Snake River Conspiracy (SRC) is an American
industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten a ...
band. It was formed in 1996
in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
by
Eric Valentine
Eric Dodd, known professionally as Eric Valentine, is an American record producer who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride.
He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Lostprophets, Tak ...
and
Jason Slater
Jason C. Slater (March 8, 1971 – December 9, 2020) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician.
He is best known for being the founding bassist and backup vocalist for the American rock band Third Eye Blind from 1993 to 1994. Fol ...
. The band's vocalist,
Tobey Torres, was recruited in 1998.
After signing with
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
, Snake River Conspiracy issued their debut album, ''
Sonic Jihad'' (2000), which received largely positive reviews but experienced little commercial success. Between 2001 and 2006, Snake River Conspiracy attempted to record a second album tentatively titled ''SRC2'', but its conception was stunted by the band's departure from Reprise in early 2002, and numerous interpersonal conflicts during this period led to several changes in band personnel, with Slater remaining the band's sole constant member. In September 2006, the band quietly broke up, with the album remaining unfinished.
Slater quietly revisited Snake River Conspiracy and ''SRC2'' in 2012, and continued to work on the album independently for the remainder of the decade until his death in December 2020.
Tobey Torres and Mitchell Doran revived the band in 2022, and have plans to release new music in 2023.
History
Formation and ''Sonic Jihad'' (1996–2001)
Snake River Conspiracy was founded as a project of producer
Eric Valentine
Eric Dodd, known professionally as Eric Valentine, is an American record producer who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride.
He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Lostprophets, Tak ...
and
Jason Slater
Jason C. Slater (March 8, 1971 – December 9, 2020) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician.
He is best known for being the founding bassist and backup vocalist for the American rock band Third Eye Blind from 1993 to 1994. Fol ...
, a former member of
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label recor ...
. After forming, the band hired
Tobey Torres to be the band's singer. The band was initially signed to
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
in 1998 on the strength of a two-song demo, and shortly after signing to the label Valentine opted out of the band to focus on his music production career.
Problems at Interscope led to the band moving to
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
and then
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
.
The band's debut
EP/single, "
Vulcan
Vulcan may refer to:
Mythology
* Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...
", was released on October 5, 1999; it received rave reviews from critics, and was named "Single of the Week" by the British music magazine ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
''.
SRC's debut album, ''
Sonic Jihad'', was released on July 11, 2000. The band found success in the United States with their cover of "
How Soon Is Now?
"How Soon Is Now?" is a song by English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. Originally a B-side of the 1984 single "William, It Was Really Nothing", "How Soon Is Now?" was subsequently featured on the co ...
" by
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...
, which reached a peak of number 15 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart and number 38 on the
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart.
['']Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' website: As print: After the cover was reportedly praised by
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
as "a better version than
he original
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
during an interview with
''Mojo'' in April 2001, "How Soon Is Now?" was reissued as a single in the UK in July 2001, and subsequently reached number 83 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. However, ''Sonic Jihad'' was ultimately a commercial failure, and only reached number 36 on the ''Billboard''
Heatseeker Albums
Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...
chart.
Slater blamed the album's failure on Reprise's inability to properly promote the album on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and radio, but also attributed some of the blame to the album's production and sound.
''SRC2'' and breakup (2002–2006)
In October 2002, Snake River Conspiracy revealed that they had parted ways with Reprise Records earlier that year, owing to low sales of ''Sonic Jihad''. Afterwards, the band commenced work on a follow up album, tentatively known as ''SRC2.''
In a series of postings on Snake River Conspiracy's website from December 2002, Slater stated that ''SRC2'' would be a complete departure from ''Sonic Jihad'', and said he did not want to create "''Sonic Jihad'' 2" because "it would sound dated as fuck" if he did so.
He described the album thematically as being about "payback and retribution".
However, progress on the album was marred by interpersonal disputes and line-up changes, including the departure of drummer Bobby Hewitt in March 2003 and Tobey Torres in February 2004, when she was replaced by Martina Axén, formerly the drummer and backup singer of
Drain STH
Drain STH (STH for Stockholm) was a rock girl band from Sweden.
Biography
Stockholm quartet Drain STH underwent many changes in both musical style and image. Guitarist Flavia Canel and drummer Martina Axén had been together in many acts start ...
. Axén acrimoniously split with Snake River Conspiracy in August 2005, resulting in Tobey Torres re-joining the band in May 2006. On September 4, 2006, Tobey Torres announced via her
MySpace page that she had "once again chosen to disassociate myself from Snake River Conspiracy", with guitarist Mitchell Doran announcing his departure via the band's
vBulletin
vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software package sold by MH Sub I, LLC doing business as vBulletin (formerly Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions). It is written in PHP and uses a MariaDB or MySQL database server. Similar produ ...
forums two days later. Following both of their departures, Snake River Conspiracy broke up, with Jason Slater choosing to focus on his production career instead.
