REVEREND SHINE SNAKE OIL Co.

The true origins of REVEREND SHINE SNAKE OIL Co. are shrouded in hearsay and conjecture. It is however a story to be told and as the name suggests, it is anything but simple…

Moving from their native New York to Copenhagen, Claudius Pratt and song writing partner Justin Moses Gunn founded REVEREND SHINE SNAKE OIL Co. in 2007.They are joined by Martin Ollivierre on bass, Matthias Klein on drums

Primitive folk-tales connect seemingly disparate genres into a single curbstone philosophy “SOAP BOX MUSIC”. Converging African polyrhythm’s with punk-rock dissonance. Combining swing, rock-steady and rhythm & blues… Sarcastic and sentimental; Agitated and serene… R.S.S.O.Co. is a throwback to the Negro spirituals and the American folk tradition. They too are a salute to advertising and commercialism- raised together, like traveling horse and buggy teams, peddling miracle medications and their sundries to a stripped and intimate pulse.

Their EP “SOAP BOX” is their calling card and like the Sunday soapbox orators of Hyde Park London, who have assembled at Speaker’s Corner since 1872 to discuss religion, politics, and other topics so to this record express their concerns and is a flamboyant release of frustrations…

Their newest EP is an illustration of how in order to move forward, sometimes we must reach further back and how progress and the development of an idea can lead to a more primal outcome. The band has become distinctly more masculine in tone. Gone are the female backing vocals and the melancholic voice of the violin. This recording is now paired down to five men and their instruments. The songs, which have been chosen to record, were written as a series. All with the exception of Lay With Me, which was written earlier and served as the lyrical catalyst to this album.

The Album, was recorded and engineered by Boi Holm & HH Praestbro, Belligerent is a clear homage to the swing era and it’s predecessors. With out mimicry, it draws on that jubilant energy and widens the genre by suggesting elements of a darker nature.