Underbelly by Bryan Snyder

Alternative rock was king, and all kings had long hair, wore flannel shirts, and wore combat boots. Playing live sets on local television and radio programs, Racer Café generated a mild buzz that climaxed with the release of their first and only full-length cassette tape, Brainstorm. Newly formed radio station 92.1 KFMA played "Now," a track from Brainstorm, on its program called 'The New Music Test Department' through early 1996.

With the rise and fall of Racer Café came the birth of Th!nkAdectomy in late 1996. Unlike the quintet that was Racer Café, Th!nka was a power trio and Bryan's first exposure to being the only guitarist in the band as well as taking over the lead vocal duties. With a harder edge, a focus on taking the road less traveled musically, and by just being themselves, the band stormed out into the local scene. Together for 3+ years, the band wrote and performed over 40 original songs, released two cassette EP's titled "4 song demo" and "Equilibrium" respectively, and participated on a national compilation CD released by MAS titled "Even More Corporate Rock" in the fall of 1999. Songs from that compilation were heard on MTV's The Real World, but there is still no confirmation that the Th!nkAdectOmy track was played. Th!nkAdectOmy was also nominated in the local Tucson Weekly newspaper as one of the best new bands of 1997 and one of the best hard rock bands in 1998.

2000 - 2003 was a blur of band and band member changes that came to a head when Toehook, an offspring of Th!nkAdectOmy, took a second hiatus. This was the motivation leading to the July 2003 phone call, initiating a meeting with Jim Pavett that began the Underbelly project. Bryan was already working on solo material at home and recording it through his home studio, but it lacked the feel and depth he was looking for. Enter Allusion Studios in July of 2003.

Fast-forward to July 2004; the time at which this document was written. Bryan just released his first solo album titled 'Underbelly'. This is his 6th studio effort and his 6th overall release. Literally thousands of people have heard and/or owned a medium containing his musical efforts. Many have been moved by his music already. Underbelly has the content and ability to exceed that beyond his wildest dreams.

Although Bryan is an accomplished guitarist and vocalist, he prides himself both on his distinct style and his ability to write songs. His musical influences continue to broaden and can be heard in most of his songs. Yet, no one song sounds like any particular artist. He has written over 130 songs in his career and recorded approximately 45 of them throughout his various projects.

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Bryan Snyder's debut album "Underbelly" is a collection of songs both from his solo and band songwriting efforts. With the exception of "Sleepless" which was co-written with Aaron Massari, Bryan wrote all of the music and lyrics for the entire CD. He has truly challenged himself with this release as it touches many different musical facets that have influenced his writing style over the years. From hard-hitting songs, such as "Spackle" that is about one friend trying to patch up a two-sided friendship, to almost folk music with "What The World Needs", which is about mankind ignoring the warnings of mother earth, the listener is pleasantly surprised from track to track with a wide variety of styles that all seem to flow together in this 16 song release. "Falling Star", a tribute to the untimely death of Bryan's cousin Jason DeWitt, is an eerie track, intentionally standing out from the rest of the songs on the album, which will make the hairs on the back of your neck stick up. By listening to this, you can tell he really pushed himself musically in a direction that he had not previously explored.

This album was recorded at Allusion Studios in Tucson, Arizona by Jim Pavett, produced by both Jim and Bryan. Bryan, with the aid of Jim, hired professional musicians to play on "Underbelly"; a completely new concept to him. Previously, Bryan had always recorded with a band. This time, he needed to pay attention to every aspect of the recording process, from concept to final inlay designs, and help convey to the musicians what the desired end results were to be.

For a complete list of musicians that performed on "Underbelly" and lyrics, refer to the CD inlay or visit www.knutz.net

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