WHO: SNFU
WHERE: The Boot Pub
WHEN: Sunday, March 11
It’s New Punk Night with a classic flavour. Legends of Canadian punk metal, SNFU, make they’re return to the resort this week. After 20 years and more than 2,000 shows, SNFU is once again building momentum with another European tour and a trip to the recording studio.
"The last time we went over to (Europe) was in 1997, so I don’t really know what to expect," says guitarist Marc "Muc" Belke. "I think it should be a good tour… after the last time we were there we broke up for a few years, so people will probably be interested to see us."
SNFU will see the inside of a different club every night for over a month, starting late this month.
The band’s fanbase has always been solid overseas. Album sales in Europe have sometimes exceeded those here at home. It comes as no surprise that they’re contemplating releasing their new album in Europe before North America.
"It should be out in September or October. We’re just trying to figure out what label to put it on. We’ve talked to a lot of European labels… record sales in Europe are good so we thought why not put it out there first. We’d also like to own it ourselves and have it on our own label."
Belke says they’ve actually recorded the majority of the songs but are heading back to the studio to do another four or five.
"We’re trying to do an old skool punk rock album and I don’t know if we really did that in the session with the first 10 songs… so we’re gonna go back in and make sure it’s just a good album. We haven’t had a studio record out in three years, so there’s no point in rushing it just to get a record out."
The working title for the record is In the Meantime and In Between Time , holding true to their seven word title theory. Check it out, they’re all seven words.
Beyond the new album and supporting tour to follow, Belke says a career change could be on the horizon. At the age of 36, he admits that he may soon outgrow the scene.
"I still enjoy touring with Rob and Chi and sometimes I feel like there’s still a lot of unfinished business with SNFU. People have always had high expectations for us but we’ve never really been able to grasp that next rung – as long as we’ve been around we’ve never had any radio airplay. I don’t really expect it any more, but I think there are definitely some songs on the new album that deserve airplay."
Meanwhile Belke says he’s been toying with the idea of getting into video editing. And what if SNFU had never come along?
"I have no idea," says Belke. "Two of my brothers are engineers, so maybe I would’ve been an engineer."
But even after the band’s inception, Belke had no high musical expectations.
"I wasn’t even sure (this style of music) would stick around. We broke up in ’86 for a few years and I thought punk rock had no future at all. That was definitely a little short-sighted."
