Venom (Awesome Snakes album)

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Venom
Venom album cover
Studio album by
The Awesome Snakes
ReleasedJuly 17, 2006
GenrePunk rock
Length23:51
LabelCrustacean Records, Stand Up! Records
The Awesome Snakes chronology
Venom
(2006) 		Snake Cake
(2008)
Venom
Review scores
SourceRating
Punk News[1]
Ultimate Guitar[2]
Sliver MagazineB+[3]

Venom is a 2006 album by Minneapolis punk rock band Awesome Snakes, a side project of then-Soviettes members Annie "Sparrows" Holoien and Danny Henry.

History[edit]

Holoien and Henry began The Awesome Snakes as a way to ease the pressure of the Soviettes' increasing success by making what Henry described as a "jokey" and "free and loose" set of punk songs, spiced with audio samples from Henry's collection of odd self-help and how-to tapes.[3]

The instrumentation is deliberately simple, just Holoien on bass and Henry on drums, with the bass played through a Fender Blues Deville amplifier on high distortion.[4][5] The lyrics are also highly focused;[6][7] A.V. Club writer Christopher Bahn noted that the song topics revolve around "two subjects: snakes and/or things that are awesome."[8]

Venom was released July 17, 2006, on Wisconsin record label Crustacean Records.[9][1] A significant step forward in production from their 2004 self-titled, cassette-only debut, Venom featured fifteen tracks recorded in much higher fidelity by their friend Ross and mastered by Dave Gardener, and features a guest appearance by Twin Cities MC P.O.S.[3][10]

On October 15, 2021, Venom was re-released on vinyl by Stand Up! Records, with four songs from the band's 2009 digital EP Snake Cake included as bonus tracks.[7][11][12]

Critical reception[edit]

Venom enjoyed great critical success in the band's home state of Minnesota, being named one of the best albums of 2006 in the Star Tribune's annual Twin Cities Critics Tally[13] and also making the best-of lists for The A.V. Club's Twin Cities edition[14] and Pulse.[15]

Andrea Swensson of City Pages said "they play with a seriousness that sharply contrasts the silly nature of their music."[16] Stephanie Soucheray, writing for Sliver Magazine, said "Venom may be self-referential, vulgar, goofy and weird. But it is never pretentious. The album is the sound of people having fun, and people being honest about their musical intentions."[3] Tim Thompson of Wisconsin's "Local Sounds Magazine" praised Venom's "huge, manic, underground sound ... delivering an almost disembodied psychedelic freak-out in the middle of a garage-punk record."[17]

The album also received critical praise from several national publications, including Alternative Press, which called it "lo-fi, furious, primal garage-rock voodoo";[18] Maximumrocknroll, which called it "smart-arsed, snotty, arty and funny;"[19] and Punk Planet, which called it "a fuzzed up and confrontationally comedic dose of garage bangers and pogo punk punishers."[20] Punk zine Razorcake praised two early demos, 2006's The Stupid Demo and The Cheap-Ass Cassette Demo, calling them "low-fi garage punk that is poppy yet very psychedelic in a go-go kid way."[21][6] The publication was less impressed with Venom itself, saying: "Overall, this seems like a joke band that must be really funny for the people who made it, but for the rest of us it's worth listening to maybe once at the most."[22]

Reviewing the 2021 re-release, Roctober Magazine said "This reissue of an early 2000s Midwestern ridiculous riff rock relic proves that nothing is as timeless as lo fi, stripped down, absurdist snake songs."[7]

In popular culture[edit]

The song "I Want a Snake" is featured in the Electronic Arts skateboarding video game Skate 2.[23]

Track listing[edit]

2006, Crustacean Records
No.TitleLength
1."Venom"1:55
2."I Want a Snake"1:33
3."Shut Up!"2:16
4."Whiskey vs. Police"0:27
5."It Would Be Awesome if We Weren't Here"1:28
6."You Don't Like Snakes, I Don't Like You"2:18
7."Snakes vs. Jerks"1:11
8."These Snakes Get High!"1:00
9."Awesome Snacks"1:35
10."Awesome Party"2:06
11."1950's UFO vs. Snakes"0:38
12."Awesome 6-Pack"2:11
13."You Got Snakes All Up in Your Grill"1:43
14."P.O.S. vs. Awesome Snakes"1:45
15."The Future of the Snake Industry"1:52
Total length:23:51
Bonus tracks, 2021 Stand Up! Records reissue, originally released as Snake Cake EP
No.TitleLength
16."Moola"2:46
17."You Got Another Thing Comin'"2:03
18."Birthday Party Sally"2:28
19."Fist Fight"2:28

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Simpson, Greg (February 20, 2007). "Awesome Snakes – Venom review". PunkNews.org. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  2. ^ "Venom Review". ultimate-guitar.com. December 19, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Soucheray, Stephanie (October 29, 2006). "Awesome Snakes – Venom". Sliver Magazine. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  4. ^ Wiedenhoeft, John (July 13, 2006). "King Club Really Gets Awesome". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. p. 19.
  5. ^ Jacob Harkins, Brandon Erkkila (April 5, 2019). "Awesome Snakes- Venom". Agonizing Audio Hour (Podcast). Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "AWESOME SNAKES, THE: Cheap-Ass Cassette Demo: CD-R". Razorcake. September 5, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Awesome Snakes "Venom"". Roctober. November 4, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  8. ^ Bahn, Christopher (September 7, 2006). "The Awesome Snakes Discuss The Awesomeness Of Various Snakes". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  9. ^ Awesome Snakes – Venom at AllMusic
  10. ^ Awesome Snakes – Venom at Discogs
  11. ^ "Awesome Snakes". October 15, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021 – via Facebook.
  12. ^ "ASS10: Awesome Snakes – Snake Cake". Ass Records. October 1, 2009. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  13. ^ Riemenschneider, Chris (January 5, 2007). "Twin Cities Critics Tally: The Best of Local Music in 2006". Star Tribune. Minneapolis–Saint Paul.
  14. ^ Bahn, Christopher (December 14, 2006). "Best Music Of 2006: Loon State Edition". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  15. ^ McPherson, Steve (December 28, 2006). "Year-End Best: The 20 '06". Pulse of the Twin Cities. Minnesota. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  16. ^ Swensson, Andrea (July 29, 2009). "Awesome Snakes". City Pages. Minneapolis.
  17. ^ Thompson, Tim (August 10, 2006). "Awesome Snakes – Venom". Local Sounds. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  18. ^ "Awesome Snakes, Venom". Alternative Press. No. 220. Cleveland. November 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  19. ^ Darling, Andy (October 2006). "Records: Awesome Snakes – Venom (CD)". Maximumrocknroll. No. 281. San Francisco. p. 114. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  20. ^ Moss, Brian (May–June 2007). "Aweseome Snakes: Venom, CD". Punk Planet. No. 79. Chicago. p. 109. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  21. ^ "AWESOME SNAKES, THE: Stupid Demo: CD-R". Razorcake. July 6, 2006. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  22. ^ Donnerparty, Jason (January 18, 2007). "AWESOME SNAKES, THE: Venom: CD". Razorcake. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  23. ^ Altizer, Roger (July 1, 2019). "Skate It and Skate 2 Soundtracks". Lifewire. Retrieved November 19, 2021.

External links[edit]

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