By CHERIE DONNELLAN
SNAKADAKTAL’S namesake might be a combination of a snake and a pterodactyl but bassist Jarrah Mccarty-Smith revealed that one of the band members was a cat.
A Geelong Cats fan, that is.
Mccarty-Smith said fellow guitarist Joseph Clough was an avid Geelong fan, so the Melbourne indie pop quintet was “excited” about playing Geelong’s Wool Exchange on 23 August.
“We’ve always liked Geelong – it’s a nice place,” he said.
Snakadaktal’s Sleep in the Water tour would celebrate the band’s debut album of the same time, released this week.
Mccarty-Smith admitted the album’s creation process was arduous.
“It took a lot longer than most people – a couple of months,” he said.
“Then we had about a whole month of actual recording.”
But he believed that producing the album “naturally” was a necessity.
Mccarty-Smith cited his favourite track as Hung, the album’s first single, with its dreamy instrumentals and haunting lyrics because it was “fun to play”.
Snakadaktal had continued to gain fans since exploding onto the Melbourne music scene in 2011, taking out triple J Unearthed High.
In what some would call fortunate timing, oddly named band Monkey Salad – in which McCarty-Smith, drummer Barna Nemeth and vocalist/guitarist/synth player Sean Heathcliff had been playing in precursor band Monkey Sale until it “crashed”. The three went searching for a guitarist, who turned out to be Clough.
Vocalist Phoebe Cockburn came later, rounding out Snakadaktal’s ethereal sound.
Mccarty-Smith joked that Cockburn’s entrance meant the end of “boy jokes”.
“She definitely changed the vibe in a positive way. She’s an awesome singer … and a great friend.”
Mccarty-Smith said the band planned to play snippets of some of its older work in introductions to new songs to “make things interesting” for fans.
He said he hoped fans would be able to pick out the instrumental additions to songs from Sleep in the Water.
