Silver City, New Mexico-based underground rock group, TombSnakes, will release its debut EP, No Graves, on March 18 via Blank City Records.
Born during the Great Quarantine on 16 acres of harsh desert land and featuring members of True Widow, The Saint James Society, Form & Fate, and Vigilantics, TombSnakes packs a punch harder than ice picks and stilettos, with sounds borne of environments that exist beyond the pale of decent society - motels, roadside bars, sun-drenched small towns, places for outcasts. The No Graves EP is available for pre-order here.
The first single/video from TombSnakes' No Graves EP is the dangerously electric "Two Shakes", which features guest vocals from True Widow's Nicole Estill. The song was written spontaneously the night the group heard of the passing of Power Trip frontman Riley Gale as TombSnakes bassist Brandon Burkart describes below.
“I didn’t make the record with these guys, but I happened to be with them before, during and afterwards, and I witnessed both the discipline and balls-out approach they had toward the whole thing; open to wherever the music was taking them, period," says Faith No More's Billy Gould. "This might also be the first American band to do something like this fueled on rakija, but whatever the case, they did it, and they created a great document.”
Watch the video below.
"At the height of the pandemic, a small group of friends comprised of members from the Saint James Society, Vigilantics, Form & Fate and True Widow were shacked up together in Silver City, New Mexico, trying to make the best of lockdown," says TombSnakes bassist Brandon Burkart. "One day, we received a care package in the mail from Billy Gould of Faith No More. He has a company named YEBIGA that makes and imports a spirit called rakija, which is native to Eastern Europe. Later that day, while we're sitting around a table shooting dice and bullshitting, Nicole Estill from True Widow got a text that Riley Gale of Power Trip had passed away. He and Nicole were old Dallas friends. Each of us had actually been at the very last Power Trip show in Dallas before the shutdown. It was a fucking tragedy to get that news, even for those of us that didn't know him, personally. Naturally, we put on a Power Trip record and just drank and raged and headbanged and screamed. We got primitive out there. After crushing the better part of two bottles of Yebiga, [Power Trip's] 'If Not Us Then Who' came on where the lyric is 'If not now than when, if not us, then who?' In our drunken stomp, we took that literally, pulled out some instruments and wrote this track 'Two Shakes.' Sonically, we made no attempt to sound like any other band, but ethically we wanted to just get busy right then and there. I think that's translated in the urgency and immediacy of 'Two Shakes.' It felt like we had to write that song exactly when we did."
In addition to multi-instrumentalist Burkart, TombSnakes features poet/vocalist Raf Vigilantics, and guitarist Antonio Matta. The gang descended on a small recording studio in the Mimbres Valley and emerged having created one of the most honest, knuckle dragging, street punk records in some time. TombSnakes' debut EP, No Graves, is full of howling mantras and knife jab guitar riffs. The sound of TombSnakes is a rugged blend of punk, rock n roll, concrete, and psychedelic violence featuring bold notes of disdain and fear with a rowdy finish that is perfect for any real party. This is music for the sleepless; for those who feel something stirring in them, who long for fellowship and something real in the new America. Above being driving, vengeful, and dangerous, this record is just plain fuckin' fun. Pairs well with sex and street fights.
Tracklisting:
"Concrete"
"Two Shakes"
"Pulling Teeth"
"No Graves"
"Numbers"
"Two Shakes" video:
