Daryl Tabreski - Vocals Tim Redmond - Drums Scott Dressler - Guitar John Salemi - Guitar Bob Whiteside - Bass
The Buffalo, New York-based hardcore quintet SNAPCASE, comprised of vocalist Daryl Tabreski, guitarists Scott Dressler and John Salemi, bassist Bob Whiteside, and drummer Tim Edmond. After earning an enthusiastic fanbase among the hardcore community's revived straight-edge scene, the group signed to the Victory label and debuted in early 1995 with Lookinglasself; Steps, their follow-up, which appeared later that same year and in 1997, SNAPCASE issued their third LP, Progression Through Unlearning.
SNAPCASE have established themselves as one of today's best selling and drawing hardcore punk bands. Their infamous live show and dischordant, energy-filled music has propelled them to the forefront of the genre. Over the years the band has developed a huge international fanbase by creating an intimate, unified connection with their audiences. Progression Through Unlearning combines SNAPCASE's creative style with more melody, hooks and their patented guitar harmonics that is sure to increase the band's ever increasing fanbase.
Over the last few years, SNAPCASE have undeniably established themselves as one of America's most popular hardcore bands. About the band, singer Daryl Taberski says, "A lot of hardcore bands write about straight-edge or veganism or something political...basically just organizations to belong to. But I think that before people can start thinking about those things, they need to think about themselves a little more. And that's why I have such a hard time belonging to a certain affiliated group, because I'm not sure what it is that I want out of myself yet, either." Even though the band does live the "straight-edge" lifestyle and practices vegetarianism, they don't preach about it. Adds Daryl, "I don't feel right telling people "the way it is," because I don't know myself." The band is more about creating an intimate, unified connection with the crowd as opposed to telling people what to do. The positive energy that reverberates at a Snapcase show is proof-positive of this.
The band's music is aggressive, stop-and-go groove with sporadic time changes and mesmerizing guitar harmonics. Their lyrics are emotionally-charged and introspective. The band's message deals with personal angst, awareness of society's ills, and the spirit of mankind--the songs are realistic, but positive, uplifting and motivating.
Steps was SNAPCASE's second record. This four song compact disk (CD) is the perfect introduction to the world of modern hard-core for anyone who likes Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, or any other abrasive yet original music. SNAPCASE has the guitar crunch and yelled vocals typical of hard-core but throws in a lot of Rage Against The Machine-like weird guitar noises. These mostly high-pitched, kind of siren-like harmonic lead riffs are backed by the aforementioned crunchy, distorted, heavy chording which is evenly mixed with the pronounced, punchy bass and time-keeping but not passive drumming (with a lot of effective, emphasizing fills). The solid and forceful yet creative and irregular music is the perfect compliment to the lyric content/vocal delivery combination.
The vocals are often either jabbing shouts or drawn out sung yells, but there is underlying emotion besides the evident anger. The lyrics are introspective and questioning with positive overtones of overcoming adversity and opposition to live life right. The fourth song is a nice, flowing, emotional/dramatic sounding instrumental with interesting transitions where the riffs kind of teeter and fall into each like something flowing down a river and getting caught on a rock momentarily before being pushed downstream into the rapids. The pictures on the insert gives a good indication of the chaotic, energetic, uninhibited, and just plain fun shows this brand of music induces. The Muppet/Sesame Street overdubs at the end of the CD are silly and help lighten things up should any aspect of the CD bring one down. The only negatives are that the guitars could be mixed a little louder, and that there are only four songs.
