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R olling Stone magazine describes them as one of today’s most ver- satile bands, able to adapt to every genre. However, Snarky Puppy can’t really be called a band, because it is actually a musical collective which has to date, since the time of its inception, included between 30 and 40 members who’ve come and gone, although they mostly perform as a group of eight to ten people in a rotating composition. Bassist, composer and band leader Michael League formed Snarky Puppy in 2003, and for an entire decade they failed to attract any serious attention, only to today reach a situ- ation in which they perform under the name “The Fam”(derived from family) and are the proud owners of three Grammy Awards. We spoke with Michael League about the ex- traordinary collective that composes Snar- ky Puppy, discussing their plans and upcom- ing June concert. You’ve been to Belgrade already with anotherband,butthistimeyou’recom- ing with Snarky for the rst time, and with your full composition? - I’m thrilled to be coming to Belgrade again. I played in your country last year with my other band, Bokanté, and the reaction was phenomenal.Theaudiencewasveryendear- ing and it was evident that these are true mu- sic lovers. I can’t wait to present Snarky Pup- py to this audience. How did this unusual band even emerge? - I formed the group with friends from college after completing the rst year of stud- ies at the University of NorthTexas. I think that was 2003. Most of them were orientated to- wards jazz in their studies. We had our rst gig in the basement of a pizzeria and we’ve never stopped performing. Yourenergyisindescribable.Howdoes Snarky, as such a large collective, man- age to function so well? - What I personally love the most about our group is the way we give ourselves over to improvisation. The same song can be changed to the limits of recognisabili- ty from evening to evening. That change depends on what each member does dif- ferently and the way in which they con- tribute to the composition, without dis- respecting the essential content of the work itself. This allows us to emphasise the emotional contents of songs, allow- ing the music to grow, breathe and de- velop, and creating a unique musical ex- perience every evening. You performed for an entire decade before you started attracting media attention. Was it di cult back then? - It must be music must that compels you to push on. If you need other people to determine the value your art has – whether
that relates to the media, the public, the in- dustry, or anyone else – you’ve prepared for failure from the start. Although no one cared about Snarky Puppy, and nobody even no- ticed us for 10 years, we are all still there. Why? Becauseeverymemberofthebandplayspri- marily out of a love of music. How many members do you have? You change the structure of the band con- stantly for every performance… -We’veprobablyhadbetween30and40 members throughout all these years. There are currently around 20 of us, but we usual- ly perform as a group of eight to ten peo- ple. We’ve worked in both smaller and larg- er groups, but this represents some kind of medium that suits us completely. Members constantly change for concerts, but there are seven or eight members who play in around 70 per cent of performances. We had our rst gig in the basement of a pizzeria and we’ve never stopped performing, says frontmen of this unusual band Michael League Imali smo prvu svirku u podrumu jedne picerije i nikada nismo prestali da sviramo, kaže frontment ovog neobičnog benda Majkl Lig
Do the members of the band socialise be- yond the scope of this musical adventure? - Absolutely. The majority of us live in New York, and we hang out there a lot. On tours, we spend as much time together o the stage as we do on it. We’ve already become a family. What would you single out as your great- est success? - Our mutual relations – the fact that we’ve been playing together for 15 years and we still love one another. That’s not an easy thing, but we actually get on better now than ever before. For me, this is our greatest success. Likewise, the fact that we live by playing original instru- mental music makes me feel like I climbed to the top of a mountain. That’s a good feeling. Winning a Grammy must be a phenom- enal experience, but you have as many as three! - It was totally and utterly unreal. I was sure we wouldn’t win the rst Grammy. When they called out our name, I was really in shock. Win- ning the other two awards was also an extraor- dinary experience, but the rst time was spe- cial. Prizes can be a trivial thing and you never know what will happen – especially when other artists in the same category are such good and in uential musicians. One year we were in the same category with Bill Frisell and Marcus Miller! I was almost ashamed that we won. We had to thank them during the acceptance speech for the inspiration we found in their music. What are your further plans? - I have lots of di erent ideas: a book about our early days; a documentary about the spread- ing of musical traditions around the world; a fully acoustic album etc. The list continues. Let’s see if we have time to do everything.
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