OC Music Awards 2012: Snakebit Drifters Create Southwestern Rock ‘N Roll That Really Makes You Drink

[Photos] OC Music Awards Showcase Series…

Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the OC Music Awards kicks off on January 3rd with seven weeks of free showcases at different venues across the county. 35 local artists will compete for the titles of Best Live Band or Best Live Acoustic and a performance slot at the 2012 OC Music Awards, March 3 at the Grove of Anaheim. And, the voting is open now!

“ We just play and have a really, really good time at it. We're certainly not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just want to make a good one.
” Tim Willis from Snakebit Drifters Power tools; hot drunk chicks; a ridiculously dangerous bonfire; an acoustic jam session; chicken nachos. Maybe, even the cops showing up to “shut down the fun.” In the world of “rock ‘n roll,” it’s always a good sign when you show up to interview and all these components are being represented.

Such is the case with good-time “Southwestern rock ‘n roll” group, Snakebit Drifters.

“We just play and have a really, really good time at it,” explained the hilarious host of the party and frontman, Tim Willis. “We’re certainly not trying to reinvent the wheel. We just want to make a good one.” 

Willis goes on to quote drummer (and milkman) Kevin Yoches: “‘We just want to make a nice wheel. ‘”

“So, we’re tipping the hat the Hank Williams the first, the second, the third, Slayer, Stray Cats, Tom Petty, whoever we like…Southwest rock ‘n roll. Bit of a surf influence with some Dick Dale licks. Little bit of Southern Californian punk, certainly some Western swing, but also some bluegrass.”

“So, pretty much all the kinds of music people like to get drunk to,” I replied. With drink in hand, Willis agreed.

“ The first time we played together it was awesome. I remember afterwards, Robin was outside smoking a cigarette and we didn't want to be like, 'Oh my god, this is amazing.' We had to play it cool. I was like, 'So, what do you think about playing next Thursday?' Robin's like, 'I'm in.'
” Willis and Yoches are joined by upright bassist Robin San Jose whom they found after a horrible stint searching on Craiglist.

Yoches elaborated, “We played a couple of weeks, just Tim and I before we decided we needed a bassist. I knew some bassists but no one that would really fit, so we just put an ad on Craigslist actually. And dealt with a lot of bad, bad bassists.”

“Then Robin finally came around. He answered an ad. Tim and I had a bet going whether Robin was going to be a guy or a girl.”

Willis interjected,”I thought he was going to be a hot chicana rockabilly chick.”

Yoches continued, “The first time we played together it was awesome. I remember afterwards, Robin was outside smoking a cigarette and we didn’t want to be like, ‘Oh my god, this is amazing.’ We had to play it cool. I was like, ‘So, what do you think about playing next Thursday?’ Robin’s like, ‘I’m in.’”

According to the Snakebit Drifters, San Jose is the anchoring aspect to the extroverted mania that is Yoches and Willis.

The pair met each other on Myspace then connected at a party where, according to Yoches, they finally “connected the dots” when the drummer strummed on a guitar and Willis made up “ridiculous lyrics.”

San Jose, a mellow, but watchful eye, almost keeps tabs on the other two–both musically and literally.

“I know them well enough now where I’m like, ‘OK, watch. Watch,” explained San Jose. “I’ll tell you what he’s about to do next. I already know. Tim walks with a purpose. It doesn’t matter what he’s thinking or where he’s going. Tim always walks with a purpose.”

The “pretty wild,” but purposeful pair said what they originally played pre-San Jose was “really, really really fast” and “balls to the wall. ” They likened it to “gutter-punk Nintendo freak music.”

In fact, the theme of the conversation that night seemed to be games; earlier we thought up the idea of a Pink Floyd video game and Willis compared his life to a “chess game” where he’s “playing chess against the whole world at every moment in life.”

Willis said that when San Jose came along, they started hearing “a bassline that was sort of galloping” and agreed that San Jose “sexed up” their sound.

“ I grew up just watching everybody. They played punk rock on the ghetto blasters and would be skating and spray painting. I just knew when I was 6-yrs-old. I had Converse. I had one purple and one red...They dressed me up all punk rock when I was little.
” Inspired to become a musician when he saw the “Dead Kennedy’s play in 1980,” it was when San Jose “saw Blazing Haley play and they had an upright bass” that he started to play the upright bass himself.

Both Willis and Yoches also have a punk rock background. Willis has played in several bands before Snakebit Drifters including a “psychobilly” band in Hawaii called Whiskey Dick Dragons and a gutterpunk band called the Greedy Little Trolls.

Part of Willis’ musical journey was his two older brothers and his upbringing in the Bay Area–especially a popular place called “The Pit” where he was taken as a small child.

“I grew up just watching everybody. They played punk rock on the ghetto blasters and would be skating and spray painting,” said Willis, describing The Pit. “I just knew when I was 6-yrs-old. I had Converse. I had one purple and one red…They dressed me up all punk rock when I was little.”

Although, according to Willis, he played gutterpunk for “ten years,” when he did a stint in the Coast Guard he learned about other types of music from meeting “amazing guitarists from the Smokey Mountains and the Carolinas” that changed his perception on music.