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Interview conducted
in April 2003
LATEST RELEASE:
"Beyond the Valley of the Proles" |
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| |  | |   | | By Christophe Labussière | | Photos all rights reserved |
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Snog was born in 1988 somewhere in Australia from the mad soul of David Thrussel. Yet, we had to wait until 1992 before hearing his first single "Corporate Slave". From the start, David went directly against the grain of the electronic music of that time, he mixed with genius his psychopath's voice, a zest of electrodance, a pinch of funk, anti-capitalistic messages and a good dose of madness. In the first album that quickly followed, "LIES, INC.", there was another hit, Born to be Mild. From the start, the United States and its consumerism were his targets, and the treatment he gave them was as neat and coherent as it was vehement. The album was released in Australia and in Europe at the same time, and the United States had to wait the following year to hear it. "Born to be Mild", "Hey Christian God", "Cliché", remixes crammed EPs followed one another, but didn't prevent our prodigy to work on parallel projects: Soma with Pieter Bourke (Eden and Dead Can Dance) and Black Lung (six essential CDs!). The album "DEAR VALUED CUSTOMER" was released in 1995 and went on the same way... "The Future", "Remote Control", "Hooray", EPs, compilations, lives, fulfilled the almost sickly hyperproductivity of Snog and brought us to 1997 and "BUY ME... I'LL CHANGE YOUR LIFE". New sounds appeared and would stay, somewhere between spaghetti westerns and country folk. David Thrussel seemed to enjoyed himself all the while pleasing us, and went on with his messages. "The Ballad", "The Human Germ" and the double CD "I Snog, Therefore I am..." were released in 1998, the latter being his first collaboration with the label Hymen. In 1999 "THIRD MALL FROM THE SUN" and its shock cover-sleeve (with McDonald's as a target) made from a Chris Woods' painting, completed David Thrussel's action. In this album, he took a more electronic direction than ever, with dancefloor ambiences, but always haunted by his definitively strange voice. His latest opus, "BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE PROLES", was still done in collaboration with Chris Woods, and this time, the target was Nike. This album, like the previous one, was censured in Australia. It logically followed "Buy Me...I'll Change Your Life", like an unlikely cross between Wall of Voodoo, Death In June and Lassigue Bendthaus, because the sounds and the combinations still surprised us. Apparently quite remote from its predecessor, this album seemed yet very complementary and would certainly remain his second master work. An extremely rich discography worthy of a genius. Yet, we only talked about the records released under his own name, like the recent "The Fire this Time" a double CD done to protest against the war in Iraq, and especially his project Black Lung. | | |  | | | | | |       | |
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