The Snake Corps


The Snake Corps were an indie music group based in London, England during the 1980s and 1990s.

Formed in 1984, from the ashes of the (then) broken-up Sad Lovers & Giants, Tristan Garel-Funk and Nigel Pollard conceived the band, but Pollard left prior to recording the first album. Vocalist Marc Lewis responded to an advert in Melody Maker and shared a flat with Garel-Funk, the pair becoming the band's two ever-present members.

The music was too relaxed and understated to appeal to a mass-market. Not unlike Sad Lovers & Giants before them, they focused on creating dreamy, filmic soundscapes and at least partly, discarded the post-punk influences that shackled many of their contemporaries. Consequently, the band found that the European market was more aligned to their musical style and they toured abroad extensively, receiving good support wherever they went.

Distancing themselves from Britain and shunning even a regular UK tour meant that the regular indie labels were largely uninterested. However, Midnight Music, who had been the home of early SL&G, signed the band and were able to give them the artistic freedom they craved. Unfortunately, this laissez-faire approach extended to most of the company's dealings and ultimately hastened their demise. In the wake of a messy collapse, the band found that they were not only label-less, but their publishing rights had transferred to another company without any involvement or agreement from the band members. Not surprisingly, they decided to call it a day.

A new album was already recorded, but this did not surface for some years, eventually appearing on the small Ophidian label, an offshoot of Rotator Records, thanks to a friend of Garel-Funk. The word Ophidian can mean 'snake-like'.

Marc Lewis has released a solo album of Snake Corps and other songs which is available from his website. The Snake Corps reformed in 2010. Carl Jones joined on guitar, Liam McGuinness rejoined on Bass with a new drummer Richie Harris. The Snake Corps made a triumphant return to live performance with a gig in Barcelona, Spain on 18 September 2010.

The reformed Snake Corps with Marc on lead vocals were busy in 2011, playing gigs in London and Berlin with Steve Williams on lead guitar. They also played several sell out gigs in Spain in the autumn of 2011 and now featured Simon Meek on keyboards, with Liam McGuinness moving to guitar, and original bass player Jim Blanchard also rejoining the band, with Dave Vigay on drums.

The band played London’s 02 Academy in Islington on 21 April 2012 supporting Chameleons Vox and had their best gig since reforming 2 years before.

The Snake Corps performed live at the Play club in Valencia Spain on Friday October 17, 2014, and again drew a fantastic crowd reaction - especially to their anthem "This is Seagull".

The Snake Corps played another sold out gig at Sala Zero, Tarragona, Spain on Saturday 7th November 2015, featuring 3 original members - Marc Lewis, Jim Blanchard and Liam McGuinness, plus Carl Jones and David Vigay.

Personnel

Current Live Lineup

Discography

Albums

Singles

External links

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