The Snax

Snax
Origin:	Mission Viejo, California
Years active:	1998-2000

The Snax were a Christian Ska Punk band from Mission Viejo, California formed in 1995 who toured in the late 1990's and featured current Linkin Park bassist, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell on bass. While Phoenix was a member of Xero, he left the band to honor his commitments with The Snax. Because of this, he did not record any bass on Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory EP or Hybrid Theory album. Lead vocalist Mark Fiore from The Snax became Linkin Park's videographer in summer 2001 on the Hybrid Theory touring cycle; his first tour with the band was on Ozzfest. Lasting all the way until 2002, The Snax released two studio albums - Run Joseph Run in 1998 and Snax in 2000.

Story

While attending high school, Dave joined the band (then known as Tasty Snax) and assumed the role of bass guitarist. Although Dave was trained in electric guitar, what the band sorely needed was a bass guitarist, so Phoenix opted to make the transition from the electric guitar, and has played bass ever since. The band later changed their name to Snax, from Tasty Snax, before the release of their second album under their self-titled band name.

Tasty Snax first entered Moonsong Studios in Riverside, CA late in 1998 to record their debut album Run Joseph Run with local producer Kendall Nadeau and mixer Bob Moon. The album was released via Screaming Giant Records to generally positive reviews early in 1999, prompting Phoenix to take a leave of absence from Xero to fulfill his duties of touring with Tasty Snax. They regularly played live shows and were one of many regular acts at the Cornerstone Festival, a Christian Music show. Their track "Run Joseph Run" which became a hit throughout California; the video for which had heavy rotation in Vans outlets across the state, as well as being requested by MTV. The band later changed their name to Snax (also referred to as "The Snax").

In early 2000, a follow-up album was planned and they entered Golden Track Studios in San Diego, CA to record their self-titled sophomore album Snax, this time with producer and mixer Matt Wignall. The album was released early via the Screaming Giant Records website and hit the stores on May 18th but failed to pick up where Run Joseph Run had left off, and sold poorly.

The band went through a few line-up changes later in their career, with Eric Pffeifer being replaced by Ryan "Cheese" Marony after their first release. As Dave left to re-join Linkin Park in 2000, Jim Roach took over bass duties and later drums in studio sessions after Mark Keller left the group. Mark Fiore, Jim Roach, Phoenix and Cheese were extras in the "The Unusual Suspects" episode of Dawson's Creek season 4 in 2000, appearing during the pool scene before the opening credits. Daniel Patterson joined in as their drummer shortly after.

During an LPU chat in 2014, Mark Fiore was asked if there would be a Tasty Snax reunion and he said that they actually sucked, but they had fun.

The Rosewood Fall

After The Snax disbanded, Jim and Daniel joined their Westmont College friends Benjamin Holsteen and Eric Palmquist in a band called The Rosewood Fall in 2002, replacing original members Patrick Otellini and Chase Reeves. The new line-up was signed to Linkin Park's Machine Shop Recordings after Phoenix got a hold of their first 3-track demo. In the fall of 2003 they recruited Joel Pierson, becoming a five-piece band, and entered the studio with producer Thom Flowers, resulting in a 6-track EP called Demonstrate which was released on May 25, 2004. Jim and Joel had previously been in a band together before The Rosewood Fall. The Rosewood Fall announced in July 2005 that they would disband due to personal issues but first would be releasing every song they ever recorded. A 13-track album titled Stereo: Left was released on August 14th, followed by the 19-track album Stereo: Right on September 27th. Vocalist Benjamin later commented the band endured two years of rejection, saying, "I think we’d all known for a while how it was going to end, anyway. None of us were going to get what we wanted, so we were simply waiting out the clock until we could go our separate ways."

Band Members

• Dave Farrell - Bass Guitar, Vocals
• Mark Fiore - Guitars, Vocals
• Mark Keller - Drums
• Ryan "Cheese" Maroney - Guitars, Vocals

• Daniel Patterson - Drums
• Eric Pffeifer - Guitar
• James Roach - Guitar, Drums, Bass

Discography

• Run Joseph Run (1998)
• Snax (2000)