1999–2001: Formation and Automatic Midnight As youths growing up in San Diego, Reis and Froberg had played together in the
post-hardcore band Pitchfork from 1986 to 1990. Following that they formed Drive Like Jehu, which gained the attention of major labels and resulted in a record contract with
Interscope Records. By this time, however, Reis had become seriously involved with his other band, Rocket from the Crypt, and in 1995 Drive Like Jehu stopped playing together. Reis would continue to work with Rocket From the Crypt until 2005, while Froberg moved to
New York to start a career as visual artist and illustrator. Hot Snakes essentially began as a "
side project" in 1999 while Reis was taking time off from Rocket from the Crypt, who were in between record labels and had lost their longtime drummer
Atom Willard. While searching for a new record label and drummer, Reis started his own label
Swami Records and experimented with other musicians, resulting in the formation of both Hot Snakes and the
Sultans. Hot Snakes originated when Reis recorded a batch of songs with
The Delta 72 drummer Jason Kourkounis, then contacted former bandmate Froberg to contribute vocals to the tracks. Most of this recording session was released in 2000 as Hot Snakes' first album
Automatic Midnight, which was the first release by the Swami label. Although Reis and Froberg had previously collaborated in bands, Hot Snakes represented a new challenge logistically: Reis lived in San Diego, Froberg in New York, and Kourkounis in
Philadelphia. This resulted in sporadic and intense touring and recording schedules. When a full touring band was needed, Gar Wood (Beehive and the Baracudas,
Tanner,
Fishwife) was called in to play the
bass guitar. After some touring Reis returned to work full-time with Rocket from the Crypt.
2002–2004: Suicide Invoice and Audit in Progress In 2002 Hot Snakes reconvened to record the album
Suicide Invoice and tour the United States. The following year Kourkounis left the band to play full-time with
Burning Brides, and Reis once again returned to work with Rocket from the Crypt. When Hot Snakes again returned to the recording studio in 2004, Rocket from the Crypt drummer
Mario Rubalcaba (also of
The Black Heart Procession, Clikatat Ikatowi,
Earthless, 411, and Chicanochrist) was brought in to play the drums. The album
Audit in Progress was released and the band extensively toured the United States, as well as
Europe and
Australia. While on tour in the
United Kingdom that fall, the band recorded several songs for
BBC radio at British DJ
John Peel's recording studio. Their performance would be one of the last for Peel's program, as he died shortly afterwards. This session was released as the
Peel Sessions EP, which replaced a planned single for the song "Braintrust" in the UK market.
2005–2006: Breakup and Thunder Down Under in 2005: Froberg (center) and Wood (right) In May 2005, while on tour in Australia, Hot Snakes recorded a live in-studio performance at
ABC studios for Australian radio station
triple j. On their return to the US, Reis announced that the band was breaking up.
Audit in Progress was named "best punk album" at the 2005
San Diego Music Awards, and shortly after Reis announced that Rocket from the Crypt would also be breaking up. That fall, Hot Snakes contributed a cover of the
Government Issue song "Time to Escape" to the soundtrack to the ''
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland video game. This was the last song recorded by the band. Their live Australian radio session was released posthumously in 2006 as Thunder Down Under''. Following the breakup of both Hot Snakes and Rocket from the Crypt, Reis focused his energy on running the Swami Records label. He continued to perform occasionally with Rubalcaba in the
Sultans until that band's breakup in January 2007. Rubalcaba also plays in the
San Diego band
Earthless and is part owner of an independent record store called Thirsty Moon Records. Wood continues to record music and play in Beehive and the Barracudas, while Froberg resides in New York and works as a visual artist and illustrator. In early 2008 Froberg debuted a new musical act called
Obits, while Reis, Wood, and Kourkounis reunited in
The Night Marchers.
2010–2023: Reunion and Froberg's death On July 29, 2010 The Night Marchers and Obits performed together at
The Casbah in
San Diego; for the
encore, the original Hot Snakes lineup of Reis, Froberg, Wood, and Kourkounis reunited to perform "If Credit's What Matters I'll Take Credit", "Automatic Midnight", and "No Hands". The following year Hot Snakes reunited, with Kourkounis and Rubalcaba taking turns on drums, for a series of gigs including
All Tomorrow's Parties and
Fun Fun Fun Fest. The band toured the
West Coast of the United States from March to April 2012, and performed at the
Metallica-curated Orion Music + More festival in
New Jersey in June. On August 14, 2017, Hot Snakes announced a fall tour starting in November as well as new album tentatively scheduled for release in spring 2018 via
Sub Pop. Hot Snakes' discography was also subsequently
reissued by Sub Pop. In June 2023, Froberg revealed on Instagram that a fifth Hot Snakes record was "very near done". Froberg died two weeks later on June 30, 2023, at the age of 55. == Band members ==