Over the past couple of years, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering the acclaimed — and downright legendary — punk act Hot Snakes. Continuing upon the momentum of 2018’s Jericho Sirens, the band released the “Checkmate”/”Not in Time” 7 inch late last year as the first of a series of four 7 inch singles released to lead up to the JOVM mainstay act’s highly-awaited fifth album.
The physical copies of “Checkmate”/”Not in Time” were sold only at shows during their UK tour to close out 2019 — and as you may recall, Sub Pop released, the sleazy AC/DC-like “Checkmate,” digitally through all DSPs. And until — well, today, the B-side “Not In Time” was unavailable anywhere else. “Not in Time” is essentially classic Hot Snakes: rousingly anthemic and euphoric hooks, pummeling guitar riffs, thunderous drumming and howled vocals. Goddamn it, I miss loud rock shows and sweaty mosh pits — because this one is a mosh pit anthem.
“Not in Time” will be available on Hot Snakes’ Bandcamp page tomorrow at Pay-Whatever-the-Hell-You-Want pricing for Friday only, as part of Bandcamp’s ongoing monthly fundraisers to generate funds for artists unable to tour as a result of the pandemic.
Directed by Jessica Kourkounis (Jason Kourkounis’ sister), the recently released video is a hilarious and hallucinogenic visual that follows a crew of skateboarders, who during an afternoon of wholesome shredding take tabs of Hot Snakes-branded acid and suddenly strange things happen — mainly, they see their arms elongate as they continue skating.
“This video started with a basic idea I had, which was, wouldn’t it be funny to see a bunch of skater dudes try and shred with extra-long arms” Jessica Kourkounis explains. “I have a bit of an obsession with homemade-looking costumes. So I hit up my friend Brian Emig to see if he would help me find the guys and film them. The rest happened pretty organically. We just went out and did it mostly. I also wanted to somehow include a visual of the band so I asked Rick to draw their heads so I could print them on blotter paper to help move the story forward. To great relief, it all worked out.”