Old Snack

Well, the last show I saw of 2010 ended up being at Lochrann’s in Frisco. So it was only fitting that my first show of 2011 be there. Old Snack was the main reason for me being there, cause after seeing them a few weeks prior, they’d made a good impression.

Burntsienna Trio was the first act. And the frontman of this three piece band from Denton was Justin Collins, who is also the drummer for Old Snack. And besides singing in this band he also plays either a banjo or a guitar. And if that doesn’t constitute a musician through and through, then I don’t know what would. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this band, in regards to their genre of music, until I saw the banjo, making it fairly evident it was going to be Country. And it was a little bit, but it seemed to have a slight rock flare as well (That only comes across at the live shows, their CD does sound pretty Country). And Justin did embody the ideal Country singer, quite well I might add, as he often crooned out of the corner of his mouth. And aside from one of the songs that he couldn’t remember at first, “I’m trying to remember if I remember the words to this next song.” he told the handful of people watching them, their 45 minute set went off without a hitch. I thoroughly enjoyed it, much more than what I thought I would when they began. And you can bet I’ll be seeing them again sometime down the road.

There was a decent little 45 minute break from the time Burntsienna finished till Old Snack finally got ready to play. But that’s understandable, as I’m sure Justin needed some time to catch his breath so he could provide the beats for Old Snack.

At the Double-Wide a few weeks ago they did a shorter set, since they were opening. And I was hoping tonight they’d have more time, which they did. We’ll get to that momentarily. They took the stage at 10:45, and it seemed like in no time they’d blazed through their first three songs. They took a break at this point (I think it was the only they took period) as frontman/guitarist, Aaron White, let everyone know how it was going to go down. “So you can probably tell by now our songs are real quick and fast paced.” he said. “So, we have nine songs we’re going to do, and three are already down, so we’ve got six left.” Justin chimed in, “We’re already in the forth quarter!” he said and kinda laughed. “Yes, yes we are.” Aaron replied, as they got right back to the grindstone. The remaining songs seemed to go by very quickly as well, with only a few seconds allowed for applause in between each one. And after their next to last song, a continued drum beat melded it into their ninth and final number. By the time they were done they’d played 21 to 22 minutes, which was a little longer than the first time I saw them, cause they got to do one more song this set. Their songs are semi short, but sweet. And I think since they have such a fast pace it makes them seem to go by even quicker. I usually might have something negative to say about a band who’s set is, well, one way to put could be it’s over before it really even began. But every band has to find what works well for them. And for Old Snack, that is sticking right to the point and just rocking. And no matter what, it sounds killer. I had a little chat with bassist, Chris Garver, after their set, who talked to me about their upcoming album (which is all 9 songs they played this night). The record is done, though they are currently lacking funds to press it and subsequently, release it. So my suggestion, check these guys out and go see them if they play in your area of North Texas so they can get some money and hopefully get the record released in the very near future. - themusicenthusiast.tumblr.com

About 18 months ago we wrote a kind of snarky post about local punk outfit Old Snack, making jabs about their band's name and comparing them to garbage gimmick acts of the '80s that chose to name themselves, their album, and their only hit after the same thing. (See: The Weather Girls, Talk Talk, Big Country, B. Bumble and the Stingers). Of course Wilco (The Band) can't be totally overlooked for "Wilco (The Song)" released on Wilco (The Album), but in their defense they had amassed a career's worth of solid tunes beforehand.

And while these fears weren't completely unwarranted -- a third of the tracks on their finally released full-length Everything is Happening So Fast do contain the word 'snack' in their titles -- we'll be the first to admit that they are much more than schlocky one hit wonders. Really much more. The Harlem/Iggy/Clash blend of janglepop throughout the course of the album's 9 cuts is really about as solid as anything we've heard all year, and might just the favorite thing we've heard this side of Sealion's stellar debut EP.

Our initial impressions of the disc are that it is just as danceable too. Of course only after checking them out live will we know for sure, but we could definitely envision tossing back a few rounds of prairie fires and gettin' rowdy to this. - subservientexperiment.com/