KEY POINTS:
The Sneaks seem like they're having too much fun to take this music thing seriously.
The rock trio have turned up hungover "for breakfast". It's lunch time. Discussion turns from their new album to ... fossils.
"We're nerds," says guitarist Martin Keane, nodding earnestly.
Soon we're talking robots, sand dunes, vending machines, panty raids, secret societies, conspiracy theories, home-made T-shirts (singer James Dansey is wearing one he prepared earlier) and the joys of dressing up as a sausage. Many of these themes can be found in their music; others they just happen to find amusing.
"Why should anyone take music seriously?" says Dansey. "It's supposed to be fun. Enough people take themselves seriously for us not to."
The Sneaks are actually pretty serious about this music thing. Two years ago they were named most promising act at the bNet awards, a title they've been only too happy to oblige. That includes support gigs for Idlewild, the Icarus Line and Trans Am, the release of EPs You All Suck! and Pep Sounds! which spawned a bunch of kinky songs, a bNet award-winning animated music video for Kuzai Heart You Girl and opportunities to play fancy gigs where you get free booze (like the New Zealand Music Month one they did last night). In July they're off to London where they have big yet tenuous dreams of setting up New Zealand's version of Andy Warhol's Factory.
"It's not a hobby," says Dansey. "I probably spend more time on music than anything. I just don't treat it as my main source of income."
He and Keane started playing together five years ago when a mutual friend invited them to join his jazz band. That led to a stint in a covers band before they decided it was time to make their own music. They recruited bass player Matt Rayment, who last year left to concentrate on family. Drummer Daniel Ward is the newbie, having proved his mettle in several other bands, including the Defendants and the Hot Grits.
When the band's manager Rob Jefferson first saw them play 2 1/2 years ago, he was impressed by their positive attitude as much as their "short, sharp noisy pop tunes".
"They have a charm that really comes across when you see them play live," he says. "They're just totally infectious. It's impossible not have a good time."
The Sneaks have the fast-paced, jangly guitars of their peers the Mint Chicks and the Checks but there's less of the polish and swagger and a bit more naughtiness. At times they sound like a Dunedin band from the 80s who've swapped their beers for cordial. Their pop hooks are fleshed out with 60s guitar sounds, spaced out electronica, soul, handclaps and a good dose of nonsense.
"People always say to us that we look like we're having fun when we play," says Ward. "It makes up for the crapness."
He's half-joking but there is a just-kidding-around appeal to their songs. This is possibly why they're often referred to as ironic.
"What's the difference between ironies?" ponders Dansey, who has a tendency to analyse everything. "Are we theatrical irony?"
Droll, perhaps.
"We're not droll, we're stupid! It's not art-school stuff. Some of it's quite simple. It's fast. It's pretty intense actually."
The album took a year to make, and is more polished than their EPs, even if polished by the Sneaks' standards is a tad unpolished. The band built their own studio in Grey Lynn, although it has since been ripped down. Dansey, an audio engineer by trade, took charge of the producing. The story behind their new music video for I'm Lame is typical of their approach. They took their $5000 music grant of government money and gambled the lot on a horse. You'll have to watch the video to see if it paid off.
"We wanted fireworks and cranes and helicopters so we thought it might work," says Keane. "We knew it wouldn't matter too much if we didn't win. The final shot could have us sitting there crying."
That's hard to imagine as they're all having too much fun. Which is just as well, given they are independent and rely on full-time jobs.
"If you start looking at it in terms of money, you just shouldn't do it because it doesn't work out," says Dansey. "You work in a supermarket you'll make more money than being a musician but there's obviously a lot of benefits or else we wouldn't do it."
And how do they avoid the potentially destructive nature of being a trio?
"Three is the best number of legs for a stool," snaps Keane.
Dansey: "And a triangle is the most powerful shape. So there!"
At this, they start singing the De La Soul lyric, "Three, that's the magic number ... " Apparently it's the song they like to hug to.
Lowdown
Who: The Sneaks Line-up: James Dansey, (vocals and Casiotone), Martin Keane (guitar), Daniel Ward (drums)
Releases: You All Suck EP, (2005), Pep Sounds! EP, (2007), The Sneaks (debut album, out now)
Tour: Supporting the View at the Kings Arms on Monday, and headlining at same venue, June 16.
