being in a band will come together as your experience with the music business grows.
Smother: Your label, Equal Vision, recently has been putting out ridiculously great albums by the likes of Codeseven, yourselves, Fear Before the March of Flames, and many others. What’s in the water in Albany?
TSTCTC: EVR is definitely making some awesome decisions in terms of bands they are getting involved with. The Circa Survive record will probably knock some people on their ass if their demo is any indication on how good that album will be.
Smother: If you had to be in a fight with anyone who would you go toe-to-toe with?
TSTCTC: Kevin our guitarist because his toes and thumbs actually are half the size of average human digits.
Smother: Herbivore or meatatarian?
TSTCTC: I don't eat meat.
Smother: With that in mind, how do you feel about the movements such as the sXe movement that attract folks who not only dismiss those who do not follow their creed but in fact take it to the next level and completely admonish those that don’t follow their mindset?
TSTCTC: I personally think that stuff is just cliqueish. If those are views or values that are important to someone than obviously they will be attracted to people with the same ideals, though i do not understand the need to advertise your views to people who aren't asking, that type of thing seems more like a plea for acceptance.
Smother: Is that any different from religious zealots?
TSTCTC: There are certainly some similarities in the more extreme cases.
Smother: How do you guys go about accomplishing the stellar feat that is the multi-layers that permeate your music? Do you have to thank Angus Cooke for a lot of that or were you guys back there helping tweaking the knobs and pushing envelopes as well?
TSTCTC: William, our keyboardsman, is from the future. We had a great time with Angus he was very instrumental in the way the ablum sounds. He has an incredible knack for deciphering the tones and effects that we try to describe to him and is great at finding that missing magic element that song or musican needs to take things up a level.
Smother: Are you able to easily recreate these sounds live?
TSTCTC: It's getting easier as our equipment list gets bigger, we're able to do a lot with sampling and programming and are working on expanding that live and especially for the next record.
Smother: Do you miss Alabama or has Santa Barbara become more of a home now-a-days?
TSTCTC: It's nice to see friends and family at home but Santa Barbara has become really special to us and seems almost necessary to our sanity at times.
Smother: What's currently rocking your Playstation/Xbox/Gamecube?
TSTCTC: At home we have all three but for touring on the album we got rid of our tv and have been reading a ton more and listening to more music as a band and as individuals.
Smother: Any movie recommendations or music that you’d like to tell others about?
TSTCTC: Sealab dvds and The Arcade Fire.
Smother: We always ask this one question of all the people we interview to see who gives us the funniest or most interesting response--What would do/say if you met a guy named Carbomb?
TSTCTC: I would ask him if he really hates my freedom.
Links:
Official Site
Equal Vision Records