Punk Rock Retrospective: Snakefinger's Chewing Hides the Sound

Sure, it's peculiar to consider Snakefinger, easily one of the greatest innovators of electric guitar sound ever to grace the '70s and '80s, as a punk rock artist. But Snakefinger was a weird dude, a pioneer; everything that man came to be known for can easily correlate with punk rock virtues; the punk rock label, in this case, should not limit this artist's reaches. Rather, it should expand it!

Maybe Snakefinger wasn't all about riffy little chords or over-the-top grungy distortion, but the man knew subversion! Chewing Hides the Sound, the freshman release of Snakefinger (and his backing band the Vestal Virgins) can easily transcend a million sounds.

It's a tongue-in-cheek mix of a million eclectic sounds, and it rarely falters. Although it may seem a little jumbled at first, Snakefinger prevails; with compelling poetry backed by [Snakefinger on] some swinging vocals, it's all about the end result: an energizing, anti-disco adventure that will freak the socks off of any conformist-dolt.

Chewing Hides the Sound opens with The Model, a Kraftwerk remake perfected with a combination of upbeat, inventive-yet-80s technotronic sounds: synth percussion line, rolling bass, and, of course, Snakefinger's magical guitar. The Model, remarkably, is played on a steel guitar, which is something Snakefinger became notorious for playing.

Not only is it mastered in terms of skill, but the sounds that Snakefinger gets through his combination of style and fine-tuning (both on the guitar and off of it-- his distortion is absolutely insane) are a mix of subtle beauty and heady psychadelics.

So who made the rule that psychedelic can't play a major role in punk rock music? Check out Snakefinger's Chewing Hides the Sounds, it'll make your un-punk grandma gnash her teeth!