Snake River Conspiracy was founded in 1998 as a project of vocalist Tobey Torres and producers
Eric Valentine and
Jason Slater. The band was initially signed to
Interscope Records in 1998 on the strength of a two-song demo, and shortly after signing to the label, Valentine opted out of the band to focus on his music production career. The band's debut
EP/single, "
Vulcan", was released on October 5, 1999; it received rave reviews from critics, and was named "Single of the Week" by the British music magazine
NME. SRC's debut album,
Sonic Jihad, was released in the United States on July 11, 2000. The band found moderate success in the United States with their cover of "
How Soon Is Now?" by
The Smiths, which reached a peak of number 15 on the
Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and number 38 on the
Modern Rock Tracks chart. "How Soon Is Now?" was reissued as a single in the UK by Morpheus Records in July 2001, where it subsequently reached number 83 on the
UK Singles Chart. In an episode of the official SRC podcast from 2005 addressing the numerous lineup changes, Slater named Mitchell Doran as the "best guitarist and most solid band member" in SRC. Slater died of
liver failure on December 9, 2020. In July 2022, Torres and Mitchell Doran launched a new
Instagram account for Snake River Conspiracy, announcing that new music from the band will be released in 2023. In November 2022, Mitchell Doran alleged that Jason Slater had stolen several compositions that were written by other Snake River Conspiracy members during the
SRC2 recording sessions, and reused them with other bands he produced. == Band members ==