Crawling King Snake was conceived by the frontman of rock band Taxi Violence, George van der Spuy’s compulsion to create music unconstrained by others’ schedules. “I often got inspired to write songs but could not jam with other musicians at the time, so I decided to just do my own thing to keep the creative juices flowing and out of nowhere the sound of Crawling King Snake was born from my subconscious and early influences,” says George.
He baptizes his solo project with the release of the free single and music video – Land of the Blind. This is the first in a series of upcoming single releases that will eventually form part of an EP named The Gospel According To George. Crawling King Snake performances will follow from the beginning of next year.
The name Crawling King Snake derives from an old John Lee Hooker song (first written and recorded by Big Joe Williams in 1941, and later also covered by The Doors). George says that “like many blues songs, this one is about sex, with the “king snake” a fairly obvious metaphor. Long before rockers and rappers did it, blues musicians like Hooker often bragged about their sexual prowess.”
The sound is inspired by a mix of George’s deep fascination with slave music, blues rock, folk and the redeeming element of gospel undertones, often craved by one regularly enslaved by dark moods.
“I have always been very fascinated by old slave music, slaves working on the railroads, living next to the Mississippi River and the New Orleans ‘cotton picking sound’ of old. Their struggles and hardships inspired the blues and eventually rock ‘n roll and was consequently also borrowed from gospel. I sometimes get the blues too… and not just on a Monday,” says George.
Check out the stunning music video (which was Filmed, directed and edited by Loedi Van Renen at Kill City Pictures) for “Land of the Blind” below:
George says that “the song is basically social commentary on how people all around the globe have become absolutely obsessed with their phones, social media and how materialistic everything has become. How people have lost touch with the real world, interacting with real people (face to face) etc. This is Crawling King Snake kind of ‘preaching’ to the masses saying, go out there and experience life and all the splendour the world has to offer.”
I have admit that I really like this song and I would love to see what George is going to throw our way in the near future. This is proof that SA Music is definitely not dead or dying – it’s alive and well.
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