Like Linkin Park, Reunited Nü-Metal Band Snot Are Keeping New Singer Secret Until First Gig Begins
A few months ago, Linkin Park made their grand return, playing their first show since the 2017 memorial for their late singer Chester Bennington. Linkin Park found themselves a new singer, Dead Sara’s Emily Armstrong, but they didn’t reveal her identity until they were all onstage together for the first time. This led to some complications, thanks to some sketchy Scientology-related stuff in Armstrong’s background, but the reunion has been a big success so far. Now, another California ’90s nü metal band is set to get back together, and they’re using a similar strategy, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Santa Barbara’s Snot never got a chance to become massive, the way that Linkin Park did. They released one album, 1997’s Get Some, at the dawn of the nü metal era. A year later, singer Lynn Strait died in a car accident at the age of 30. Snot had already started work on their sophomore album, and that record, entitled Strait Up, came out in 2000, with singers from bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, System Of A Down, Incubus, and Slipknot standing in for Strait. In 2008 and then 2014, Snot played some reunion shows, with Divine Heresy’s Tommy Vext on vocals. Toward the end of their second reunion, one Carl Bensley filled in. Now, Snot are getting ready to reunite again, but they’re not telling anyone who their new singer is.
Over the weekend, Snot posted a teaser video on Instagram, with the singer’s back to the camera and band members Sonny Mayo and Mikey Doling asking who that guy is.
As Blabbermouth reports, Mikey Doling recently appeared on The Kevin Powell Podcast and talked about the band’s decision to get back together and to keep their new singer’s identity secret:
Let him come on stage. That’s it. And figure out who he is on your own. If he says his name, great. But the last thing I wanna do is go on the internet and put his name out there, and then people go to his social media and whatnot and start scrutinizing him before he even gets on stage. Because that’s what will happen. I mean, you’re living in the shadow of the great Lynn Strait, so it’s gonna be a rough road for him. He’s gotta prove himself on stage first. And, we’re giving him that comfort…
But he’s awesome. Let me just say when he sent me his audition reels, tapes, recordings, I was blown away like I’ve never been blown away since [the demise of the original Snot lineup]. And I sent it to Tumor first thing, my right arm, my bass player from Snot. He usually doesn’t like anything. He’s very cynical. He’s the greatest guy ever, he’s my brother, but he’s a cynical person at times. And he called me right away and just said, “Holy shitballs.” That’s a quote. “Where’d you find this guy? We found our dude. We found him.” And that’s how it went down. Then, of course, I sent it to Jamie and Sonny, and they both agreed he’s the guy. And here he is. We got him.
Doling said that he had the idea to get Snot back together after seeing how well some of the band’s peers are doing on the road, and he says that this reunion is more serious than the last one: “We’re back-back. We got the booking agency. We got high-level shows and festivals. This is the real deal for us.” The band will play their first show back at Anaheim’s Parish at the House Of Blues on 1/17, and they’ll also play warmup shows in San Diego and Santa Barbara before playing Daytona Beach’s Welcome To Rockville festival in May. Linkin Park are playing that one, too.
