Q&A: Holy Snakes

Photo by Ben Douglas

‘Youth Medium’ is the latest track from the east coasters, Holy Snakes, we caught up with singer and songwriter Dan Faichney all about the track, desert island records, and working with Former Champ.

Tell us how you started out creating music as Holy Snakes.

I started writing the songs that would become Holy Snakes songs just to try something completely different to my old band (noisy, trashy garage rock). I was obsessed with the idea of writing an album that would stand up as a work in its own right, rather than just a collection of songs. Then after I'd kind of cut my teeth playing solo for a while I realised I missed playing with a band.

Your last release was 'Raincoat', could you talk us through any musical/social influences that helped shape the track?

'Raincoat' in its recorded form, like the rest of the album it's drawn from, was a really fun thing to put together for me. I had brought it to Chris and Andy with a basic structure but no arrangement beyond acoustic guitar and vocal, so it really grew out of finding common ground in our mutual love for artists like Sly & the Family Stone and Donnie & Joe Emerson. I think something of the Emersons' dreamy sound made it into 'Raincoat'.

What was your favourite musical highlight of 2023? Favourite show to play, any "pinch me" moments?

We had a pretty great 2023 as a band actually! We were lucky enough to go and play some shows in Continental Europe, more specifically the Baltics, so taking the stage in Finland, Estonia and Latvia were all highlights, as was the return leg of the tour here, showing our Finnish pals around Scotland. We also got to share stages with extremely talented pals like (previous Resonate AOTW alumni) Former Champ, Jill Lorean, Min (fka Min Diesel), Raveloe and Adam Ross of Randolph's Leap, which is always a treat.

Photo by Laura Meek

'Youth Medium' is out on the 29th February (yesterday!), the track is part of your debut album ‘O Me! O Life!' coming out later this year, what can you tell us about the process of working with Chris McCrory and (previous Resonate AOTW) Former Champ's Andrew and Claire?

First and foremost I had a really great time making that album. We took our time over it, scattering sessions over the course of about 18 months, chipping away at arrangements and stuff between the other work we all had on. I feel really lucky to have been able to work like that. I think it let the songs unfurl in quite a natural way. 

Working with Chris and Andy was a real pleasure, but getting to work with Claire was a particular highlight for me cause, whilst I knew the lads a bit already, I only knew Claire through her work as Martha Ffion, and I was a big fan. She really elevates every song she appears on, and I think our voices complement one another in a neat way.

Tell us your three desert island albums.

This is so tough! I'll try and go with my intuition or something: 'Fresh' by Sly & the Family Stone; 'Royal Scam' by Steely Dan and then it's a tie between 'V' by Unknown Mortal Orchestra or 'My Woman' by Angel Olsen I reckon. Sorry, that's such a copout!

If you could collaborate with anyone on future music, who would it be?

I'm really keen to do some work with Julie McLarnon at the Analogue Catalogue studio, over in Ireland. Martha Ffion and Savage Mansion both just made great albums out there and Julie seems like a genius.

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are looking to establish themselves in the Scottish music industry? 

A good question... a tough question! First of all, to me music is all about community, so make friends in the scene you play in, and outside of it. Do what you can to support your pals' work. Try to be organised and reliable about shows and tours (that sounds so dull but it's so important). Don't be afraid to reach out to folks who you'd like to make contact with, Scotland's a tiny country, and also we appreciate someone with a bit of guts.

Lastly, what can we expect to see from Holy Snakes in 2024? Other than a debut album!  

The year ahead still has a lot of potential! The album has been so long in getting to release that that's the main thing we're focused on this year, as well as the promotion we'll be giving it when it appears. We're also working on the next collection of songs and looking to go see our Finn pals again towards the winter time. I'm in the last few months of a PhD so that's going to take up a lot of my time and attention, but should feed into other music stuff too.

To keep in the loop with the world of Holy Snakes, click here.