Snake River Conspiracy

Snake River Conspiracy (SRC) is an American industrial rock band. It was formed in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area by Eric Valentine and Jason Slater. The band's vocalist, Tobey Torres, was recruited in 1998.

After signing with Reprise Records, 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 and Jason Slater, a former member of Third Eye Blind. After forming, the band hired Tobey Torres to be the band's singer. The band was initially signed to Interscope Records 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 and then Reprise Records. The band's debut EP/single, "Vulcan", 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''.

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?" by The Smiths, which reached a peak of number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart and number 38 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.''Billboard'' website: As print: After the cover was reportedly praised by Morrissey as "a better version than he original 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. However, ''Sonic Jihad'' was ultimately a commercial failure, and only reached number 36 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseeker Albums chart. Slater blamed the album's failure on Reprise's inability to properly promote the album on MTV 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. 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 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'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, 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 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 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 and also in Facebook posts made by Jason Slater himself.

Band members

Current members
* Tobey Torres-Doran – vocals (1998–2004, 2006, 2022–present)
*Mitchell J. Doran – guitarist (2005–2006, 2022–present)

Former members
*Jason Slater – producer, bass (1996–2006, 2012–2020; died 2020)
*Eric Valentine – producer, engineer, songwriter (1996–1999)
*Sinead – vocals (1997)
*Martina Axén – vocals (2004–2005)
*Geoff Tyson – lead guitarist, production (1998–2002)
*Rob Patterson – 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 – drummer (2000)
*Neil Taylor – drummer (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