An Australian music group, Snog is
David Thrussell,
Julia Bourke,
Pieter Bourke, and
Tim McGrath.
The creation of Thrussell, Snog formed in 1988, in
spite of their wildly different music tastes;
David, experimental and electronic body music, Julia,
soft ambience and Tim, synth-pop/
new wave.
Somewhat an electronic oddity in Melbourne, Australia,
in 1990 they recorded some tracks and tried to find a
label. Guess what? Australian labels were not interested
with a band so far from the beaten path. In
1991 they went to Germany and within two weeks,
signed to Machinery Records.
In 1992, Snog recorded a dance hit, "Corporate
Slave", which combined elements of 90's
electrodance with 70's funk, AND a strong
anti-capitalist message. They followed it
up with their highly-regarded debut album, Lies,
Inc., and two more dance hits, "Shop"
and "Born to be Mild".
In 1994, Snog released their harsh techno single
"Cliche," as well as an Australian single,
"Hey Christian God", which contained a
large amount of material not intended for release under
Snog. Instead, it formed the nucleus of the first
release of Thrussell's solo project, Black Lung,
which he started in 1995.
In 1995, Snog released their second full length
recording, Dear Valued Customer, which
furthered the sounds explored with "Cliche"
(techno as well as industrial) and the politics in
Lies, Inc.. Snog's lyrics show a strong
disillusionment with western ideals of materialism
and mass ownership, and in this album, Thrussell's
anti-politics became even more antagonistic to western
culture, this time tackling issues of religious
domination and hypocrisy as well as socio-economic
ones.
1996: Snog switched labels to Metropolis Records
and released Future, all new material. In
1997, they released a compilation, Remote Control
, and then in 1998 it was Buy Me...I'll Change
Your Life. This last is a bizarre combination of
electro and a vague country style of spaghetti western
and suprisingly, it works. As well, in 1998, they
released two singles, "Human Germ" and
"Hooray".
In 1999 Snog returned to their classic electro sound
with Third Mall from the Sun, which was danceable
electronics, controversial lyrics, and a cover that
was banned in Australia due to the art work. In the
Thrussell's own words:
"The album was ...
a quasi-conceptual electro juggernaut careering
wildly on and off the rails, pushing the envelope and
dunking the witch." Ah, so.
In 2000, Snog released Relax into the Abyss,
which contains 4 new tracks, and 11 remixes of songs
from Third Mall by other artists. Thrussell
openly welcomes sampling and promotes it. About these
remakes,
"... the remixes are more beat
orientated and instrumental. It's good ... for the music
to get a chance to reveal itself and breathe a little
without my grumbly groany voice smothering everything."
How to describe their music?
Thrussell cites a crazy range of influences in his
musical styles, from cinema to classic rock and folk
to industrial music, and contradictory names
such as Foetus, Tom Waits, Ennio Morricone,
Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen, and
Nick Cave, appear on his list of musical influences,
among others. Perhaps Snog's
music could be called techno, but it wouldn't
be quite RIGHT. Its atmospheric qualities
nudge it away from absolute classification.
And the lyrics?
Despite their apparently radical inclinations, David
doesn't regard them as political, rather
as simple and rather obvious social observations. He
doesn't claim to have any secrets, and
sees his lyrics as a frank examination of humanity
struggling within itself. Indeed.
Discography:
Thanks to rollingstone.com,
metropolis-records.com, and http://www.cyberden.com/imcc/