My new group Blue Snaggletooth will be performing our first Detroit show for the 2010 Metro Times Blowout on Friday March 5th at Small's.
The band came together in July of 2009. I've had the idea for the band for a long time, but I never could find the time to start it, or a good group of people to put it together with. My goal was to start a stoner rock band in the vein of acid rockers like Hawkwind mixed with the pummeling doom riffs of Black Sabbath and other early hard rock/metal groups like Blue Cheer and Pentagram.
In 2008 my friend Jess moved into the spare room in our house. We got along pretty well before that, but we quickly discovered we had a lot of the same tastes in hard rock and psychedelic music. We ended up playing a lot of guitar together and jamming on some sweet riffs. I told him my idea for the band and he was into it. My wife had the idea to start a stoner rock band called Blue Unicorn. I love that name but didn't want to steal it from her. One night while Jess and I were partying in the basement discussing the project, the right name hit us. Blue Snaggletooth. It comes from the name of the most rare Star Wars action figure.
We thought it was a great name. Unfortunately nothing much happened for another year or so. Jess moved out, but we kept talking about starting the band. Around the time Jess moved, I was playing a lot of shows with my other band Mazinga. We were doing a bunch of shows in Detroit and one of them was opening for the Meatmen and Chapstik at Small's. I ended up talking with Ian, the drummer from Meatmen, about us jamming together. He had always been a Mazinga fan and was into my guitar playing. I told him my ideas for the stoner band project and he wanted to give it a shot. Again things didn't get going right away. It wasn't until 3 or 4 months later in the spring that we finally got together at the Bang workshop/rehearsal space. At first it was just Ian and I. I went over a few of the riffs I had with him and he got it right away. Over the next few weeks Ian and I jammed a couple more times and things were sounding cool. I told Jess about Ian and I got the three of us together. We talked about who we were going to bring in on bass. I told the dudes I had someone in mind. Enter Damon. He has been a pal of mine since high school. Our bands had played some shows on the same bills, but we never played in a band together. He always joked that he was the only person in town that I hadn't been in a band with. I told him about the group I was putting together and he wanted a chance to try out. He came and jammed with Ian and I first and it went really well. Then the following weekend all four of us got together. It all seemed to flow and we worked really well together. Within a few more practices, I had convinced everyone to agree on the band name. Since then we've worked up a handful of originals and some cool covers. We brought in our pal Richard to run our psychedelic light show. Damon had VG kids print up some t-shirts and stickers. We had our first show on Sept. 25 at the Elbow Room with Black Irish and the Crooks.
Jeremy Wheeler did a spectacular poster for us. For our third show Jeremy really out did himself when he crafted an actual black light poster for us.
We decided since we were projecting a light show on the band why not wear all white and have ourselves blend in with the show. Eventually we ordered matching white jumpsuits for each member.
It creates a very cool effect by allowing the psychedelic projections to actually show up on us, plus we get to wear cool band uniforms.
So far playing with the group has been a blast. A little buzz has been building about our live set. We've recorded some demos in Damon's basement that you can hear on our facebook page.
What is the next step?
I look forward to rocking Detroit during the Blowout.What is the next step?
We'll see where it goes after that.
