Not dead yet
by More Betty
Still Above Snakes unites three generations of hardcore punk. By June of this year, they had their first live show, a completed recording under their belts and five of those songs head straight to an EP release, which is out in the streets and online by July.
There is more to their sound than just a rehash of the old. “The music is a culmination of anger, heaviness, speed, energy and groove,” explains vocalist Jason Kolins. He describes their influences as classic hardcore, such as Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All. But there are many elements including metal and punk. “Thrash metal in the riffing, some leads, separate guitar parts and a bass player that actually plays bass and isn’t just an extra rhythm guitarist,” he says.
Kolins formed this band in March 2012 and his former projects include Burden, Pressure and Abstain. Deon Malloy plays guitar. Stefan Nevatie is also on guitar and hails from Ninth Hour, Self Regime, Cum Soc, and Myopia. Bass player Dan Walters has played in Fratricide, Death Sentence and Head First. The missing piece was a drummer so, by April 2013, Ottawa native Derek Hill joined the group.
Still Above Snakes is a curious name initiated by a phrase found in an urban dictionary. “Above snakes,” explains Kolins: “means ‘still alive’ or ‘not dead yet.’ As all of us have had a lot of years pass since our last bands. It’s been nine years for myself since Burden’s last show and it’s been sixteen years for Dan.” There is a good spread of generations with this group. “Aside from our drummer, who is in his late twenties, we’re all in our thirties, except Dan who is in his forties,“ he says.
The bass player held a noteworthy role documenting Vancouver punk, with a printed fanzine called Terminally Stupid. In 1984, he started talking to local bands by phone. He obtained copies of MRR and Flipside by trade, which led to mail interviews. After Walters’ first punk show with the Exploited, Dayglos, Death Sentence and the Fitz, he would interview touring bands.
“What a great way to learn about this fairly new thing called hardcore,” explains Walters: “All the bands were easily accessible with no rock star bullshit. I’ll quickly say that thanks to Facebook and Kim Kinakin’s file service, a visual account of most of the more memorable punk/hardcore gigs of 1985 in Vancouver [which] will soon be shared with the world. It was a great year for the scene.” The same Kinakin of Vancouver’s post hardcore band Sparkmarker.
“We call this O.G.H.C., Old Guy Hardcore,” jokes Kolins, “but age is just a number!” Walters, the eldest member certainly has a close history with Vancouver HC.
“The only thing that never let me down was playing music and that was missing from my life for too long. I met Jason through his Vancouver old school punk, hardcore and metal group. When I heard he was jamming with some other scene vets, he invited me out. The closest thing to sanity was restored!” exclaims Walters.
Lookout for upcoming Vancouver, Okanagan, Vancouver Island and Alberta dates.
Still Above Snakes joins Vancouver’s SFNU and The Living Deadbeats at Funkys, July 12th
