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No Fold Blog
 10/20/2007
Tonight's Pick

 Rubber Gloves(411 E. Sycamore, Denton)
deep Snapper
The Demigs
It's Unamerican To Be Sad
(doors at 9pm, $5 over 21, $7 under)  


Denton's answer to the Minutemen, deep Snapper have all of the power of a rock army stuffed neatly into a three man package. Their debut album, A Drowning Man Can Pull You Under (2007) would stand up to even any national album released this year, then it would push it down, kick sand in its eyes and write ten songs about the experience. Expect to hear a good chunk of that record tonight, mixed in with songs from their upcoming sophomore effort. (well, actually these are the 2nd and 3rd albums, but I'm not counting a CDR they released in 2006).

The Demigs, well, imagine the Foo Fighters with twice the brains and ten times the heart. And that's saying a lot coming from a recovering grunge fan.

It's Unamerican To Be Sad are on the more ambient end of rock. I'd compare them to Radiohead, but then I'd have to get in to which era of Radiohead I mean. My god man, I just don't have the time. It's good. Let's just leave it at that.  

It's lazy music journalism to compare a local band to a national one, but it's Saturday, what did you expect?  
- Cody Robinson

04/03/2007
It List: Tuesday 4/3/07

Peter And The Wolf deep Snapper Artless Fiction Cory Derden (Club Dada):
deep Snapper is a very tight, concise rock group with influences ranging from the articulate shout of Mike Watt to the cutting, distorted rudeness of Shooting At Unarmed Men. Very good.
 posted by Defensive Listening at 3:30 PM

 

02/09/2007
The Weekender: 2/9/07-2/11/07

Bob White and his F-Electrics Ghost of Ria... deep Snapper (Rubber Gloves):):):
deep Snapper has members of Birth to Burial and is definitely one of the better local no-bullshit rock groups. They utilize a lot of up-tempo chug rhythms, cutting guitars and group shouting all delivered in a very sophisticated style completely devoid of any anthemic cheesiness.
 posted by stonedranger at 3:37 PM

09/02/2006
It List: Saturday 9/2/06

deep Snapper/The Mad Scientists/The Distant Seconds
deep Snapper includes former and current members of Birth to Burial but you wouldn't necessarily know that from their myspace page. Most of the tracks seem to be intense guitar driven rock but there is an off kilter feeling to the songs with treated vocals and manipulated instruments. I believe this is the band's first show and I think it will be a good one.
 posted by Defensive Listening at 4:54 PM


 

 

 

deep Snapper
Into the Ugly (Edna Peppers)
By Jesse Hughey

Published on September 11, 2008

"We make music because of d. boon, mike watt, george hurley, and ed crawford," read the credits on Deep Snapper's latest CD, as if The Minutemen (and fIREHOSE) influence wasn't obvious enough from the music. Like their heroes, the skilled musicians of Deep Snapper are adept at creating complex but unforgettably melodic bass and guitar parts. And just as The Minutemen combined anger with a sly sense of humor, Deep Snapper will rail against strip malls and lack of "urban spaces where the kids can play," but aren't completely stoic about it.

As blatant as the similarities may be, though, Deep Snapper is far from being a mere rip-off act. Into the Ugly shows little evidence of the funk and R&B influences that set the 'men apart from their hardcore contemporaries. Johnathan Newberry's guitar work is especially interesting when he experiments with unusual tones and effects, like the clock-chime sounds that introduce "Turn Signals," or the chaotic solo on "Daniel Johnston," more of a chaotic feedback freak-out than skillfully crafted lead. Besides, a couple of their songs stretch past the five-minute mark—or, about five times the length of a typical Minutemen tune.

 

  

A "Smash" Hit From deep Snapper; Bar of Soap Now Officially Closed

Sep 12, 4:20pm DC9 At Night
A "Smash" Hit From Deep Snapper; Bar of Soap Now Officially Closed I was all ready to hype deep Snapper 's next gig, September 24 at the Bar of Soap , but, umm, looks like it ain't happening after all . Mark Carter of Madison Partners, longtime landlord for BoS owners Charlie and Tanna Gilder, told Robert Wilonsky that he changed the locks Tuesday after he found the joint cleaned out. Sad news indeed, but no surprise, given the warning signs.

 
So your next chance to see Deep Snapper will be in October. Keep an eye on the band's Web site or MySpace page for upcoming shows.

