SOUTH-EAST PUNKS SNAYX IMPRESS WITH BETTER DAYS EP

“They say that life’s a bitch, and I should dive right in,” spits Charlie Herridge on Sink Or Swim, the second track from Better Days, the latest release from SNAYX.

He’s right, of course. There’s no point in waiting around with the momentum they’re building up. They’ve had everything you want to tick off in the early days of putting your music out there already – BBC radio play, Spotify playlist features, festival appearances and a five-star NME gig review.

Accolades aside, if the infectious urgency in this four-track EP is anything to go by, it won’t be long before they’re on to bigger things. And who could stop them?

We’re not shy of decent punk music. Idles and Fontaines DC have paved the way over the last few years for the scene to pick up some real movement, knocking their way into Radio 1’s playlists. On the more visceral side, bands like Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, and Kid Kapichi (who SNAYX are touring with this April) release albums which slot into the UK Top 40. It’s a good time to be alive if you’re into headbanging, jagged guitars and culture-challenging vocals.

If the new punk movement falls in those two camps, SNAYX sit comfortably at the latter, noisier end. But we know how this goes. Things are cool, then they’re not. Scenes rise and fall (early 2000s landfill indie anyone?). Catalogues of music, instantly available at our fingertips. Punk never dies, but it’s evolved several times and will again, and there’s no telling how long this latest iteration will stick around for.

This is where SNAYX play to their strengths. The opening salvo of Better Days and Sink Or Swim introduces you to a bass sound Death From Above 1979 would be enviable of, and the four-track EP is scattered with indie-tinged electronica which wouldn’t be out of place on a Kasabian record. There’s an everyman sensibility behind Herridge’s lyrics which seem built for crowd chants; “The people tell the people that it’s time for change, but nothing ever changes.”

They’re not afraid of a big chorus but reign it in enough to be direct, which is a theme throughout. It’s hard-hitting and abrasive, but full of memorable hooks.

King is a particular highlight; a menacing mid-tempo stomp, drenched in arena-soaring synth. It’s a perfect showcase of SNAYX’s more widescreen moments, and a hint of where they may head next. Overall, this release feels more like a springboard to their next step than an introduction, and it will be exciting to see what’s next in store for the trio.