Archives for category: Snakeman 3

The Divine Undone.

This is a hard one to share. I had such high hopes for a future with this band, but it wasn’t to be. We had an albums worth of songs rehearsed and tight…but it lasted two gigs and one home recording demo session. We were all busy with other projects and real life stuff that it sadly never took off.

The project had the psychedelia of Enki and the rough edges of Snakeman. We were a four piece built around the songwriting and guitar/saxophone playing of Kirsty Wilkins (The Lunar Trixies). Featuring members of Presley Johnson (Alex George on drums) , Enki (me on bass), and Jontys Jam Night regular, Mario on guitar it was a bit of a Northampton supergroup back in 2014.

We at times sounded like The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix…anything with that late 60’s psych edge. I played a home made fretless bass for this band that was named Ragwitch.

Some of the songs would go on to be performed by new band The Ginhouse Gypsies, Muddy Boots and The Lunar Trixies. All that remains of our short time as a band are a bunch of photographs, one of the coolest gig posters I’ve ever been attached to, and a live recording that I shall share snippets of in due time.

In August of 2012 The Snakeman 3 set up in a warehouse with a bunch of microphones and a desktop PC to demo a bunch of songs. The EP was set to be called ‘Fry Your Mind’ and featured some very psychedelic artwork. Four of the songs have survived the session as multi-tracks but were ultimately never released. Studio engineers we were not back then, so the recordings were very much demos. They sounded good enough for us to share our sound of the time though. I reckon with a bit more time and focus we could have completed this EP quite effectively. For all the years of being in The Snakeman 3, and in all the guises that band took on, the period of time where we were recording and performing this EP were my personal highlights.

Line up changes in the band occurred after the summer and we set about recording the songs in a different way. The sound became more raucous and rough, DIY and punk after months of gigs in the new lineup. Everything was committed live to a 4-track reel-to-reel recorder in the same warehouse space as ‘Fry Your Mind’. Those later recordings would later be released as the album ‘We’re Better Than You’.

Aside from these photos and other rehearsal shots from the time, the only evidence of the EP ever existing is this video featuring the song ‘Memphis’. This was a popular song in the live set right up until the end of my time with the band – how long can you hold that E chord in the post chorus Kenny?! Strangely this song never made the album. I might mix the multitracks properly at some point.

Feel free to explore the discography and links pages at the top of the website to listen to sounds from each of the current projects released out into the world.

The Silent Committee

The Silent Committee is an instrumental project that revolves around manipulation of acoustic and electric instruments. The songs produced are typically minimalist and ambient in nature and as time has gone on have become more complex. It started life as experimentation with 4-track cassette demos and grew into full studio production and even live performance. To date there are three full length albums and a number of EPs, singles and soundtracks under the name.

Violet’s Gone

Violet’s Gone is the more typical singer songrwiter sound and quite far removed from the instrumental projects. Chris Fordham started his musical exploration as a rhythm guitarist and a bassist in pub bands, lurking around open mic nights. Having learnt a decent roster of cover songs he set out to write his own songs inspired by the artists he listened too in his teen years and beyond. Expect songs based around piano and guitar in the main; some experimental leanings, but a lot of these you can sing along with. This project is two albums and one EP in, so far.

[Pyxis]

Starting out in 2023 after a short break from releasing new music in earnest, [Pyxis] is a new project that sought to shake things up for Chris and get him making tunes again. Gone are complicated rhythm and time signature swaps, in are electronic sounds with drone backing, ambiance, noise and drum loops. Something new and we hope you enjoy. The debut album from this project lands in July 2023.

Chris Fordham

Finally, there is the music released just under the musicians real name. This is where it all started back in 2004…he’s tried my best to remove traces of the real early stuff from the face of the Earth but some of it still stands up. Chris was associated with a netlabel in the 2010’s called BFW Recordings (sadly no longer active) and produced some songs that still stand up as some of his best; even when the recording techniques afforded were minimal. At some point in the near future we will collate and remix/master the recordings of this era to give them a new lease of life. Aside from those projects there are a selection of classical songs scored for quartet or bigger that NEED recording properly and will hopefully one day, happen.

Other Projects

Chris has appeared in a number of bands and recording projects over the years. Most notably are his long term involvement in Northampton bands Enki and The Snakeman 3. Both approached different brands of psychadelic and garage rock very different to his own solo projects and definitely shaped his musical outlook. Chris was also a member of the touring band for To Bury A Ghost in promotion of the EP The Hurt Kingdom and still maintains contact, a listening ear and occasional instrument to Jons new projects. Check out the bio page at the top menu to see an extensive list of all Chris’s other project appearances, live and studio.