Sunsnake (1998-2003)
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In 1998 Craig joined Paul Szterke & DJ Smutley in a trio that quickly brought their gigging up to an average of two sets a week for the best part of three years. They fused the Acid Techno of Paul & Smutley's previous line-up (Transducer) with the live musical experience of Craig's involvement in Punk, Dub & Space Rock culture. The corner-stone of Sunsnake's live output was their attendance at numerous squat raves & free festivals. Click for a larger image Sunsnake (1999)   Liteshow Acid Queen (MP3 - 10Mb) Luna Sea (MP3 - 7.6Mb) Bassfix       Afterdog Time Traveller Lizard Intensify the Treatment         Hello Mrs Smith has your milk come today Your skipping rope is hung up but your kids still play Your neighbour is a bastard as you dream your life away With the thudding beat from next door eating at you while you pray Get your hat and coat, so aggravated do you seem Take a bus right out of town and sit down by a stream Take out your sandwich box and go off in a dream If only they all knew you were the Acid Queen. All those 60's ideals where do they all belong? Agitprop and rock and pop we'll save 'em with a song It all seems lost now as you find the time is marching on Where could have all that passion and creativeness gone wrong? It all counts for something, in the grand old scheme Nothing wrong with those of us who aren't too scared to dream Mrs Smith wonders at a thing that she has seen Her lovely little daughters now an Acid Queen.. -- Acid Queen Click for a larger image Sunsnake Live at Goldsmiths Tavern 14/2/01 (1999)   Afterdog Time Traveller Experimentation       Luna Sea unknown Liteshow CDs are available - please [contact] me. They played on most of the stages at the Exodus Free Festival in 1998, 1999 & 2000 sharing their billing with Citizen Fish, Headjam, Tarantism, Mandragora, Godhead, P.A.I.N., The Fighting Cocks, Max Pashm, Nucleus Roots, Mukka, The Baghdaddies, Tragic Roundabout, The Inner Terrestrials & Flannel amongst others. They played The Eclipse Festival in Devon in 1999 & shared their billing with Horace X, Top Cats, System 7, Tarantism, Nitin Sawney & Orbital. They played The Blandford Festival in 1999 sharing the billing with Ism, Babyhead, P.A.I.N., The Trojans, Alabama 3, The Fish Brothers, Pronghorn & Headmix. Sunsnake They played Glastonbury in the backstage theatre marquee in 1998 in front of a crowd involving a mixture of clowns, stilt walkers, mime artists & performers in period dress. They had got their equipment under the perimeter fence with the help of festival security who were impressed with their resolve to enter the site & blag a gig. That year they also played a stage in the green field with their set powered by cyclists generating electricity on their static bikes. In 1999 they played the last amplified gig of the twentieth century at Glastonbury Festival {between 7 & 8am on the Mon. morning}. It was one of two sets they got in The Lost Vagueness Tent. The tent was, at the time, an illegitimate blagger's stage & has since become a legitimate part of the event owing to the fact that Michael Evis was impressed at the crew's rootsy attitude & Rik the soundman's unblinking resolve. Thanks to Chris Tofu & The Continental Drifts organisation for that opportunity & the gigs at Exodus, The Eclipse Festival & Blandford. Sunsnake Warpdrive They played Ashford Free Festival in 1999 thanks to the efforts of the Reknaw sound system. They also played The Volcano Free Festival in Hackney Marshes in 1998 with Smutley mixing the discs & scratching 20ft. in the air on a cherry picker while Paul played guitar & keyboards & Craig sung, played clarinet, recorder, tin whistle & Djembi drums on a stage beneath him. Thanks to The Big Sexy Festi Crew for that one. Apart from numerous festival gigs they played a plethora of indoor events. They performed at a squat Rave in The Pleasure Rooms in Tottenham in 1999 with Craig standing on the bonnet of a pink Cadillac that had been welded into one of the walls of the venue. In 2000 they played a squat rave in Peckham in a disused community centre where the cops were kept at bay at the door by a huge crowd who wouldn't let them in. The police fucked off. They played a squat gig in an old textile factory up Commercial Rd. with four floors & two sound systems per floor. Everything from Drum & Bass, Hip Hop, Speed Garage, Dub Reggae & Techno through to Deep House, Old Skool, Hard Core, Punk, Funk & Gabba were played by an enormous litany of DJ's at these events. The dawn of the 21st century certainly seemed to be heralding a greater fusion between styles at any one event. Paul Sunsnake at The Exodus Free Festival 1998   DJ Smutley Sunsnake at The Exodus Free Festival 1998   Sunsnake Goldsmiths Tavern 2000   Sunsnake Goldsmiths Tavern 2000   Sunsnake Goldsmiths Tavern 2000   Sunsnake Goldsmiths Tavern 2000   Sunsnake at West Greenwich House 2000   Sunsnake on top of a mountain in Wales 1999   Sunsnake on top of a mountain in Wales 1999   Sunsnake on top of a mountain in Wales 1999   Sunsnake on top of a mountain in Wales 1999   Sunsnake on top of a mountain in Wales 1999   Sunsnake on top of a mountain in Wales 1999   Craig Sunsnake at The Exodus Free Festival 1998a   Sunsnake Windows   They played a few events in West Wales. They had the pleasure of Nik Turner guesting on flute at a gig on a squatted, disused farm in 1999. They also played on an outdoor stage on the top of a mountain in the Brecon Beacons in the same year. There was a lake next to the stage & an incredible array of stars in the night sky. Sunsnake's busy schedule finally ended in 2002 with a gig at a fetish party in the Fringe Club in Vauxhall, London. With the help of Empress Stah of The Torture Garden, Kiran High & Angelita Cordoni they resurrected the Queen Mother from her recent incarceration in a coffin, exorcised the demons of greed that possessed her during her life & turned her into a Punk Rocker while the band played a Drum & Bass cover of God Save The Queen by The Pistols. Conrad Winchester (Whip The Minister) guested on Bass. Numerous CD's, tapes, videos, CD roms & DVD's exist with live & studio work on them. [Email] Craig [Home] - [Bands] - [Kiran] - [Books / Art] - [Civil Unrest] - [Events] - [Links] All material in this section is Copyright © Sunsnake.