Snowden

By Jason James
Photo by Kevin Griggs

These days, the lives of several prominent Atlanta bands revolve around constant national touring. Whether they fall into the category of art rock, indie rock or simply flower punk, each band is crossing the nation, and in some cases the Atlantic Ocean, in support of their respective breakthrough recordings. One such band is dance-rock group Snowden, who manage to be chic, political and creative in their music all at the same time.

The band has been constantly touring in support of its first Jade Tree Records album, Anti Anti, since its release in early fall of last year. The first leg of the tour saw pairings with ¡Forward Russia! and Malajube, a New Year’s Eve party at The Drunken Unicorn with Atlanta’s Deerhunter and a successful benefit show at Lenny’s with The Black Lips and All Night Drug Prowling Wolves.

Their biggest feat was landing an opening slot on Kings Of Leon’s nationwide tour. The tour took the two bands out west and back across the States with numerous sold out shows, including in New York City and Atlanta.

“I learned not to judge a book by its cover,” says singer Jordan Jeffares, remembering his original thoughts on his future touring mates. “I wrote Kings Of Leon off before I ever heard them because they wore stylish clothes on stage and were a major label band compared with The Strokes. When I finally sat down with their records I fell in love. They are the nicest guys. I learned my lesson.”

The tour did so well, Kings Of Leon asked them back for the European leg of the trip, which included shows in Paris, Berlin, Cologne and two sold out shows at the Hammersmith Ballroom.

“I’m not exactly sure,” says Jeffares, when asked about the dates that sold out on the overwhelming tour supporting the rockers, “but it was definitely the majority of the dates, both in the U.S. and in Europe.”

Even shows that came with the usual touring hiccups were good news to the band.
“Oddly enough, our best show was in Minneapolis when Kings Of Leon cancelled due to sickness,” recalls Jeffares. “We ended up playing a free show to about 500 people, but it was great because the city alternative station plays us all the time. People kept coming up and saying how glad they were that they stayed.”

The tours opened Snowden up to larger venues, where the band played to crowds much bigger than the usual few hundred at their shoulder-to-shoulder club gigs.
“There were quite a few really cool places on this tour,” says Jeffares. “When you play the 1-3k person venues they’re mostly old ballrooms like The Crystal Ballroom in Portland, which has a rockered floor that bounces — for swing dancing — The Riviera in Chicago, which has the old rope hoists on stage consisting of hundreds of rope sets, and of course The Tabernacle in Atlanta, which is a massive church with two sets of balconies.”

Their homecoming gig in Atlanta was in front of a packed house, complete with a full guest list of family and friends waiting to welcome them home. Weeks later the band made a more casual — but still exciting — appearance at the more cozy EARL in East Atlanta.

After a dizzying year, what could the band possibly do to follow up such a whirlwind tour?

“I’m going to hole up and work on the next record,” says Jeffares. “I haven’t been able to sit down and write in over a year.”

www.snowden.info