"Spontaneous"; "stripped-down"; "loose"; "unhinged"; "rambunctious"; "Stones/Big Star/Replacements/ Wilco type o' stuff".

These are a few of the words and phrases that critics use to describe the sound of Snake Hips.  Formed by ex-Panther Burns Mark Harrison in Nashville in 1989,  Mark received his musical education first via steady mainlined daily doses of Bob Dylan and Velvet Underground LP's before honing his writing and playing skills in a bluesy  booze-soaked  1980's Memphis environment awash with slinky soul and skewed pop.  It was here where the Hips sonic foundation crystallized elements of early rock, blues, and the trippier aspects of the southern muse as ingredients for their own home brew. However, it was in Nashville where Harrison put together the first Hips line-up: one emphasizing an understated compositional power while throwing professional musicianship back up The Row. Coming off of the artistic /critical successes albeit commercial near-misses of 1993's Lit and 1997's Memphis Juke, Snake Hips are survivors in a world of near rock'n'roll extinction.  Now with their latest CD Turn You On, the Hips have returned to their native land of high gloss commercialism, Nashville. Harrison and his hips are poised to cover everything shiny with their smoke and grease laced musical Delta silt..  Focused and evocative,  Turn You On is a document of Harrison's travels down the lost highway.Now take Turn You On and turn it up!

-JBS  10-01

As spaciously arresting and emotionally vulnerable as the best rock and roll. In a year lacking in musical greatness, Snakehips take a most impressive leap back.

-Bill Ellis, Memphis Commercial Appeal

News 10-1-2003
Snakehips have just finished the 4th full length cd to be released soon! Also look for Snakehips on Shangri-La Projects new release: A History of Memphis Garage Rock: The 90's. A great compilation of artists who have produced vital works under the radar of the mainstream.
 

New in stock: Snakehips “Monster Bars” CD
For more artist information, you can view snakehips electronic press kit on the web by visiting www.sonicbids.com/snakehips

Harrison's material is in the Memphis groove.  The songs on Memphis Juke sport a loose, spontaneous sound that is typical of the city's musical approach and reflect the city's main musical strains, from the slinky soul popularized by Stax Records to [Alex] Chilton's skewed rock style.
-Billboard
 

Snake Hips plays relatively loose, unhinged rock'n'roll, with front guy Mark Harrison singing like a cross between Matthew Sweet and a less irritating Bill Corgan.  If youíre thinking 60's and 70's rock  (as I'm sure Harrison often does), he sings like a cross between Bowie, Alex Chilton, and Lou Reed.
-Option
 

Imagine young LX, hanging in the E. Village post-Box Tops, waylaid by a time traveling Tav Falco and Feargal Sharkey (Undertones, grandson!), diverted into a karaoke bar and stuffed fulla bad acid.  Then picture  a buncha songs that touch on a myriad of rock and pop bases: chiming, arpeggio-laden janglery; South-fried boogiedelicism; folk-rock with funny pop-psyche choruses; et cetera. . . the visionary sythesis that Big Star achieved.
-YourFlesh
 

Others have tackled this familiar terrain (Matthew Sweet, J.C. Hopkins, Alex Chilton), but only a Memphian such as Mark Harrison could create Houndog Blues, a flat slice of Wurlitzer and slide guitar destined to be a lost American classic.
-The Commercial Appeal
 

Mark Harrison's blend of power pop and roots rock is just as potent and memorable as the best stuff by his hero, [Alex Chilton] and frankly a lot more consistent.
-Pop Culture Press
 

On the scene for 10 years, they've got their sound down: Juke's guitar-heavy tunes feel as though they were organically grown from the Delta silt and laced with smoke and grease.  There is a brightness to them that recalls Memphis forebearers Big Star; like that band, Snake Hips flesh out melodic pop ideas with loose, rambunctious instrumentation.  It's hearty rock'n'roll, shaking hips with authority.
-Nashville Scene
 
 

Rooted in the kind of stripped down, Stones-based rock-and-roll that's usually shunned by post modern hipsters; [Lit] is the kind of album that exists outside of trends and fashions; an album of very good, simple rock-and-roll that doesn't care about changing the sound of modern music or polishing its edges to a spit-shine veneer.  Sharp and evocative.
-Memphis Flyer
 

Lit may just be the best rock'n'roll album released in 1994.  I'm talking rock'n'roll here, the stuff Chuck Berry dreamed up, the stuff the Stones pumped out before they started recycling, the simple guitar/bass/drum sound the whole overrated Velvet Underground legacy is built on.  Snake Hips make music that's almost extinct.
-Illinois Entertainer
 

Try to imagine Bobby Zimmerman on acid, Keef playing guitar with a bad hangover, a solid rhythm section holding it down.  Think of Lou Reed and Marc Bolan also.  Dark and mysterious with a well-defined snap and crackle in the air.
-Pop Culture Press
 

Taking their sound from early 70's Stones and Faces, Mark Harrison and Snake Hips come up with a credible rock album.  Filled with loud, raunchy guitar and Jagger-like sneering vocals, this sounds like the real thing, and the fact that it was recorded in Memphis only adds to the authenticity.
-You Could Do Worse
 

A fearless alternative-rock band: a band to watch.
-Details


Purchase releases from Snakehips & other Feralette artists in the Feralette Catalog