The Charming Snakes

w/Bottles & Skulls, the Jailbirds

Sat Aug 2, Lobo Saloon, 9:30 pm, $5.

Lacey Swain, bassist for punk quartet the Charming Snakes, is nursing a bitters-and-soda to settle her tummy. "I blame the barbecue," she says, thinking back on lunch.

Wait. She blames the barbecue? This is a woman who, until she and her boyfriend, singer-guitarist Ruben Mendez, relocated to Seattle three summers ago, was a resident of Texas, mecca of barbecue. "Yeah, but here they cover everything in sauce," Swain counters.

Pulled pork may never replace grilled salmon as the Emerald City's signature dish, but otherwise, Swain and Mendez--along with drummer Kellie Payne (also of New Luck Toy) and guitarist Joe Arnone--have been well served by the change of address. Austin may boast a great music scene, and better house parties, but the Snakes found the climate wasn't conducive to finishing projects so much as hypothesizing about them over beers.

Mendez and Swain met as housemates in 1997. "We hated each other at first," she recalls. "Ruben would not buy toilet paper. Ever." But by 1999, the two were making music together, often as just a duo. Around the same time, they met Payne and her husband, and the couples became friends. The future Snakes were itching to split Austin, and when the Paynes returned to Seattle, Mendez and Swain followed.

But after a few months in town, the two still had no outlet to rock. "We had songs, but couldn't find anybody to play with us," says Mendez. Finally, they decided to just buy a drum machine and go it alone. When it came time to pick a name, Austin's propensity to inspire more talk than action paid off--"the Charming Snakes" was a moniker one of Mendez's high-school bandmates had coined, but never used.

For a sample of what the Snakes sounded like back then, check out the new single, "See You in the Alps." The first release on new local indie Pirate Craft Records, the 7-inch features two originals recorded after hours at the now-defunct Sit & Spin. Sharp-edged and bright, bursting with adrenaline and buzz-saw guitars, the A-side finds the duo complementing their drum machine with the spirited handclaps that are a staple of their live sets, while the B-side, "James," is driven by a blistering staccato riff.

The band went through many short-lived lineups before Arnone, who had been in Mendez and Swain's last Austin band, visited in 2001. "I accomplished more in those six weeks than I would have in a year in Austin," the guitarist recalls. He played five shows with the Charming Snakes during his visit, and the die was cast. With the addition of Payne on drums, the Snakes recorded their debut 45. Issued earlier this year, the three-song "Hang Your Head" 7-inch is just as frenzied as their drum-machine-era offerings, but the full-band sound enhances both their rhythmic impact--props to Dr. Rhythm, but Payne's pounding provides all the incentive any able-bodied music lover needs to get shimmying--and their subtle pop sensibilities.

Defining the Charming Snakes' sound is as slippery as their reptilian name implies. Their grinding B-side "Teenage Kut Out" interpolates the verse of the Undertones' punk classic "Teenage Kicks" into an original, but the Snakes' repertoire also includes a minimal 11-minute number titled (depending on who you ask) "Slow and Boring," "Epic Jam," or "The Longest Song We Have." "We're not trying to fit into one category," explains Mendez. "What we feel like doing changes from time to time. I like that we can play with garage rock bands like Flying Dutchmen, rock bands like Bottles & Skulls, and also prog bands like Cobra High."

"We're goth rock, without the goth part," he adds later. "We like Tones on Tail."

Having just completed a West Coast jaunt with New Luck Toy, the Snakes show no signs of slowing down. Next up, they hope to record a full-length. Another tour is tentatively slated for early next year. This time, they want to play Austin, where, for better or worse, they don't expect much to have changed.

"You go back to visit, and you'll see someone at a bar, and ask, Hey, how's it going?'" says Mendez. Inevitably, the local rattles off a litany of great projects in the offing: novels, films, bands. "And then you see them again next year... and it's the same thing." Oh well. At least Swain can look forward to better barbecue.