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Let’s hit up a little dissonance at the festival, as a treat. I’m drawn to intriguing noise projects, so the other day I asked a friend how Fleetwood Snack’s set was when their bands had shared a bill. I was sent three videos of a person covered in what appeared to be moss, standing in front of a gear table (also covered in moss). In one clip, the frondose figure is playing a saxophone over an ominous, warbling backing track. In another, they’re setting off chaotic drum loops and demonic-sounding samples.
Like Dave Segal mentioned in his J.R.C.G. recommendation last week, I’m also in the mood to “confront life’s darker aspects” and “diverge from typical outdoor-music-festival fare.” I can do breezy escapism with the best of ’em, but sometimes it’s okay not to be able to hear yourself think.
Fleetwood Snack is adept in the dark arts of noisescapes and chopped ’n’ screwed sample-mancy. Tracks range from what can only be described as humid static to shrill static; the cacophony is often stapled together with strange audio fragments (cartoon noises, freaky sermons). To do something I never thought I’d do and quote Hunter S. Thompson: “When the going gets weird, the weird go pro.”
And with that, here are 10 questions with pro weirdo Fleetwood Snack:
1. Respectfully, what is your deal?
A local novelty.
2. How did Fleetwood Snack come to be?
I ran a house venue in the CD, and when I was throwing shows there, I felt bad that the openers weren’t playing to many people, so I would create a new project for every show and be the opener. Fleetwood Snack was the one that stuck.
3. You know your way around chopping up a sample. How do you decide what to use? Do you have a library you pull from?
My voice memos, YouTube folders, and Insta saves are chock-full of nonsense from over the years.
4. Let’s talk about the noise of it all.
Noise gets a bad rap, man. It’s an everyday life thing and you can either be turned off by it and ignore it, or take it in—there’s noise everywhere, in every moment, and you just choose to focus on whatever but you’ll be missing part of the picture. I try to hit every corner of the room to make it unignorable.
5. The mossy foliage costume. I’m a fan. Please tell me about it.
The need to hide on stage came out of stage fright, the foliage part was inspired by the North Florida swamp I grew up in.
6. Many of your tracks strike me as kind of sinister but also sort of absurd. Some of it feels like surreal commentary on the modern condition (or whatever the fuck is going on right now). Would you say you have a message or overall theme you’re thinking about, or trying to convey?
We live in a world so fraught with chaos, so it’s easy to only seek sound, media, entertainment that makes us feel good, feel safe at home. I don’t expect a lot of people to like what I do—I understand people can be turned off by overtly loud and absurd things. But I thrive in chaos. I use this project as a high-energy outlet for chaotic good. There’s a sweet spot where you’re freed from reason (positive), your mind is blank, and you’re just enveloped in the environment. Check the alignment chart, there has to be a balance and I’m physically unable to make lawful music.
7. Besides presumably being able to witness the foliage/moss-covered set in real life, what can we expect from a live Fleetwood Snack Bumbershoot performance?
People walking in and walking right out.
8. Anything you’re hyped to see at the festival this year?
All the homies. J.R.C.G., Zookraught, TeZATalks, Biblioteka, and stoked to see Foot Ox—It’s Like Our Little Machine is a ripper of an album for fans of Casio-key folk punk.
9. I don’t want to typecast you, but do you have a fave Bumbershoot snack? Mine used to be those strawberries on a stick but I think they discontinued them and I’m upset.
Never been to Bumbershoot, so I’ll go with the strawberries too.
10. And now for the most important question: What’s your astrological sign?
Full-fledged Capricorn.
Bumbershoot is Saturday, August 30 & Sunday, August 31 at the Seattle Center. Tickets are available at bumbershoot.com. We’re counting down to Bumbershoot 2025 by featuring a different participating musician or artist every day for the two weeks leading up to the festival—see all our picks here.