Clem Snide

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Clem Snide photographed on the cover of their 1999 album Your Favorite Music.

Clem Snide is an alt-country indie rock project from New York, NY and Nashville, TN consisting of songwriter/singer/guitarist Eef Barzelay, and a rotation of musicians. Primarily an outlet for Barzelay, the band consisted chiefly of bassist/cellist Jason Glasser through mid-2006, as well as more recent members including multi-instrumentalist Pete Fitzpatrick, and his cousin Brendan Fitzpatrick.

1 History
2 Trivia
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] History

The band formed in 1991, when Barzelay wanted an outlet for his songwriting, but separated in 1994 after releasing a couple 7" singles. A few years later, Barzelay met back up with Glasser and began writing songs again, performing under the name Fruit Key. After adding a bassist and drummer, they reclaimed the name Clem Snide, recorded songs, continued performing, and, in 1998, issued their first album, You Were a Diamond (produced by Adam Lasus) on Tractor Beam Records. This album received some short-term major label attention, enough for Clem Snide to release their second album, Your Favorite Music, on Sire Records, before being dropped prior to the album's release.

In 2001, Clem Snide released the album The Ghost of Fashion, which received some extra press due to the song "Moment in the Sun" being featured as the theme song for the second season of the NBC program Ed. At this time, then-bassist Jeff Marshall left the band citing the touring schedule, as the band had performed a number of world tours in support of Fashion. He did, however, stay with the band to help record their fourth album, Soft Spot.

Clem Snide released their fifth album in 2005, End of Love, and in February 2006 Barzelay released his first solo album, Bitter Honey, on spinART Records. Clem Snide's latest record, Lose Big, is completed and will be released sometime during 2006. Originally set to be released on spinART, the record will instead be released on a yet to be determined label, and signify's the band's the band finds a new record label. Barzelay confirmed that the band broke up during the proceedings, and that another record was completed around the same time, the newer recording set to be released first. [1]

A live, tour-only CD is also planned in conjunction with a fall tour by Barzelay.

[edit] Trivia

"Clem Snide" is a character in several novels by William S. Burroughs, including Naked Lunch, The Ticket That Exploded, and Exterminator!.

Clem Snide found an interesting way to break their new single: "Moment in the Sun" became the new theme song for NBC's "Ed," after the show lost the rights to the Foo Fighters' "Next Year." Fans were allegedly distraught by the change, and Ed went back to the Foo Fighters for the third season.

Clem Snide is often noted for their unique takes on popular songs. Their version of Christina Aguilera's hit single "Beautiful" was released on an EP in 2004, and have been known to perform the Kelis single "Milkshake" on recent tours as well as covering Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" as an intro to "Don't Be Afraid of Your Anger."

[edit] Discography

Clem Snide has released a number of singles, albums, and EPs on a variety of record labels.

[edit] Albums

You Were a Diamond - CD - Tractor Beam Records - 1998
Your Favorite Music - CD - Sire Records/spinART Records - 1999
The Ghost of Fashion - CD - spinART Records - 2001
Soft Spot - CD - spinART Records - 2003
End of Love - CD - spinART Records - 2005
Suburban Field Recordings: Volume One/Early Home Recordings: Volume One - MP3/iTunes - SpinArt Records - 2005
Suburban Field Recordings: Volume Two - MP3/iTunes - spinART Records - 2006
Have a Good Night: Live Recordings 1999-2005 - Self-released - 2006
Lose Big - CD - 2007
Hungry Bird - CD - TBA