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Classic Nada – Who the Hell is Snowbell?

Posted by Nada July 12th, 2003 No Comments »

Who the Hell is this Band?
Snowbell hones their craft in the land of Indie pop

By Matt Ashworth

Snowbell are recent transplants to the indie music hot bed of Olympia, Washington. Unlike the majority of that town’s current bands, who either play metal or punk rock, Snowbell play pop music, citing Belle and Sebastian, the Beach Boys and the Zombies as influences. “We do melodic, melancholy pop songs,” says singer/songwriter/guitarist Galilee. “There aren’t too many other bands doing that in Olympia right now.”

Snowbell are recent transplants to the indie music hot bed of Olympia, Washington. Unlike the majority of that town’s current bands, who either play metal or punk rock, Snowbell play pop music, citing Belle and Sebastian, the Beach Boys and the Zombies as influences. “We do melodic, melancholy pop songs,” says singer/songwriter/guitarist Galilee. “There aren’t too many other bands doing that in Olympia right now.”

Galilee and boyfriend/drummer Matt met in California a couple of years ago and began dating. The duo later to moved to Olympia to save money and because “it’s a nice place to live.” Soon after, Galilee met Catherine, the group’s keyboardist, in a Safeway parking lot and the three began working on songs under their current name.

I caught the band’s set a few weeks ago at Olympia’s Voyeur and was immediately charmed by their songs and onstage personalities. Dressed all in white, the three members interacted playfully with the crowd, played a solid, well-rehearsed set, and even ended with a fantastic KISS cover featuring Galilee and Catherine harmonizing over Matt’s drum beat.

The band is scheduled to release a single later this year on Action Driver records, a label out of West Virginia. Until then, they’ll continue refining their sound and playing live shows in Olympia (and, the band hopes, Seattle at some point). If you catch them live, you’re guaranteed a solid set of pop songs from a band with a lot of potential. Whether you’ll get to hear the KISS cover or not however, remains to be seen. “We’re into the surprise ending when we play live, “ Galilee says. “We don’t want to do the same thing every time.”

Snowbell’s Top 5 Desert Island Albums
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground
The Zombies – Odyssey And Oracle
Queen – (Live) Killers
Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister