Formed in May 2020, the four Polish rockers Snakedoctors has 18 singles and 3 records out and dropped their 4th record “Four and a Half” on the 27th of May 2022 via Case Studio and distributed by MyMusic. With “Four and a Half” is a double record with two moods, one more on the new wave spectrum while the other is grungy as they decided to go with full force unleashing their powers on the world.
We’ll have a chat with them today to know them better and dig deeper into their latest releases.
- First of all, I can’t stop myself from asking you what’s the story behind the band’s name Snakedoctors?
In the South (the US) dragonflies are called snake doctors. Wojciech used to live there and played in bands during his college years and he just picked the name. Besides we like those little things:)
- With your 4th album “Four and a Half” being a double album with two styles (grunge and new wave), how did its writing and production process go? And how did you make this decision?
We love grunge but on the other hand, we like new wave too. This time we decided to have two CDs out in the same time – one on more of new wave side and the other one on the harder side. Wojciech writes most of the songs and it just comes easy for him regardless the style. Production was done by the very experts in their fields – new wave and new romantic ones by Joe Gibb and Kevin Paul (known for their work with among many – the Cure, Yazoo, Depeche Mode and many more), the harder ones by Chris Bolster from Abbey Road Studios, Andy ‘Hippy’ Baldwin from Metropolis Studios in London, Matt Gerhard from the US (know for work with Spoon) and Dawid Gorgolewski from Osso Studio in Poland.
- Can you tell us more about “Too Many”? what’s the story behind it? And what influenced its writing?
Musically just what we like – some of that grunge. Lyric-wise – just the relationship-related stories. Just one of them you hear about around. Writing it for Wojciech was a regular process – he just came up with the tune and lyrics on a spot. The rest followed and we had a song. One of those favorite ones of ours.
- I believe Christine Corless was a perfect choice for “Too Many”, have you performed together before? How did this collaboration start and how did you manage it since you’re not in the same country or even continent?
Yes, it was. Wojciech just heard her in a different song and it was like instant love. Love with the style and that voice. We contacted her – she said yes. And since she’s located in the US we just sent her the tracks and we did a distant collab. We believe it turned out great. The song has done very good at charts with numerous numbers ones including FM radio charts and sales-related ones.
- Are there more guest appearances in “Four and a Half”?
Yes, both music-wise and in the videos. We have also Victory Vizhanska from Ukraine in “Wonder Girl” (and in an upcoming single version of “Heart Too Small”) and Ada Nike from Poland in “Wuss”. Plus a surprise one too. We have real great artists featured in our videos too – in “Too Many” it’s Helen Thomson and the video that was filmed near Zhytomyr in Ukraine, Kathy Peters in “Friday Night” which was filmed in Germany and another one done in Belgrade by the same crew as last year for “Girl With Sponges”.
- Who was involved in the production process of “Four and a Half”?
We actually mentioned all of those great people we had a chance to work with – in the answer to the second question. Let’s just add here that production was done in studios located in the UK, the US, Wales, Germany, and Poland.
- Having 4 records in your catalog, which one do you think describes Snakedoctors the most?
All of them. All together. In a way they differ from each other but in the same time define our style as a mix of grunge and new wave. According to reviews first two were good, the third was very good and the last one is the best one:)
- Which song off your catalog will you recommend for someone who wants to get into Snakedoctors music?
You would have to listen to three of them: “Close That Door”, “Too Many” and “Jeff Johnson Spoke”.
- What are your plans for 2022/2023?
More fun. More playing music. Continue with recording (we have enough new songs for probably two new albums to arrive:) And more live shows. And then – more fun playing music and spending time together.
Thanks for your time guys, looking forward to more from you, cheers!
