Interview: Snark Chat About Their Latest Offering, ‘Stay’

Naarm/Melbourne residents who regularly get out to the gigs every weekend or even on school nights, you might know of pop punk sweethearts, Snark. But if not, do not fret, the trio have newly released their single Stay and have much more music on the way as we head into 2023.

Enlisting the help of what I would say as some of Melbourne music royalty; Darren Cordeux of Kisschasy to co-write the single Stay and Jack Newlyn of Paradise Club to produce the track.

Stay is a testament to the fact that grief is not linear and is a push and pull of emotions like waves of the ocean and aiming to find some sort of solace after experiencing loss.

We got to speak to vocalist Stefan to chat about the single, being a Kisschasy fanboy and their plans for the near future.

Who is Snark?

We are just three best friends who happened to end up in a band! We were friends before we were in a band and we write upbeat songs about sad stuff, because  that’s just the kinda people we are I guess.

Congrats on the killer recent single Stay, what was the inspiration and meaning behind the track?

That song is about grief and loss. I had a couple of people I was pretty close to pass away and my way of dealing with things is to write music about it. It’s about still feeling them there and the memories that you shared together and all that kind of stuff and the moments where all the pain that surrounds it eases up, reminiscing on the good times.

I think a lot of people can relate to this song in many different ways which is always a nice thing.

The track was co-written by Darren Cordeux of Kisschasy, which is super cool and exciting and you have worked with him previously! What is it like working with him?

It’s been crazy because I’m like a massive Kisschasy fanboy and having a chance to write with him has been awesome. He’s got an ear for a hook, he’ll say like ‘You’ve gotta bring this part back, this is the best part of the song.’  You’ll think it’s a throwaway line but he just hears it differently.

The music video was really heartfelt and well done, what was the process of putting it all together?

That’s probably the most fun we’ve ever had with a music video and it’s the first time I’ve ever written a song – as we were writing it that I already had a picture in my head, which has never happened before, it’s usually a bit of a head scratcher with what to do visually. I think with this one though, the story ties into the lyrics really well and the overall message of the song,

And we’re really lucky to work with Aidan Rice. He’s done videos for Loose End and us previously. He takes an idea and the smallest budget in the world and makes something that looks amazing and is really true to the vision we had.

What is your creative process like and is there always a particular way you go about things or does it change from time to time?

It varies depending on the song, sometimes we’ll thrash something out in the rehearsal space together and those songs can come out really effortlessly and you’ll be finished in a couple of hours, but this one was started  at home and I took it to the guys because we always do it together and Darrens based in LA….

Ah I guess the time difference would make things more difficult.

Yeah late night zoom calls and emails back and forth. One of the things I’ve treasured with working with Darren aswell is that the Kisschasy fanboy in me now has this collection of  voice memos of him singing songs that I’ve written. And if you would have told 13 year old me that, I would’ve had an absolute meltdown … so it was a cool process!

Are there any artists that really stick out to you as big influences on your music or even just yourself?

I think if you asked the other guys in the band they’d give completely different answers, everyone’s got their different influences and it’s a push and pull but for me, I really adore the guys in Slowly Slowly, they’re a huge influence in the way I write and the way I go about being a band. Also Sly Withers are really cool. In terms of artists that aren’t specifically in our genre; Mallrat.

That’s a great answer, she’s amazing!

Yeah! There’s more indie and pop elements that we are introducing into our songs and it’s inspired by the fact I’m obsessed with Mallrat and CHVRCHES and I guess that’s part of the fun of it.

You’ve just headlined a show at Cherry Bar to launch the single Stay, how would you describe a typical live show of yours?

We like to tackle heavy topics with our songs but they are always energetic songs, really high energy sets and we’re gonna jump around and dance like idiots and we invite people to do that with us. We are always cracking jokes and stuff even if the next song is a super heavy one.

A little bit of comedy in between, that adds to a great show.

Attempted comedy.

Can you tell us about the upcoming JYMGT 5th Birthday Bash gig which is taking place at The Evelyn Hotel on the 23rd October with supports Loose End and Ultravlt?

Yeah that’s super exciting, we’ve been with JY Management Group since mid pandemic which is a weird time to start but yeah it will be a celebration of their 5th birthday. They’ve worked with some bands that we absolutely adore; Reside and Terra, and they’ve been hugely influential to us as well and part of the reason we wanted to work with Jaz. So we’re headlining the show to celebrate that. It’s  going to be a really good vibe and there will be lots of friends there from around the scene so it’ll be really good. 

Aside from the next gig, do you have any plans for the rest of 2022?

We do have some shows that haven’t been announced yet, I don’t know how much we are allowed to say but some exciting stuff there…and I think we’re pretty deep into writing some more stuff so new music is coming not too far off!

Upcoming Snark gig tickets and info here

Radicals Take It Or Leave It Tour / October 8th 

JYMG 5th Birthday Bash / October 23