Most of SRC’s 2006 line-up (Doran, Ashif Hakik, drummer Matt Lucich and Slater himself) contributed to
Queensrÿche
Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...
's 2006 studio album
''Operation Mindcrime II'', which was produced by Slater.
Resumed progress and Jason Slater's death (2012–2020)
Jason Slater started working on ''SRC2'' again in 2012 and continued to work on the album throughout the rest of the 2010s. In 2012 Tobey Torres and Mitchell Doran formed a new band called
Mojave Phone Booth ''Mojave Phone Booth'' is an independently produced 2006 film directed by John Putch. The film is based on a Mojave phone booth, real phone booth in the Mojave Desert that once accepted incoming calls, but has since been removed.
The film is compos ...
, and in 2016 Slater reconnected with Torres again through Doran. Slater planned to release a new Snake River Conspiracy album sometime in 2014, as well as release a
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...
version of ''Sonic Jihad'' with alternate/original mixes and a B-sides compilation titled ''B-Sides and Bullshit'',
but due to Slater's health struggles work on these projects slowed. On December 9, 2020, Slater died of
liver failure, effectively ending the band.
Second reformation (2022–present)
In July 2022, Torres and Mitchell Doran launched a new
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
account for Snake River Conspiracy, announcing that new music from the band will be released in 2023.
In November 2022, Mitchell Doran alleged that Jason Slater had stolen several compositions that were written by other Snake River Conspiracy members during the ''SRC2'' recording sessions, and reused them with other bands he produced. This account was corroborated in interviews given by original SRC guitarist
Geoff Tyson
Geoff Tyson (also referred to as Jeff Tyson) played guitar for T-Ride, whose debut album shared the same title. He was a student of Joe Satriani, and one of two students Satriani has said 'Graduated' from his lessons (the other being Steve Vai). S ...
and also in Facebook posts made by Jason Slater himself.
Band members
Current members
*
Tobey Torres-Doran –
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
(1998–2004, 2006, 2022–present)
*Mitchell J. Doran –
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...
(2005–2006, 2022–present)
Former members
*
Jason Slater
Jason C. Slater (March 8, 1971 – December 9, 2020) was an American record producer, songwriter and musician.
He is best known for being the founding bassist and backup vocalist for the American rock band Third Eye Blind from 1993 to 1994. Fol ...
–
producer,
bass (1996–2006, 2012–2020; died 2020)
*
Eric Valentine
Eric Dodd, known professionally as Eric Valentine, is an American record producer who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride.
He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Lostprophets, Tak ...
– producer, engineer, songwriter
(1996–1999)
*Sinead – vocals
(1997)
*Martina Axén – vocals
(2004–2005)
*
Geoff Tyson
Geoff Tyson (also referred to as Jeff Tyson) played guitar for T-Ride, whose debut album shared the same title. He was a student of Joe Satriani, and one of two students Satriani has said 'Graduated' from his lessons (the other being Steve Vai). S ...
–
lead guitarist
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured ...
, production
(1998–2002)
*
Rob Patterson
Rob Patterson (born November 9, 1970) is an American guitarist and composer.
Background
Patterson was born in Natick, Massachusetts. His first major band was the metal, female-fronted Otep. He wrote and played on the albums, '' Sevas Tra'', '' ...
– guitarist
(touring only; 2000)
*Fab Fernandez Hewitt – guitarist
(2001–2004)
*Eric "Hendrikx" Henderson – guitarist
(2003–2006)
*Leo Larsen – guitarist
(2006)
*Ivo Ivanov – keyboards
(touring only; 2000–2001)
*Scott Engelter – keyboards
(2001–2002)
*Ashif Hakik – keyboards
(2006) (died 2021)
*
Jay Lane
Jay Lane (born December 5, 1964) is an American drummer. He is a founding member of Bob Weir's RatDog, with Weir and Rob Wasserman, Wolf Bros, Furthur, Golden Gate Wingmen and Alphabet Soup. He was the 7th drummer to play in Primus, playing ...
–
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...
(2000)
*Neil Taylor –
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...
(2000–2001, 2003–2005)
*Bobby Hewitt – drummer
(2002–2003)
*Matt Lucich – drummer
(2006)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
Sonic Jihad'' (2000)
References
External links
Snake River Conspiracy's Discogs pageSnake River Conspiracy Demos at MyspaceSnake River Conspiracy at MySpaceTobey Torres at MySpaceRiver Conspiracy at Songmeanings*
{{Authority control
American industrial rock musical groups
American industrial metal musical groups
American gothic rock groups
Electronica music groups
Electronic music groups from California
Interscope Records artists
Elektra Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Musical groups established in 1996
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
Musical groups reestablished in 2012
Musical groups disestablished in 2020
Musical groups reestablished in 2022