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Artsy Seattle post-hardcore act These Arms Are Snakes mixes the urgency and aggressive vocal style of punk with the exploded song structures and technical complexity of the original wave of math rock bands. This fusion is a logical progression from the bandmembers' former projects: singer Steve Snere was formerly of the Minneapolis-to-Seattle emo transplants Kill Sadie, while bassist, singer, and keyboardist Brian Cook was formerly in long-running math rockers Botch. (Scene incest note: other former members of Botch and Kill Sadie, guitarist David Knudson and bassist Cory Murchy respectively, formed another Seattle post-hardcore act, Minus the Bear, whose drummer, Erin Tate, was in both Kill Sadie and one lineup of These Arms Are Snakes. A Pete Frame-style family tree among all these bands would probably induce a nagging headache.) Snere, Cook, guitarist Ryan Frederiksen, keyboardist Jesse Robertson, and drummer Joe Preston released their first EP, This Is Meant to Hurt You, on Jade Tree Records in August 2003. With Tate replacing Preston and with Robertson out of the band, These Arms Are Snakes released their debut full-length, Oxeneers or The Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home, in September 2004. Their second full-length album, Easter, followed in the fall of 2006, with new producer Chris Common also taking over the drum throne from Ben Verellen (of Roy and Harkonen fame). Over the next two years, the quartet toured with like-minded groups Pelican, Mastodon, Hot Water Music, and the Blood Brothers before releasing their third album Tail Swallower and Dove on Suicide Squeeze records in October of 2008. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi
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