BAND BIO
JIM (THE KAT) KATSIKIDES - DOUG LAVERY - ZAK DANIELS - ORION LINDEMANN
combined with high energy kick ass rock... it was the lure of
sleazy motel rooms, fast groupies and a free continental
breakfast that inspired us to become and continue
being musicians (Okay, we like the music too)."
What's in a name?
The burgeoning
Los Angeles club scene has witnessed the birth of dozens of quality
rock bands
from the Doors to Guns 'N' Roses, but none quite so humorously
defiant as ZAK DANIELS & THE ONE EYED
SNAKES. Take the band's
name for instance. "When you play music for a living, sometimes
you take almost any job that comes along," says Zak, the
tall, trim lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist who fronts the four
piece outfit. "A few years ago we were literally existing
from gig to gig, when an odd looking gentleman approached us
after a show and asked if we'd like to score and play on the
soundtrack for a film he was producing. Imagine our surprise
when a few days later, we arrived at a Hollywood Hills mansion
that featured a home studio and was also the location for the
film, a Triple X rated one
at that."
"After completing
the soundtrack later that week, we were asked to select a fictitious
name for the credits. As a lark, we selected "The
ONE EYED SNAKES."
Now, we didn't make
this choice to offend women or anything like that, we were just
having fun with the new, ugh, genre in which we were working.
And guess what, the producers rejected the name because they
thought it was too raunchy (Say What? It's a porn flick!). I
don't recall what name was used for the music credits, but we
decided then and there that the "One Eyed Snakes" moniker
would be resurrected." And with their eponymous debut CD
on independent BIG
WATER RECORDS, Zak
and his mates did just that.
Long known on the local
club circuit as a no nonsense hard rock band, the group has matured
considerably since they were hailed as "the next big thing"
by local radio and press in the mid nineties. Zak has maintained
a philosophical outlook about such hyperbole. "It's been
said many times by many people, but there is some truth in the
phrase: "Nothing is an overnight sensation," he noted
appropriately. After a couple of line-up changes the Snakes have
become a permanent musical family. JIMMY (KAT) KATSIKIDES, who
co-produced the album with Daniels, brandishes one of the meanest
lead guitars in all of rock. The rhythm section consists of DOUG
LAVERY on drums and ORION
LINDEMANN on bass. Together they anchor a
sound that can overwhelm the casual listener or tenderly seduce
them. The fifteen tracks on the CD reflect the poise and versatility
of Daniels, who's catalog boasts over two hundred and fifty songs.
Songs like "FOURTEEN DOLLARS & 57 CENTS," "TOMBSTONE
HAT," "BROWN EYED BEAUTY" and "SKY-BOY,"
are evocative of the passion that has always been the band's
trademark on stage, but so too are "WORDS," "CARTOON
SAVIOR" and "FAST ONES."
From their hometown of
L.A. to the Big Apple and back, you can bet that wherever ZAK
DANIELS And The ONE EYED SNAKES appear, fans will be left with
a smile on their face.
By DAVID BUDGE - "Red
Rooster"
UPDATE:
Two songs from the first CD broke into the Top-40
for a total of 39 weeks on the charts. AC radio loved the album's
two ballads. "SKY-BOY" lasted
21 weeks on the charts, and "TOMBSTONE
HAT" lasted 18 weeks. We're now promoting
our second release, SNAKELAND. Look for "SILICONE" to be the first single.
UPDATE: 10/18/07
The number one pirate internet radio station "BROADCAST ASYLUM" contacted us and said they were going to start
spinning our songs on their Thursday show. They informed us that
the audience was usually around 200,000 listeners (not bad for
a web station). However, when they played our song "FOURTEEN DOLLARS & 57
CENTS" the audience
surged to over 300,000 before the song was over. That broke the
station's previous record and also caused the server to reboot.
I thought that was pretty cool, but it could have been a one
time fluke so I didn't let it go to my head. On the following
Thursday night they played our song "SILICONE" and before the song was over, the audience surged
past the previous week's number to 347,000 once again overloading
the server and causing it to re-boot. They were pretty excited
about the numbers and so was I. I told DOC and
JADE (Host and Co-Host of the show) that if we break
the record three weeks in a row and it happens during my song,
I'd include this story in my Bio. Well, they played "SILICONE" again on the following week's
show and before the song was over the audience surged to around
370,000 feeds. This time the server didn't reboot, it just kind
of moaned in pleasure.
A few weeks later I
did a an interview with Doc and Jade and that night they broke
the 500,000 mark for the first time ever.
It's enough to swell a young mans head. Fortunately, I'm not
that young to let it. Notwithstanding, me and the boys enjoy
knowing that our music had a little something to do with it.
UPDATE: 07/21/08
Signed three licencing deals over the last few months, shot a
TV pilot called BREAK
ON THROUGH and in the
last few weeks our songs FOURTEEN
DOLLARS & 57 CENTS and
SILICONE were played on ABC's FAME GAMES. On July 18th we were the FEATURED BAND
on K94ROCKS, the ROCK YOU RADIO
show.
