Jon Snodgrass Interview

iTunes is stacked with musical legends who do nothing more than re-release the same album over and over again. Jon Snodgrass is not one of those musicians.

Whether it’s playing 90’s pop/punk in Armchair Martian or drown-your-sorrows cowboy rock in Drag the River, Snodgrass can never be accused of writing the same song twice. So it’s no surprise than that his solo work is just as diverse.

Snodgrass just weeks away from release his first solo record, Visitor’s Band, spoke with about the album, playing punk rock and sets the record straight about Drag the River.

What made you decide to finally do a solo record now?

I'm going out to do a bunch of solo shows here in the states and in Europe with my friend Joey Cape. I wanted to have some fresh music out. That's all really. I always hope to put something out once a year too. Drag The River has too many songs as it is. I just sent out music for three different new DTR 7 inches the same day I sent my record. One of them consists of songs we pulled from the last release that didn't fit... but the other two are things Chad and I tracked a couple months ago.

What can people expect it to sound like?

I didn't want to make a record that sounded like Drag the River or sounded like Armchair Martian....so it kinda sounds like both. Whoops. I am what I am it seems.

Did you find it easier or tougher to write and record on your own?

It's the same process.

What musicians did you record with?

I did a song in Rhode Island with Two Cow Garage, my friend Emerson Torry Jr. and his Dad, Emerson Torry. It's a song I taught to Two Cow the night before by playing it on the jukebox at Jake's bar in Providence. Emerson's dad was in a band called The Schemers with Mark Cutler. E.T. Jr. and I had always wanted to cover this song of theirs. Two Cow is good and we pulled it off live in the second take I think; Then eight songs in Kansas with Chad Rex, Matt Brahl and Jason Magierowki. Same deal, live with a lot of bleed; one song in San Jose with Eric Powers, Chad Rex and John Elliot. We used a big kick drum and recorded in a big house; A bunch more in New Brunswick, New Jersey with Chris Pierce. Joe from the ERGS! came and played some bass one night too. I like recording songs wherever I can. You put yourself in different situations and just see what happens. I never like the idea of booking time in a studio. You never know if you want to make a record 2 months or weeks down the road.

So is Drag the River officially over or just taking a break?

I NEVER said Drag the River was over...and it never will be. We will have played 50 shows this year. I think that's the way we should have been doing it for a long time. We missed Minneapolis, Richmond and a couple other places. We'll do those at some point. Chad is doing the California part of the tour with Joey (Cape) in February. We're playing this weekend with the band and going to Florida in January... So yeah, it's still a thing. I love playing with Chad. We were running it pretty hard for a long time though.

Do you plan on doing more solo records in the future?

I could. Like I said, this was just a collection of songs written at the same time. It's funny ‘cause up until three weeks ago I'd thought eight of them were lost. I wasn't too concerned...I hadn't heard them since we'd tracked them. I'm glad they turned up because they came out better than expected. We were just goofing around in Kansas with some new songs. We got decent sounds and Chris Fogal mixed them for us in Denver a couple weeks ago. Anyhow, I kinda thought I was gonna put out a 7 inch. 12 inches is better.

Do you ever miss playing the punk music you started out with?

I still play it.

You spend a lot of time on the road - any great bands you've discovered on tour that people should know about?

Sure. Most of them end up on the Suburban Home record label and I know The Enablers are working on a new record right now. That'll be good. I like Cory Branan a lot too.