Mamba Samba at the Snake Pit
Venice Under Water/Scotty Frys/Sympathy Jar/frigidkitty
with analog liquid light show from LIQUIFIED
January 22, 2022
Saturday’s show at the Snake Pit was awesome. I don’t go out a ton these days, but me and my Covid antibodies were ready to party! And it turned out to be a top-notch night: great bands, cool people. It felt crowded—maybe 40 people in the house?—but chill. Big ups to the person running the mixing board and PA in the basement, I’m sorry I didn’t get your name, much love to the sound folks, but what a job well done. Sound doesn’t have to be good at a basement show—I’ve never felt that was the point—the vibes are the point—but to have good sound, good bands, and good vibes made my night. My two favorite things were getting captivated by Sympathy Jar’s set and talking with friends I hadn’t seen in a while. Wait! Liquified, the analog light show production troupe, was my other favorite thing!! I love it here! The Snake Pit has got something good going—elevated basement shows for people who really love music and parties. I really dug the variety programmed on Saturday’s bill, it gave the night a nice rolling flow and kept my energy up. Here’s to more stylistic divergence in 2022.
Check all these artists out (streaming sites are linked!), and try to make it out to a live show if you can.
Venice Under Water: Bright ‘n greasy punk-pop that’s charming and surfy af. Prior to their set, the dudes were playing some real nice vampy grooves that felt fun and easy on the ears. Caleb McClellan, who fronts the band, has a peculiar, self-deprecating stage presence that made us all chuckle, especially when correcting his own brief summaries of songs before playing, and shrugging off each count-in with “…and it’s supposed to go like this, hope you like it!” Some of the songs sounded like I’d imagine they were supposed to—others didn’t—but I truly enjoyed watching Venice Under Water and look forward to seeing them again. Best enjoyed while drinking a boxed red wine.
After their set, I went upstairs for drinks and secondhand-smoke between sets, generally trying to remember how to carry on conversations with semi-strangers and meet new people (I’d give myself an A for effort there but 8/10 execution).
Sympathy Jar. Jan 22, 2022. Photo by env.
Sympathy Jar: The newest shoegaze/noise band in town. Big guitar tones, washy vocals and thundering drums. Full disclosure—Sympathy Jar consists of my brother-in-law, Caleb (guitar/vox), Mikey (drums), who I’ve known since I was 18, and my gal pal Ksenyia (bass). So I was around for the birth of this idea and heard early practice sessions between Mikey and Caleb. But if you can trust me to put bias aside—What they are doing and how quickly they are road-testing their music and running with a very clear vision is inspiring and makes you want to jump on board. That’s something that’s hard to do for musicians like Mikey and Caleb, who are very good and have been playing lots of different styles for years. Watching SJ’s set was like slap back to reality, like HERE WE REALLY ARE, ALIVE! People were into it and thrilled to be in that low-slung room—to be part of discovering a new band.
Liquified’s lightwork was particularly sync’d during this and they were obviously jelling with the deep and swirly noise of Sympathy Jar. At the end of the SJ set, some guys behind me (perhaps Venice Under Water mates?) yelled, “Encore!!” No plants, folks. 100% deserved.
frigidkitty: Wahhhh!!! Of course it was fantastic!! Ultra-cool, ultra-talented, fabulously dressed musicians topping off an incredible night and what a perfect billing too. My sister and I started a dance party in the back of the room so I left with a great feeling and no good pictures of their set. I haven’t had a chance to see Frigid Kitty live beyond a solo show from Kim a couple of months ago, and WOW were my ears pleased. The synth-heavy pop and Kim’s tenacious vocals get me moving! Thomas Sinclair on bass and local legend Jeanne Vomit Terror on synth filled out Frigid’s live sound and provided background harmonies, too—a great addition to a late night electronic groove set.
Let me emphasize again how perfect the billing was for this night. After Sympathy Jar glazed us over with their existential noise —in that, afterward, I felt I only existed through amp buzz—nothing brought me back to earth and sent me reeling like the beat and bop of frigidkitty’s keytar.
Scotty Frys: Scotty Frys has a good flow and was technically hitting everything I wanted to hear. The beats were slick and icy-cool, laptop perched on the washing machine. Gotta love the aesthetic of a basement show! Scotty’s got 11K followers on IG, and the upfront folks were getting into it. He even got some snaps halfway through a little monologue moment during a transition. So I tried my best, but not gonna lie, I didn’t get into it. Scotty’s rhymes felt a bit too mainstream for a night that was marked by ironic delivery of self-revealing lyrics, one of the elements that still holds strong in a modern punk aesthetic.
Some moments were earnest, but others fell flat. Lyrics like “red pill or blue pill” rhymed with “you can give me head still” were catchy, and edgy enough I suppose, but something didn’t ring true for me. My reaction probably surprises no one, but there were just a few too many strikes for me to get into it. I’d like to see another rapper at The Snake Pit, and I think it’s fair that I expected someone who was a bit more left-of-center.
LIQUIFIED BTS. Jan 22, 2022. Photo by env.
Sympathy Jar. Jan 22, 2022. Photo by env.
Mamba Samba at the Snake Pit was full of everything one might have hoped for on a winter’s night—friendly folks, sets I thought about for days after, new and old friends, beverages in bulk—and a few things that came as an incredible surprise—Analog light show! Vintage tees to ponder! Beautifully hand-written signage directing me to where the bathroom was!
Looking forward to my next Snake Pit show, and grateful to the folks who made the night happen! If you’d like to see some great photos from the night, check out coverage from The Chosen Magazine and Craig Stein on IG (@chillmastermind). Follow here to learn about more shows (👀IYKYK🐍)
Elizabeth Varnado is a musician and writer living in Lexington, KY. She writes music on her own and as a member of the band Lylak. She is currently pursuing a PhD in ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky, with research focusing on live music and music festivals.