Snake River Conspiracy (SRC) is an American

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

band. It was formed in 1996 in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

by producers

Eric Valentine Eric Dodd, known professionally as Eric Valentine, is an American record producer who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride. He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Lostprophets ...

and Jason Slater. The band's vocalist, Tobey Torres, was recruited in 1998.

History

Snake River Conspiracy was founded in 1996 as a project of producer

and Jason Slater, a former member of

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...

. After forming, the band hired Tobey Torres to be the band's singer. The band was initially signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

in 1998 on the strength of a two-song demo, and shortly after signing to the label Valentine opted out of the band to focus on his music production career. Problems at Interscope led to the band moving to

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

and then

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

. The band's debut EP/single, " Vulcan", was released on October 5, 1999; it received rave reviews from critics, and was named "Single of the Week" by the British music magazine ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. SRC's debut album, '' Sonic Jihad'', was released in the United States on July 11, 2000. The band found moderate success in the United States with their cover of "

How Soon Is Now? "How Soon Is Now?" is a song by English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. Originally a B-side of the 1984 single " William, It Was Really Nothing", "How Soon Is Now?" was subsequently featured on the ...

" by

The Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

, which reached a peak of number 15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart and number 38 on the

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart. "How Soon Is Now?" was reissued as a single in the UK by Morpheus Records in July 2001, where it subsequently reached number 83 on the UK Singles Chart. In an episode of the official SRC podcast from 2005 addressing the numerous lineup changes, Slater named Mitchell Doran as the "best guitarist and most solid band member" in SRC. Slater died of

liver failure Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Two forms are recognised, acute and chronic (cirrhosis). Recently, a third form of liver failure known as acute- ...

on December 9, 2020. In July 2022, Torres and Mitchell Doran launched a new

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account for Snake River Conspiracy, announcing that new music from the band will be released in 2023. In November 2022, Mitchell Doran alleged that Jason Slater had stolen several compositions that were written by other Snake River Conspiracy members during the ''SRC2'' recording sessions, and reused them with other bands he produced.

Band members

Current members *Tobey Torres-Doran – vocals (1998–2004, 2006, 2022–present) *Mitchell J. Doran – guitarist, producer (2005–2006, 2022–present) Former members * Jason Slater – producer, bass (1996–2006, 2012–2020), guitars (2004–2005) (died 2020) *

– producer, engineer (1996–1999) *Martina Axén – vocals, drums (2004–2005) *

Geoff Tyson T-Ride was an American, San Francisco-based hard rock band that was noted for its complex instrument and vocal arrangements. Their eponymous debut album was released in 1992. The band was compared to Queen and Van Halen, and the album receive ...

– lead guitarist, production (1998–2002) *

Rob Patterson Rob Patterson (born November 9, 1970) is an American guitarist and composer. Background Patterson was born in Natick, Massachusetts. His first major act was the female-fronted metal band, Otep. He wrote and played on the albums, '' Sevas Tra'', ...

– guitarist (touring only; 2000) *Fab Fernandez Hewitt – guitarist (2002–2004) *Eric Hendrikx – guitarist (2003–2004) *China – guitarist (2004) *Leo Larsen – guitarist (2006) *Ivo Ivanov – keyboards (touring only; 2000–2001) *Scott Engelter – keyboards (2001–2002) *Ashif Hakik – keyboards (2006) (died 2021) *

Jay Lane Jay Lane (born December 5, 1964) is an American musician. He is a founding member of Bob Weir's RatDog, with Weir and Rob Wasserman, Wolf Bros, Furthur, Golden Gate Wingmen, Dead & Company and Alphabet Soup. He was the 5th and then later the 8 ...

– drums (2000) *Neil Taylor – drums (2000–2002, 2003–2004) *Bobby Hewitt – drums (2002–2003) *Matt Lucich – drums (2006)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums * '' Sonic Jihad'' (2000)

References

External links

Snake River Conspiracy's Discogs pageSnake River Conspiracy Demos at MyspaceSnake River Conspiracy at MySpaceTobey Torres at MySpaceRiver Conspiracy at Songmeanings
* {{Authority control American industrial rock musical groups Electronica music groups Electronic music groups from California Interscope Records artists Elektra Records artists Reprise Records artists Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Musical groups reestablished in 2012 Musical groups disestablished in 2020 Musical groups reestablished in 2022