Try searching the Internet for pictures of Snakehips. You won’t find many. The London-based electro-house producers, musicians and DJs are decidedly coy. So much so that it is only in relatively recent times that Oliver Lee and James Carter allowed interviewers to know their names.
“We wanted our music to be the focus of attention,” Oliver explained. “If you enjoy the music, why should you need to know the identity of the people who created the tune? As long as you know it’s by an act called Snakehips then that’s all you need if you want to look for our other work.”
So, why did they eventually reveal their names?
“It was reaching a point where our anonymity was becoming as much of a story as our music,” James admitted. “This was the exact opposite of what we wanted. We realised if we just told people our names then all the concentration could be on our music.”
The boys met in 2012 during business trips to Hong Kong. They were introduced by a mutual friend.
“Our friend had more insight than we did,” James laughed. “We didn’t initially appreciate how perfectly we complemented each other and didn’t get on all that well at first. But it became evident that my strengths were Oliver’s weaknesses and vice versa. What we were lacking as individuals was made good as a duo.”
They describe their sound as being inspired by golden-era hip hop and R&B mixed with more modern production techniques. Their first release which attracted media attention was 2013’s On & On which featured the voice of Australian singer George Maple.
“George is a Sydney native but lives in London,” Oliver revealed. “Ev erybody thinks George must be a man so I reckon they’re shocked when they hear the On & On vocal. Her name isn’t even Georgina, it’s Jess, but she got the idea of having a contrived stage persona as George Maple. By the time she realised this wasn’t for her, she was stuck with the name.”
Snakehips have worked with George on other tracks, including her solo material. They did the same with Sinead Harnett, the featured vocalist on their 2014 single, Days With You.
“We like to establish continuing relationships with the talented people who appear on our tracks,” Oliver stated. “We work with them in the first place because we admire their ability so, if all goes well, it’s only natural that we’d want to work with them again.”
Whether they will again work with R&B singer Tinashe and hip hop star Chance The Rapper remains to be seen. But the success of their single, All My Friends, surely suggests future collaborations are a must.
“The whole thing has been an amazing experience,” James remarked. “Tinashe and Chance knew about us from the remixing work we’ve done for artists such as Banks, The Weeknd, Bondax and Wild Belle. Actually, our remix of Wild Belle’s It’s Too Late was the first track we ever released.
“We knew All My Friends was something special throughout the creative process. Tinashe and Chance blended perfectly on the track and we couldn’t be happier about the music we created.”
“We’ve had lots of club and dance chart hits but never previously had any mainstream pop chart success,” Oliver added. “But we felt this could be the track which took us beyond the Radio 1 dance shows and into the mainstream playlists.”
Already a massive hit in the UK and Australia, All My Friends is being tipped to find similar success in America.
“The lyrics have been compared with Alessia Cara’s Here,” James remarked. “Both songs are about being in situations where everyone is supposed to be having a good time but not everybody feels like that.
“All My Friends is about nights in a club where people are getting wasted. The lyrics deal with recognising the problem and wanting to escape from this seemingly endless self-destructive cycle.”
All My Friends should feature on the duo’s forthcoming debut album.
“We’ve been working on our album for the last few years,” Oliver admitted. “We keep getting sidetracked on to other projects. We play so many shows, which we absolutely love. Then there are remixes to do and new songs to create.
“We’re not even sure if we should include songs we’ve already released which people know or make an entire album of new tunes. Whatever we decide, the album should be out some time this year but I’m not making any promises.”

in
brief

Glenn Frey

The death of Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey continues an horrendous run of music icons passing away in recent times. David Bowie, Scott Weiland, Lemmy Kilmister and Natalie Cole are just the bigger names. These are now joined by Glenn who died from complications arising from rheumatoid arthritis, colitis and pneumonia.
He formed Eagles in 1971 with Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner. They became one of the biggest-selling bands of the 1970s with six US chart-topping albums, five number one singles and total sales of well over 150 million records.
Glenn wrote or co-wrote many of the band’s biggest hits. Hotel California, which is said to be played on a radio station somewhere in the world every second of every day, is generally regarded as their most popular song. But when asked which song he would play if he knew he only had five minutes to live, Glenn revealed his all-time favourite Eagles track to be One of These Nights.
Live performances of the song can be found on YouTube. But a fan-made video accompanying the recorded version of “One of These Nights” is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTgk1qEJn_4

David Bowie

David Bowie’s latest album, Blackstar, was already heading towards number one in Britain before his death was announced. But it has now ended Adele’s seven-week reign atop the Billboard 200 and become David’s first US chart-topping album.
One of his numerous greatest hits packages, Best of Bowie, is at number four while David’s iconic 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, hit number 21.
In the UK album chart, ten of David’s LPs hold positions in the top 40 with 19 in the top 100. In the singles chart, 13 of his songs are listed in the top 100 with five among the top 24.

Future


Rap star Future has not been resting on his laurels since topping the Billboard 200 with his third studio album, DS2. The man born Nayvadius Wilburn recently released a chart-topping joint mixtape, What a Time to be Alive, with Canadian rapper Drake and is back again now with another mixtape, Purple Reign.
All 13 tracks can be heard and downloaded for free at www.datpiff.com/Future-Purple-Reign-mixtape.760632,html Slowed down versions of the mixtape, plus DJ Truth’s remixes of every song, are also available. Access these by typing Future Purple Reign in the website search box.

Aurora


The John Lewis Christmas television commercial always promises success for any artist providing the musical accompaniment. 2015 was no exception with 19-year-old Norwegian singer / songwriter Aurora Aksnes reaching number 11 on the UK chart with her cover of the Oasis track, Half the World Away.
She is back now with her own song, Conqueror. It is taken from Aurora’s debut album, All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend, which is scheduled for release on March 11.
Conqueror is the latest track posted at (no www.) soundcloud.com/auroraaksnes. Half the World Away is not on here but the official video is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYKU7DfEJT4