When most kids their age were riffling through college textbooks and
figuring out the path of least resistance towards some sort of stable
income, these small town boys were riffling through their parents
record collections, studying the messy emotion-fuelled rock of Pavement
and the fuzzy post-rock discography of Sonic Youth, dreaming of ways
they could marry it all together. So far it hasn't worn off, being the
average age of 21, they still have their collective sights set on a
future a little bit more shaky and unstable than the rest of their
peers.
In the beginning, the four best friends who make up the
ambitiously named outfit (Rob Janson, Aaron Harvey, Dan Reardon, Matt
Meyer) locked themselves up for days in their parents' basements
practicing and refining demos, only emerging when they had stumbled
upon the most perfect blend of garage pop/guitar fuzz rock this side of
the border has heard in a long time. It's this obsessive compulsiveness
in their music that pays off huge on their independently released
debut, Everybody See This. In the same way the Strokes released
a sonically moving debut album, it is apparent that this is much more
than an average first run from a bunch of college dropouts. This is a
band with a future. Everybody See This is ripe and bubbling
with the type of youthful rage you can't fake. It's delicate and
fragile in all the right places and thoroughly captivating from start
to finish. In the same way they originally honed their sound, Sandman Viper Command
isolated themselves for six months in a barn on the outskirts of
Hamilton, Ontario with producer Dave King, recording intensely to make
sure Everybody See This captured the raw, frenetic qualities of
the band, and achieving that lofty childhood goal of creating a sound
they can call their own.
Everybody See This has lots of variety, yet never
sacrifices the consistency of the full release. Lead single "Strawberry
Quick" is like a parasite, vague enough for any heartless teenager to
fill in the gaps with their own lost stories of lust-filled nights. "Oh
Yeah, It's Fusion" is a right proper sing-a-long while balancing on the
edge of being nerdy art rock and an angular ambient guitar jam.
And like any good band, a great album is followed up by a great
live show. Young as they may be, put these four handsome musicians on
stage and you have a band with a cohesive attitude. Their tight
performance chops earned them opening spots for the likes of Holy Fuck,
The Arkells, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and more.
It didn't take their hometown of Burlington, Ontario and the
surrounding cities long to pick up on this truly great find. Hamilton's
View magazine scribed, "Sandman Viper Command conjures up
references to Sloan - but in away that is still fresh... for a debut
recording, this is a standout on so many levels... the band to watch in
2010" and the Hamilton Spectator was quick to state, ""Everyone 'gets' Sandman Viper Command".
In an unconventional twist the band's song "Yo Bobcat" debuted on the
Fan590's "Prime Time Sports" with Bob McCown, in what the band can only
refer to as the "collapsing of a quantum waveform" presenting them with
national coverage and since then SVC have even been referred to as the
"house band" of the show, by Bob himself!
2010 will see the band heavily touring their debut release and
cashing in on the many years of obsessive songwriting and compulsive
jamming.