Meet Kalen Lander and Ariel Monet of Snailmate in Valley wide

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kalen Lander and Ariel Monet.

Kalen and Ariel, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The story of Snailmate is much like the story of the scientist and the fly. By sheer chance, two disparate creatures were fused together, creating one horrible abomination. But instead of a teleporter, we are talking, like, a small van. Ariel Monet is the brains of the operation; Kalen Lander is a gross bug, obviously. Together they combine synthesizers and drums, rapping and screaming, into an unstoppable touring monster!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Ya know, I’d say it has been a pretty smooth road! I mean, we’ve gone through a few different vehicles and some catastrophic equipment malfunctions, but what band hasn’t? We are lucky enough to share the same goals, and we are both willing to do whatever it takes to see them through. Whether it’s sleeping the van every night on a seven month tour or printing our own shirts. We are down to sacrifice our time, money, and comfort to make this band as successful and possible. There are lots of other things that could have gone smoother, like getting signed to a huge label and receiving a boatload of money, but it feels good to do things naturally. We still have so much fun playing music and hopefully that never changes.

Snailmate – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I would say that we specialize in sounding exactly like Snailmate. It is the best feeling when people tell us that they’ve never heard anything like it! We aren’t trying to be weird, just genuine. So when we are writing songs, nothing is off the table. It can feel slightly limiting since there are only two of us and we refuse to write anything that we can’t perform live. That means no backing tracks, no special instruments on the record, and no guest musicians. We want every show to be as honest and high energy as the last. I’m proud to say that we bring it every performance, even for seven months straight with rare nights off. We are built to travel, and we’ve taken the show to 43 states, Europe, and Japan. Next year is going to be even busier!

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
We feel like we’re successful every time we return to a town and see people wearing Snailmate shirts. Or rocking their fanny packs in a vacation photo. People tell us that they met their significant other at our shows, and being associated with such happiness feels like success. But on a more quantifiable level, success has been being asked to play festivals all over the country. To see our merch bins empty on tour. To pay off our van with money from the road. And to tell our mom’s that we are doing okay is definitely priceless!

Pricing:

• $10 shirts
• $5 CDs & Tapes
• We want everyone to be able to afford our merch!

Contact Info:

• Website: snailmate.com
• Email: snailmatebooking@gmail.com
• Instagram: @snailmate
• Facebook: facebook.com/snailmate
• Twitter: @bemysnailmate
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0jOObk3KYGuD4Hwmul07JU

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