Why do I stay up late just to wake up late and feel lousy? A Snowing retrospective
It may seem silly to do a retrospective on such a short lived band, but what emo band doesn’t die in at least it’s elementary years? The Lehigh Valley, PA quartet called it quits after a short but phenomenal three and a half years. Snowing arose from the ashes of the highly-lauded math-rock/emo group Street Smart Cyclist and quickly garnered comparisons to the even more-highly-lauded math-rock/emo group Algernon Cadwallader.
Snowing is another band to add to the list of bands I have only experienced through recordings. I am sad to say I don’t have any amazing stories of seeing the band live but I can tell you about the time I sat alone in my room the first night back after a long and hard semester and listened to the copy of Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit I found in the used punk 7” section of an Asheville record store. I could also tell you about the time my brother and I shouted along to the words “why can’t I, see the sunspots in your eyes?” driving home from a late night show, our faces stuffed with the wonderful greasiness of a Cookout run. I can remember the time I drove my brother’s car from my house to his listening to his burned copy of the band’s entire discography. I can remember the unrestrained excitement of receiving my hand screened copy of I Could Do Whatever I Wanted if I Wanted from Square of Opposition Records. I can also remember the brief heart palpitations I briefly experienced when my record took a little more force to get the spindle through the hole than most records. I can forever impress with my Snowing astronaut shirt with the glow-in-the-dark splatter. I can chuckle to myself about the Snowing pin I am currently wearing on my green overshirt with the promotional picture of Kindergarten Cop starring Arnold Schwarzenneger. I could show you the figurative bruises I have from kicking myself over missing the band earlier this year at Treasure Fest in Charlotte, NC. I can tell you about the many times John Galm’s scratchy voice eased the trepidations in my gut from letting anxiety consume me. I still get a little nerd satisfaction from knowing exactly what the songs “Methuselah Rookie Card”, “Malk It”, “I Think We’re in Minsk”, and “Damp Feathers” are in reference to. I could probably show you a few grey hairs on my roommate’s head from forcing him to listen to this sloppy, noodley, whiny music as I write up this personal history.
My story is nothing special, it probably doesn’t stack up to anything a “more committed” fan could tell you or something someone from the PA and New England area could share about the many times they saw Snowing but this is what I have. This is what is important to a nerd like me, the weird pale guy who listens to obnoxious music in his room all the time.
Buy their music from Count Your Lucky Stars
Buy their music from Square of Opposition
