Band of the Day: Mad Sneaks

All the way to Brazil for today’s BotD. A huge country and home to some well-known names in the metal scene. Well, let us introduce you to another one…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

We are a band from a small town called Alpinópolis, with about 18 thousand inhabitants in southeastern Brazil. At that moment the band lives in São Paulo.

How did you meet?

Since we are from a really small city, it is not difficult to imagine that we didn’t have much things to do there. Agno Dissan and Amaury Dias are cousins and have played together since always.

We had another bass player before, but when the band decided to move to São Paulo, for particular reasons, the he chose not to continue in the band. But we are good friends yet! Elton Reis, our current bass player, is also from our hometown, but as he was already living in Sao Paulo, it was easier to get him to our side.

How long have you been playing as a band?

We have been playing since the beginning. Our journey started 10 years ago and there are so many stories to tell.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

The band adopted the name Mad Sneaks as a “signal” in particular, due to the way it was suggested by one of the band . We were reunited to define a name for the band and we were drinking a lot, we got to a high level of drunkenness with no results for the name. We ended the meeting and went to our homes, but one of the became totally drunk at home, started to watch TV without any pretension and tuned into a show and he watched a sensual dance with a woman and an albino snake. He found everything very attractive and had the “brilliant” idea to suggest the name Mad “SNAKES”. He sent a cellphone message to the other of the band, but under the effects of alcohol he ended up writing it wrong. Instead of writing SNAKES he wrote SNEAKS. The situation was so funny that we definitely adopted the name MAD SNEAKS. For us, this name does not have any kind of literal translation or meaning and if we were not drunk that day, we probably would not have chosen that name.

What are your influences?

Various alternative rock bands of the 80s and 90s, from Punk to Grunge etc., such as The Virginmarys, Violent Soho, Social Distortion, Helmet, Rancid, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Local H, among others, influence us. But the band that really made us become interested in composing our own way, with the sincerity that we believe, was surely Nirvana. Overall, we like Rock’n roll and several of its strands. We always like to hear new things in rock and we expect more and more sincere things to happen every time.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

We are not unique. We don’t want to reinvent the wheel, we just keep going with what we love and believe, of course, on our way. We are just a band that does everything with a lot of ion to this insane movement called Rock n ‘Roll. The music is a crazy fusion of Punk, Grunge and Stoner. It is a mix of everything we love and everything done by the soul.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

Absolutely anything can turn into a good lyric. In general, our lyrics are the results of social problems, criticism, and viewpoints regarding our problems as a failing society, against prejudices, inequalities, and the dark sides of our species.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

They are very hectic shows, lots of energy involved and maybe some instruments being crashed in the end, it all depends on how the show happens.

We’ve already done a lot of shows and we honestly do not have a number in mind, certainly there were many, insane and unforgettable, we always live and play as it is the last time.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

This certainly refers to the end of some shows where our energy is very high. Destroyed instruments are part of these “jokes” that the band loves to do.

Our guitarist has already broken his leg stage diving. The most interesting thing about this fact is that even injured, he was held by the festival’s security guards and did not stop playing. This was almost a normal night for the band.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

We have our favorite models for sure, but we have no rules for something specific, it all depends on the situation, the size of the show, the distance and so on. We adapt according to each situation.

Overall, we used a simple and objective backline, just like a rock show should be. A basic, one-tone drum kit. Agno likes Les Paul models for his guitars and Elton likes 4-string bass models. This is enough to make an honest rock show.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

We are releasing a series of singles this year that will be placed in a complete album along with some new ones.

We have two video clips that will be released very soon. One of them will be in 2D and the other one with scenes of the band interspersed with scenes of “alternatives / fans”. We are also in the studio recording new singles, so we’ll always be releasing new stuff throughout the year. Many surprises are coming.

What are your plans for 2019/20?

We would love to tour Europe and North America later this year and play our songs live for all these people. In digital form, we have already arrived in all these countries, but now we want to be there physically, make new friends and show that Rock ‘n Roll is very much alive.

Who knows!? Maybe we can go through the old continent yet this year. It would be incredible!

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be ing and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

There are endless bands, surely it would be great to open for the Ramones and / or Nirvana, but unfortunately it is
impossible.

Well, it would be nice to play with Local H, Helmet, Violent Soho, Puddle of Mudd and of course it would be great if we could have with us our great friends from SFAC, Dvrill and Radio Attack bands.

Art is magic, it connects people in an incredible way.

Mad Sneaks: official | facebook | twitter | youtube