Thank you for taking time with Audit In Progress, the 3rd and latest offering from HOT SNAKES. I hope you find it as much of a preposterous out-pouring of piss-tacular pounding and primal percussive premonitions as I. On this record the band really strapped it on and worked each other over real good. I was fortunate enough to be a “fly on the wall” for the entire process and watched the band at what I could only assume was their creative peak. All total, Hot Snakes went through 78 bags of beef jerky during the course of writing the record. I swear, listening back to the tracks now in my office that I can hear the intense jerky flavor in the grooves. But I am getting a little ahead of myself….

 

February 4, 2004 - Gar Wood, John Reis, Rick Froeberg, and new drummer Mario Rubalcaba convened at Drag Racist Studios, San Diego to hash things out. Adjusting to Mario’s stylized, fluid bashing, the band molded their existing sound around his turbulent, heartbeat. That seemed to take about 4 or so minutes. Then some of them drank Gatorade and I think Gar had a Tecate. They practiced for 10 days then promised to reconvene in a month or two.

 

 June 4, 2004 - back at Drag Racist the band ironed out the final touches and committed to which songs they would record. Mid –month they entered Big Fish Studio armed with stacks of amps, piles of guitars and heaps of crappy keyboards and organs. These instruments were to soon become holders for coffee cups, doorstops, ottomans and tables for eating burritos as the band seemed inclined to neglect their presence for the most part. When not over using the word dude, Hot Snakes spoke of how they wanted “this one to be different” and constantly pointed to an unopened bottle of Tequila. After 4 days of recording, they took the tapes back to Drag Racist where smoke was blown on the reels then back to Big Fish a couple days later to mix. As always it was a complete last minute affair as the final mix was completed at 8:00 am after an all nighter. Exciting stuff.

 

Before the band entered the studio, I offered a couple suggestions for the band. As executive producer on this project, I felt the band could really take this band thing into overdrive and score a big hit for Swami. Unfortunately my input fell on deaf ears both in and out of the studio. Although I am truly stokefied by the end results of the overall product, the lack of a radio-hit single just might hurt this release. So at this point I ask you to hear in Audit In Progress as I and plunge into it’s molten murk with a championing vigor that will help boost confidence among the unassuming marketplace.

 

Audit In Progress combines the pissed power of the bands first recording (Automatic Midnight) with the lysergic lamentations of the bands second (Suicide Invoice). Although I do hear an occasional influence creeping in here and there (maybe the Groundhogs, Suicide, Flamin’ Groovies, Crime, Michael Yonkers, Turkish Psychedelic and Asian acid blues) the bands sound is clearly their own and often veers so far of course that the impetus is indiscernible even to an insider such as myself. From the opening apocalyptic tidal wave of Brain Trust to the last ringing chord of proto punk inspired Plenty For All, Audit In Progress rings with a creative dissatisfaction that elevates the punk form to uncharted territory. My unbiased perspective finds this to be the band in their finest form and captured in a most flattering light. Thanks again for your time and please, lets do all we can to take this one to the top.

Tour dates were:
2005
July 6 - Brisbane, The Zoo
July 8 - Melbourne, Corner Hotel
July 9 - Sydney, Annandale Hotel