Composer, bassist, and one of two singers in the experimental rock band Ecce Shnak. Two weeks ago, the band released a four-song live EP, which follows a six-song EP they’d put out in early February. Plus, on April 10th they released a video that got over 166 thousand views on YouTube in its first seven weeks. This month they will be touring the west coast – seven states, eleven shows, fifteen days – with platinum-selling legends Spacehog and EMF. The band is working on a new full-length album and has amassed 2.6 million combined video views on their official YouTube channel.
“Long story short, Ecce Shnak means, ‘Hey, look at this,’ in a combination of Latin and personal nonsense.”
“I think there's something with sticking with one's name, like, it's (a) total jump to another genre but Talib Kweli could have called himself something much more easy to remember, to spell, whatever, but he stuck with it and he even writes a couple songs about his name that are kind of like ways to learn the name and remember the name. So, using his example in that way part of me just said, well this is the name of the band, and I have to find some way to insist on it.”
“Before I decided to become a musician full-time, I was going to be a psychotherapist and that's partially because I studied – in addition to philosophy – psychology in college and I also grew up with what I still believe was a very helpful therapist.”
“There's much more to life than just staring at your thoughts and feelings and thinking about them and talking about them.”
“I hear people say something like, oh this band is a political band, this other band isn't a political band or artist whatever it is. I think this is a kind of confused distinction because I think every band is political.”
“I think one of the goals is to invite again the multiplicity of emotions and perspectives into musical and poetic space and share it with people and see how the funny things I've seen in my life land in average listeners’ spirit.”
“If the weirdos can feel normal and the normies can feel weird and they can all dance together, that is, I think, one of the best Ecce Shnak environments.”
“The absolutely, extraordinarily, transcendently badass fellow singer in Ecce Shnak is a woman named Bella Komodromos. She just kicks every ass possible at singing; technically, and also interpretively. She really gets stuff in a really impressive way. Again, the technical standpoint and from a spiritual standpoint too, and no surprise, she's also a fantastic singer and composer of her own music, really skilled pianist, and really, really, really fascinating lovely composer as well. Her music, she calls it baroque pop, and she goes by Bella Litsa.”
“We have recently shot four music videos with the fantastic producer/director Djay Brawner in Los Angeles; was a really, really wonderful experience.”
“I think about the visual element of the music with as much detail as I do the lyrics and the compositions.”
“Shadows Grow Fangs”
“Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy”