Snail is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

best known for their ''Billboard'' charting single, ''The Joker''. They toured nationally and shared the stage with

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including blues, soul music, psychedelic rock and traditional Irish folk music, but is generally classified as hard rock or some ...

Sammy Hagar Samuel Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose and subsequently launched a successful solo car ...

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

, and

Iron Butterfly Iron Butterfly is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music. ...

, as well as touring with

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; grc, Στύξ ) is a river that forms the boundary between Earth (Gaia) and the Underworld. The rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx all converge at the centre of the underworld on a great marsh, whic ...

and

The Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...

, among others. In 1978, the group performed on

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

."Snail Crawls to the Top by Lee Upton", ''Lansing State Journal,'' Page 47, August 19, 1978 The band has had various members but original members Bob O'Neill and Ken Kraft have remained throughout the band's history.

History

Snail was formed in Santa Cruz in 1967 by Bob O'Neill (guitar, vocals), Ron Fillmore (drums), and Dave Kibbler (bass). Ken Kraft (guitar, vocals) joined the band in 1968. The band interchanged bass players and drummers but O'Neill and Kraft have remained throughout the group's history. Ken Kraft (guitar/vocals), Bob O'Neill (guitar/vocals), Craig Owens (bass), and Jimmy Norris (drums) make up the current lineup. Past bass players include Dave Kibbler, Howard Dumble, Jim Hampton Larry Hosford, Jack Register, Bret Bloomfield, and

Tiran Porter Tiran Calvin Porter (born September 26, 1948) is an American bass and guitar player, vocalist and composer, best known as a member of The Doobie Brothers from 1972 to 1980 and 1987 to 1992. Biography Porter graduated from Leuzinger High School in ...

. Past drummers include Ron Fillmore, Bob Aguirre, Jimmy Norris,

Donny Baldwin Donald Baldwin (born June 22, 1950/1951) is an American drummer best known as a member of Jefferson Starship (1982–1984; 2008–present) and its continuation Starship (1984–1989). Early life Baldwin was raised in Palo Alto, California. He at ...

, and Gary "killer" Andrijasevich.

Dale Ockerman Dale Ockerman is a keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter who has worked with a variety of internationally recognized musicians since the late 1960s. He is best known for his association with the Doobie Brothers, where he was principal keyboardist a ...

was also a longtime band member."Snail CD Release Party", ''Santa Cruz Sentinel,'' Page 55, December 20, 1996 The band toured extensively in the late 1960s through the late 1970s, sharing the stage with such artists as

The Chambers Brothers The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1967 psychedelic soul hit "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions wit ...

Elvin Bishop Elvin Richard Bishop (born October 21, 1942) is an American blues and rock music singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a membe ...

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Charlie Daniels Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The Dev ...

Jerry Miller Jerry Miller (born July 10, 1943) is an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performs as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He is also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues ...

, and

. They have performed at

Winterland Winterland Ballroom (more commonly known as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland) was an ice skating rink and music venue in San Francisco, California. The arena was located at the corner of Post Street and Steiner Street. It was converted for ...

, the

Carousel Ballroom The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Stre ...

, and the

Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Stre ...

, among numerous other venues. After performing for over ten years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Snail signed a record deal with

Cream Records Cream Records was an American record label started in 1970, by former Liberty Records head Al Bennett. In 1977, he acquired Hi Records which became a division of Cream. After Bennett died, it was run by his daughter Adalah Bennett Shaw until she d ...

in 1977, making them one of the first bands from Santa Cruz to sign a major record deal. Cream Records launched an extensive radio campaign for the release of their debut album, ''Snail'', which led to the group's album charting on Billboard's

Top 200 Albums The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

and its single, ''The Joker'', charting at #93 on ''Billboard'''s ''Hot 100'' in 1978. The album received favorable reviews and Billboard Magazine said that it was Cream Record's strongest rock release in some time. Their single, ''Tonight'' also received favorable reviews. At the height of their career, Kraft suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage which took him a year to recover. The band renamed themselves, ''The Millionaires'', as O'Neill stated that ''"Snail wasn't Snail without Kraft"''. But shortly after, members Bret Bloomfield (bass) and

(drums) joined up with

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...

. Snail has reunited for concerts throughout the years and is performing as a band again, based in Santa Cruz, CA.

Discography

* 1977 - ''Snail'' * 1979 - ''Flow'' * 1996 - ''Let it Rock'' (live album) * 2019 - ''Snail Now'' * 2022 - ''Snail Rocks''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snail Musicians from Santa Cruz, California American male musicians American male singer-songwriters American rock singers