Snatches of Pink was a rock band based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They also recorded under the name Clarissa. MTV called them "a raunchy rock 'n' roll band and the real thing. Cool as hell. Loud as hell," as well as "the most exciting unknown band in America."Now It's a Rock & Roll Show!!! A film about Snatches of Pink (Trickle Down Productions, 2007).
Early history Snatches of Pink was formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1985 by Andy McMillan and Michael Rank. The two met at a record store where McMillan worked. At the time, McMillan was 23 years old and Rank was 19 years old. McMillan studied architecture at North Carolina State University before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he majored in math.
For the band's first four shows, McMillan played stand-up drums and sang, with Rank on guitars. After a couple of months, the duo was joined by Sara Romweber (Kamikazes, Let's Active) on drums, and McMillan moved to the bass guitar which was a new instrument for him. Initially, the band performed covers but eventually started writing their own material. Rank was the primary the songwriter.
When Romweber joined the band, she wanted to change its name. On one occasion, McMillan said the band's name was his description of an album cover. Another time, McMillan said that the name Snatches of Pink was selected because "Pink is a great color." He noted that the name was "not a frock, not a communist collaborative,...not an overt euphemism for the vagina." Nevertheless, in September and October 1986, the band experimented with different in names. They used the name Ragamuffin when they played at Cat's Cradle with Satellite Boyfriend on September 27 and with Flat Duo Jets October 4. Later in October, they were using the name Almost Human. For a show with the Bad Checks at the Cat's Cradle on October 31, 1986, they were advertised as "Snatches of Pink (the unnamed band's former name)." However by November, they were back to using Snatches of Pink. Romweber said, "We tried changing the name, and we had many different names and none of them worked. So Michael and Andrew, too, said, 'Let's go back to this name.' And all I said was, 'I don't have to say the name out loud,' and so I rarely do."
Snatches of Pink was different from the other North Carolina acts of the era because of their "rough and ragged approach." The band was fans of The Rolling Stones, Jason and the Scorchers, and The Replacements. Rank recalls, "Snatches of Pink...worshiped dutifully at the altar of Johnny Thunders and Keef. We claimed the Replacements and Jason & The Scorchers as our Pied Pipers and we climbed into the rental van!' One reviewer wrote, "If Keith Richards had grown up listening to The Velvet Underground's 'Sister Ray' instead of Muddy Waters, the Stones might have sounded like this. And don't balk at the comparison because this Chapel Hill band is that good." Another reviewer said, "Imagine Husker Du's waves of noise coupled with early Replacements' bratty disdain for 'convention.' Now imagine rock 'n' roll would-be martyrs Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards fronting this motley crew. Got it? Now turn it up to 11. Good. Now you have Snatches of Pink..."
Jack Wenberg joined the lineup on bass. The band then recorded a demo cassette with the production assistance of John Plymale (Pressure Boys). Rank said, "Mainly it was something for us to do so we could hear what out stuff sounded like." These demos ended up at WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and gained some airtime.
Around 1986, Freddie Jenkins became the band's de facto road manager, staying with them through 1998. The band recorded a second demo cassette in the summer of 1987 which was sold through School Kids Records. Although the sound did not meet the band's expectations, it did help them land a recording contract with Dog Gone Records, the Athens, Georgia indie label of former R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt, in the summer of 1987. The band knew Holt from Chapel Hill before he relocated to Athens, Georgia and discovered R.E.M.
Send in the Clowns Snatches of Pink released its first album, Send in the Clowns in 1987 on Dog Gone Records. For the album, Wenberg was replaced by Eric Peterson (dB's) on bass. Peterson also produced the album—he knew Rank from high school and did this as a personal favor. Once the album was released, Romweber recalled, "We had a conflict. There were people that liked our live shows [who] didn't quite know what to make of our recordings 'cause they became more tame and kind of produced sounding." In the reverse, the people who liked the recordings were not expecting the loudness of the live shows. In short, the band was not happy with the sound of the album.
The New York Daily News gave Send in the Clowns two stars, saying, "Trio doing raucous country rock that's just plain a lot of fun, lyrically and musically. You can also sing along." In contrast, another reviewer wrote, "It's a promising debut, but it definitely would have benefited from clearer lyrics. ...I don't think every rock song should have perfectly clear, cleanly articulated lyrics. But I do think you should be able to hear enough of a song to tell what it's about. ...The music is good—very good—and you can't help but thinking that the band has something to say. Maybe on their next album, we'll hear what it is." Another reviewer wrote, "Between the records extremely 'live' (e.g. chaotic) sound fell muddy production, and vocals that more resemble the nocturnal brayings of wounded animals than actual human sounds. It took a whole side before we realized this LP was not a lampoon parody of country-rock, but an honest attempt at the style. The attempt is defeated by three things: the band can't play, the band can't sing, and the producers don't seem to have a clue."
To support the album, the band went on an extensive tour. However, the New York agency, F.B.I., who scheduled most of their gigs booked "inappropriate clubs" and failed to understand the goals of the band. For example, when the band participated in the New Music Seminar in New York City in July 1988, their showcase was scheduled at the Bitter End, a club known for folk music. Send in the Clowns did not get the radio airplay or the sales that the label and band had hoped for.
