Love it or loathe it, nu metal gave us some huge names. Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit, System Of A Down, Slipknot… you know the ones. Santa Barbara five-piece Snot looked set to scale the same heights as their contemporaries, but were cruelly derailed by tragedy when charismatic vocalist Lynn Strait was killed in a traffic collision in December 1998. But now, almost 30 years later, they’re bounding back, having recently played to eager crowds at festivals such as Sonic Temple and Download.
“Lynn died in 1998, just as Snot were blowing up,” Snot guitarist Mikey Doling tells us. “We were excited about how everything was going, but when Lynn passed away we just ended it. We were too devastated.”
A little over 18 months before the accident, Snot had released their debut album, the superb collision of rap, metal, funk and skate punk that was 1997’s Get Some (the album art features Lynn’s dog, Dobbs, who was also killed in the accident). It saw them tipped as nu metal’s next breakout stars, but Lynn’s passing meant the band called it a day almost immediately.
Around the time, they had been working on material for a follow-up album, which would ultimately come out in 2000 as Strait Up, featuring guest vocalists – and friends of Lynn – including Serj Tankian, Max Cavalera and Fred Durst in tribute to the late frontman. The band would reunite a few times in subsequent years, with vocalists including Tommy Vext and Brandon Espinoza, but nothing stuck.
“We weren’t ready to look for a new singer and move on,” Mikey sighs. “We just stopped. We had a couple of tries with some other guys… it just didn’t work.”
It seemed that was where the Snot story would end; a promising band with a tragic backstory that achieved cult status and would be fondly remembered by anyone lucky enough to see them at the time. What they wouldn’t have been expecting is the sudden re-emergence of nu metal’s popularity, which in turn led to offers pouring in for the band to reunite.
“There was this booking agent in Phoenix, Arizona who reached out to me,” Mikey recalls. “He asked what was happening with Snot. He told me there were a lot of promoters that wanted to book Snot. I said, ‘Dude, we have no singer!’”
Filling the shoes of such a unique and larger-than-life frontman as Lynn Strait was easier said than done. The band went through countless audition videos.
“Not one was even close,” says Mikey.
They were ready to admit defeat until watching the very last video they were sent, from Stronger Than Machines frontman Andy Knapp.
“Within one minute, I knew we had found him,” Mikey asserts. “Oh my god, it was so good; the energy, it was all there. Turns out he was from our hometown, too. He was in our backyard the whole time and we didn’t even know!”
Just like that, Snot were back and are ready to make up for lost time. Mikey says that the live shows for this new unit have been insane – something we at Hammer can attest to, after sticking around to witness their chaotic party at their Brighton headline show that evening. They even have new music ready to go.
“We’re working with [Korn producer] Chris Collier and recording at Jonathan Davis’s studio in Bakersfield,” Mikey tells us. “The recording process has been amazing, we’re nine songs into it, we’re going straight back after this tour to finish the last three.”
Mikey is so stoked at the new material that he even plays us a couple of new songs. It sounds like classic Snot; all fat riffs, elastic funk grooves and Andy’s curled-lip roar perfectly capturing Lynn’s swagger. You get the feeling that Snot are keen to reclaim their place alongside their peers as one of nu metal’s all-time greats. “I do really feel like that,” Mikey nods.
“At the time I was just bummed because I lost my brother, but years down the line, you see Limp Bizkit, System Of A Down, Papa Roach… they were all opening bands for us. Now they’re rock stars and I’m driving a semi. But now, if we headline, the show sells out. We’re killing it.”
It’s great to see Snot finally getting their dues, although, as Andy says as he starts Snot’s set every night, all of this is done with love and as a tribute to the memory and talent of Lynn Strait.
“He was a superstar, that’s for sure,” says Mikey of his late bandmate, his voice cracking with emotion. “I know he would be a fan of what we’re doing, because we’re keeping it in the same lane, but he’d also be like, ‘Fuck, man! I wanna be part of it!’ He’d be pissed that he’s missing it.”
Snot’s new album is expected in 2027.
