Snakedrill

Snakedrill
EP by Wire
Released	1986
Length	Post-punk, experimental rock, industrial rock
Label	Mute
Producer	Daniel Miller, Gareth Jones
Wire chronology
Document and Eyewitness (1981) Snakedrill (1986) Ahead (1987)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B+[2]

Snakedrill is an EP by English rock band Wire. It was released in 1986. It was the first release after the band's five-year hiatus, and foreshadows their extensive use of electronic instrumentation on following albums, particularly on "A Serious of Snakes", which contains multiple layered synth and keyboard parts.

The most well-known track on the release is "Drill", which was the first song written by Wire post-hiatus. The song is an exercise in "monophonic, monorhythmic repetition"; the guitar part primarily consists of muted rhythmic scratching, while the drum beat is a semi-static four on the floor played almost entirely on hi-hat and kick drum. Live, the song was the band's springboard for improvisation, and would often mutate in beat and melody, occasionally stretching out to as long as 30 minutes. "Drill" is often cited as an influence on and early precursor to minimal techno and other minimalistic dance subgenres.

The entire EP is now included in the form of bonus tracks on The Ideal Copy.

Track listing

Personnel

• Daniel Miller – production
• Gareth Jones – production

References

External links

• Snakedrill at Discogs (list of releases)