2025 marks 30 years since the release of the first Snailhouse album (1995’s Fine)! If you are new to my music, you may need to be informed that Snailhouse is the pseudonym under which I used to perform and record – right up until about 2012.
To be totally honest, it’s been closer to 35 years if you include all the early homemade tapes (which reached a total circulation of about 35 people) from long before I ever had any occasion to sing in public.
I’ve never been very nostalgic about my music – always preferring to put my resources and energy toward making new things. As a result, I have blown past every obvious milestone anniversary – until now.
30 years seems undeniable and I feel the need to celebrate it, so I’m making a new album of this older material that was originally recorded under the Snailhouse name between 1995 and 2012. It will be something like a greatest hits collection, but with new recordings. I’ll be making new versions of the songs that want to be re-sung. Brought to you by my longtime friends at Forward Music Group, this collection will involve lots of the old collaborators from over the years – people you’ve seen onstage and in the liner notes who are also the people who helped me keep the proverbial ball in the air for so many years.
Each guest will only work on songs that they did not contribute to on the original recordings. New players, new outlooks, new skills and life experiences will all amount to refreshed, updated takes on these classic jams. I won’t promise the new versions will better than the originals, but they will be great.
I’ll rewrite things if I can find improvements, and we’ll be as free and open with the interpretations as we can be while still delivering something that has the spirit of the original songs.
I reiterate: I am taking requests.
Will you be my trusted selection committee?
If you are a fan of this music, especially if you’ve been following along since those days, I want to hear from you. I want to know what songs from the Snailhouse era have held their meaning for you. Do you have songs that you’d like to hear re-imagined in 2025? I’d love to include you in this process. Send your thoughts (email, social media, snail mail, carrier pigeon, broken telephone, message in a bottle, whatever).
With much love,
MF
PS: I hope you’ve been enjoying Eternity Mongers since it reached your ears. If it hasn’t, you can remedy that immediately.
You can find the Snailhouse discography on Bandcamp or your streaming platform of choice. or check out the my primer/refresher playlist on Tidal, Apple Music and Spotify.
[Pics courtesy of Peter Murray, who beautifully captured that first record in his garage studio all those years ago]