Elephant Back – An Xperience Interview – by Rob Smittix.
(phone rings)
RRX: Hello, so it’s just Sarah that I have on the line?
Sarah Snediker: No, it’s me and Dave.
Dave Snediker: How’s it going?
RRX: Good. How are you?
DS: Good.
RRX: So, yeah, things are going pretty good. So, Elephant Back … I have Elephant Back on the line. I never ask about band names because it’s silly, but I assume you chose Elephant Back because Elephant P**** was already taken?
(brief moment of awkwardness, then laughter)
DS: Exactly.
RRX: I gotta work on my jokes or maybe my execution.
(all laugh)
SS: Yeah, it was a name Dave had in his back pocket, so …
RRX: That works. Actually, I got familiar with your band when I saw that you were nominated for a Listen Up Award. I can’t remember if that was last year or the year before.
SS: Yup. I can’t remember either, but I think it was the year before.
RRX: Yeah, well, nominations will be opening up soon, so maybe this will be your year.
DS: You never know, hopefully.
SS: You never know.
RRX: Absolutely. So, let’s start with Dave. What do you do in the band?
DS: I play guitar and other instruments when we record, but when we play live, I play the guitar and lead vocals.
RRX: Well, I am loving your vocals. I was just listening to the album before you called, and I’m digging the delivery and the style. The song “Oh What a Life” really gave some great vibes, but I love how you cut into that song with the vocals. That was one that definitely stood out for me.
DS: Yeah, that one was a fun one. The vocals during the verse are a little delicate, and then you got the catchy chorus. The bass part that I came up with is just a cool little melody, kind of a hooky thing.
RRX: Yeah, I was digging it all the way. And Sarah, what’s your role in the group?
SS: I play drums, I do backing vocals, and I do a lot of the behind-the-scenes production kind of stuff. I am the one yelling at Dave in the studio, like … hey, try to do this or go higher on your voice here or do something else here. So, I kind of mess around with production as well.
RRX: Well, you need that person in every band. It’s good to have a Sarah in every band!
DS: That’s true.
RRX: Where are you guys based out of? That’s what I was trying to remember.
SS: We’re kind of close to Syracuse. We’re in the middle of like … Syracuse and Utica.
RRX: Oh, okay. So you’re a little further out than I thought. Next time you do come to town, hit me up, and maybe we can get you in the studio and do a little radio. It’s always fun.
DS: That would be awesome.
SS: Yeah, that’d be great.
RRX: So yeah, the album “Evolution” was just released recently?
SS: The 27th of October, yeah.
RRX: With that being the case, are there any particular songs that you want to put out as singles? For me as a DJ, is there a certain song I should be playing right now?
DS: Well, the first video is gonna be from the song “Mine,” so I guess that’s gonna be the first single.
RRX: Well, there you go.
SS: Yeah, that’s in the works. I mean, the first three songs were the ones we really are pushing for radio, just because they seem the most relatable and kind of catchy.
DS: And the song “Sound Bite” too.
RRX: Well, excellent. Do I have permission to play them now?
SS: Oh yeah, go ahead.
RRX: Cool, I’ll get them into rotation tomorrow.
DS: What we did prior to this, in the last three albums, was … we’ve released singles and pushed those singles. We’re taking a new approach this time by releasing the album and just releasing everything and pushing everything. Just trying some stuff out this time.
SS: We talked to Alan down at West West Side Music.
We talked a lot about the waterfall theory, where you release singles and then you re-release, and he’s like … it really doesn’t matter. He’s like, at the end of the day, put the album out, put it on Apple Music, that’s where it’s at really, he said. But that’s our guy in New York City. West West Side Music.
DS: Yeah, he’s done some big bands, pretty cool.
RRX: Well, now he’s gonna be doing Elephant Back, so there you go.
DS: That’s right!
RRX: Yeah, the whole thing is weird with what’s gonna catch on and what’s not. Algorithms are strange. It doesn’t make sense all of the time. I’ve tried to test the waters with different approaches, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any science to it. It’s just what happens.
SS: I’ve driven myself nuts, you know? Because I do all the social media stuff, and it’s too much. To have a job, have a band, and a studio that we run, it’s just too much to try to figure out the whole algorithm and what they’re gonna want next. I’m just resigned to the fact that this is what I’m gonna do, and if the algorithm likes it, cool, and if it doesn’t like it … it is what it is.
RRX: Yeah, you can only do what you can do. I hate the internet, but it’s a necessary evil when you’ve got something to promote. That’s the name of the game, but it is very DIY now, and that’s where the internet really helps out. These major record labels really don’t matter as much as they used to.
DS: Right. If you can get distribution and if you can book a good tour … really, the live shows are where it’s at and you gotta push the CD through the live shows. I’m all about that, getting the fans to the live shows, pushing the CDs, and all your merch through the live shows.
RRX: So, anything about this new album that you think is important for people to know?
SS: For me … when we’d written our first album, it was kind of like a conglomerate of different genres and each song was different. Then, when we went into the second two albums, that we split. There was a rock album and then there was an acoustic songwriter-y album. And on this new one, it’s like we elevated everything and tried to keep it all within an alternative vibe. As a whole, everything about it just came together really nicely. That’s why it’s called “Evolution,” because we’ve really elevated everything. We try to do that with every album, obviously, but this one … I was really proud of everything that we put out.
For more on Elephant Back visit: elephantbackmusic.com