In this week's print product you'll find a review of the Minutemen-loving trio's latest effort, Into The Ugly. It's a great album and I recommend you pick up a copy. If you need more convincing, though, download "Plato Smash" and give it a listen.--Jesse Hughey

Bonus mp3: Deep Snapper -- "Plato Smash"

 

 

       

Hard Rock Life
How I learned to love an new old genre
by Jonanna Wider
Published: July 5, 2007

... that said, it's fortuitous, then, that three CDs recently landed on my desk amidst the Fair to Midland press releases: deep Snapper, Non Radio Friendly and the Lash Outs, as all three represent excellent local examples of hard rock. Here's a brief introduction to all three:

deep Snapper
A Drowning Man Can Pull You Under
Self-produced

This crew of Dentonites might be the best of the bunch, somehow ripping original sounds from overdriven guitars and growling vocals. Jagged gee-tars move through the songs at angles like that tank in Tron; the vocals simultaneously eschew normal melodies and draw you in, which is a rare thing. The rhythm section, meantime, plays hard and true, holding down the fort. At first listen there's an almost drunken, Hickoids thing going on. On second listen, you realize this is intentional. On third listen, you realize the illusion is brilliant. (See www.deepsnapper.net.)

 

 

        

Secret Headquarters One-Year Anniversary Party
Saturday, June 2, at Secret Headquarters
By Jonanna Widner 
 Published: May 31, 2007

Freaks and geeks know the epicenter of their Little D kingdom is located on Hickory Street: For a year now, Secret Headquarters has housed the weird, the loud and the good when it comes to musical excursions and experiments. And, in the process, proprietors/local rock gods Scott Porter (Record Hop), Cody Robinson (Medicine Window) and Rob Black (Birth to Burial) have lost their freakin' asses. To celebrate the milestone of 365 days of a monetary butt whuppin', SHQ is throwing a "One Year of Losing Our Asses" party. But this will be no pity party, mind you, not with musical fabulousness courtesy of the Drams' Brent Best, deep Snapper, Dana Falconberry and many, many mas.

The Demigs, deep Snapper, Raised by Tigers
Saturday, December 15, at Andy's Basement Bar and Grill in Denton
By Jesse Hughey  
Published: December 13, 2007

...power trio deep Snapper, who have an excellent live reputation, take a harsher, simpler punk-influenced approach.

Theme Park Experience
Monday October 30, 2006

History Lesson Pt II.
 ...deep Snapper got the show going right with their Minutemen set. Complete with a bass player that dressed like Mike Watt and played as furiously as Watt, this trio was spot-on. Highlights included "Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs" and "This Ain't No Picnic."
posted by Eric Grubbs @ 9:02 AM

 

The Sub-Rosa
Dedicated to Dallas/Ft. Worth/Denton's "other" category.
 Taken from A Moment With The Grassfight
1/30/2008

SR: Who are some of your favorite locals?

NF: ... Deep Snapper is fantastic. Cody from the No Fold blog. Pat Ferguson from Deep Snapper - a true class act. 
 posted by Alison at 11:43am

The 2007 local album round up
1/29/2008

Deep Snapper, A Drowning Man Can Pull You Under: This is a release that got away from us, and we really have no excuse as to why we didn't review this record earlier. I mean, if some of us can literally throw some CD reviews out the window, , , then certainly we can find the time to review albums that we can make it through, and even possibly enjoy. Considering how few and far between that occurs, there's even more reason to mention this record.

Deep Snapper has made a very clear headed and direct statement, where fairly dark themes are tackled with equal amounts of humor and lament. The separation and clarity is all the more compounded by another hands-off styled recording courtesy of Matt Barnhart and The Echo Lab, and it serves this music particularly well.

The group's sound is best summarized by the resemblance it bears to the progressive punk of the late 80's, where the rage was toned down a bit, mid-tempo rhythms started to appear more frequently on SST recordings, and the Washington DC scene added a studious and thoughtful maturity to variations on the "Fuck You" theme.

What's immediately grabbing on "A Drowning Man Can Pull You Under" is the solid playing, and more specifically the manner in which the guitar playing contains more hooks and melody than the actual singing. Guitarist John Newberry's approach to the instrument doesn't divert to the obvious break for a solo as much as he spends his time palming, scratching, and strumming in the high register and the end

 result is more striking and uniquely effective.

If Deep Snapper played more to its strengths, it would do a lot towards opening up some of the density that starts piling up around the album's midpoint. Some songs switch from crunchy barres to open chord chime, which changes the feel, but not always enough to differentiate emotion from emotion as the album progresses. On the other hand, a song like "Autopilot" has more space, tension, and release, resulting in a broken-dam finale that is also the group's most successful moment.

This is a band that has everything lined up to continue being a good, straight-forward rock band. They could easily transcend that and many similar peers by adding some more extremes, whether they be faster, harder, softer, or slower. It's determined dynamics like these that made records such as Pink Flag such a classic, the important characteristics that distinguish each song from the next and a conscious effort to push a different button every time they attack.

There is much to return to here, whether it be the thinly veiled gallows humor often alluding to death and injury (sample song title: "Politics of a Misdiagnosed Head Bleed"), or the audible debt to D.Boon on the vocals, never a bad singer to look up to if you feel like being honest without being cheesy.

I would say that I'd like to hear what Deep Snapper does next, but apparently the wait is already over. According to the band's website, there is already a new release being prepared, less than a year after this record, and their third album overall. Between that and the shit that Violent Squid pulls, we'll be posting this winter's releases sometime in 2010. (3.5) (DL)

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