Dead Men By February 1988, guitarist David Thrower (Hege V) had joined the band.Cornatzer, Mary (March 4, 1988). "Goodbye Hedge, Hello George". The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina). p. 64. Retrieved June 19, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. By the time Snatches of Pink record its second album, Dead Men, in late 1989, Wenberg and Thrower were gone and they were back to being a trio. However, guitarist Ray Dafrico played on some tracks—and would continue to play in the band's live shows of the era.Edmunds, Doug (February 1, 1990). "Serious Contenders for the Rock 'n' Roll Big League". The Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, North Carolina). p. 12. Retrieved June 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. With this record, Rank shared lead vocals with McMillan who had returned to playing the bass guitar. The album was produced by Robin Guthrie, guitarist of the Cocteau Twins. However, internal issues at Dog Gone caused delays. The first pressing of the album was badly mastered, making it necessary to re-manufacture the records. Then, when the album was sent to the record stores, it was discovered that the cassettes were recorded at too low a volume—and the artwork has printing problems. McMillian called it the "Dog Gone Jinx."
The album's title, Dead Men, came from the pirate saying "dead men don't bite." The band held a joint album release party at the Cat's Cradle with Flat Duo Jets, who also had signed with Dog Gone Records, on September 9, 1989. One reviewer wrote, "Dead Men tells no tales—at least, I didn't hear any, because most of the vocals are buried beneath heaping mounds of fuzzy guitar and stomping punk-ish rhythms." In contrast, another reviewer wrote, "One of the highlights of Dead Men is Rank's vocals. Not that you can understand any of the words. But the sound of Rank's voice is what distinguishes the songs. It's world-weary and throaty like a punk rock Jim Morrison. Sometimes it's a drunken caterwaul, with a metal explosion behind it for accent. But there's harmony in the din." The album made it into the top forty of College Radio's Top 100 and was reviewed in Billboard and Spin. The band also made a video for the song "Sleeping Dogs."
Television and live shows On May 7, 1989, Snatches of Pink were the opening act for Sylvia Juncosa and Soundgarden at Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill. At this time, the band consisted of Romweber, Rank, McMillan, and Dafrico—with the latter three sharing vocals. A reviewer of the three-band show noted that Snatches of Pink "stole the limelight" and that "Soundgarden was good, as was Sylvia Juncosa. Perhaps they both would have sounded better had Snatches not upstaged them."
In December 1989, MTV filmed a piece on Snatches of Pink that ran on News at Night with Kurt Loder in January 1990. As a result of the MTV segment, record sales and calls for bookings were up.
Freddie Salem (The Chamber Brothers, Outlaws) recorded the band's Deader Than You'll Ever Be, live at CBGB on April 25, 1990. This four-song EP was only released on vinyl as a limited-edition radio promotion, and also included a live performance of "Dogs" that was recorded by MTV's Tim Sommer. This EP "solidified their image as a hard-drinkin', unrepentantly badass group who clearly did not give a shit what folks—and, significantly, club owners and bookers—thought about the band as long as they came out to the show." In fact, Snatches of Pink lived up to that reputation: Jeff Lowrey, owner of the 13-13 Club in Charlotte, North Carolina complained about "how unprofessional and arrogant" they were as they "knocked over mic stands and monitors, left broken bottles on the stage and ignored the soundman's pleas to turn down the volume and distortion."
One reviewer noted that the group had earned "a reputation as the bad boys of the Chapel Hill scene, the band with the worst attitude." Another was clearly a fan of their live show, writing, "Like ex-New York Dolls' guitarist Jimmy Thunders with his amp cranked full blast, Michael Rank rips and whirls leads out of his guitar with a sneering attitude. The whole sound achieves a mystical, masterful quality of looseness—like everything is teetering on the brink of collapse. And—just like every great live performer from Little Richard to the Sex Pistols to Sonic Youth—Snatches of Pink's shows retain rock's basic defiant, anarchic—and accessible—spirit."
Over the years, Snatches of Pink opened for several acts working in a similar vein, including Johnny Thunders, The Ramones, The Cramps, Iggy Pop, Soul Asylum, John Kay and Steppenwolf, and Rocket from the Crypt. As one review of the era noted, "They lived the part and looked it, too, each member's shaggy, unkempt hair shrouding his or her face to the point that you figured it was only a matter of time before someone tumbled off the edge of the stage."
Bent with Pray In early 1991, Snatches of Pink had offers from Walt Disney's new record label, Hollywood Records, and the semi-major label Caroline Records. Rank really wanted to work with Keith Wood at Caroline Records, and negotiated a deal with Hollywood Records in that allowed him to make a solo record with Caroline. For the first time, the band had a "decent" recording budget. They used this budget to experiment, finding "a softer, psychedelic, more overtly melodic side" with hints of roots rock. The album was produced and mixed for Hollywood by Freddie Salem (The Chamber Brothers, Outlaws).