ArcTanGent has become the UK’s annual pilgrimage site for fans of odd time signatures, big riffs, and bands that live somewhere between the two. This year, one of the most talked-about newcomers on the bill was Snooze, a math rock outfit from Chicago making their first trip outside the US. After years cutting their teeth in the Midwest DIY circuit, they arrived in Bristol with songs that are as heavy as they are joyful – equal parts technical precision and unfiltered chaos. We caught up with them on site to talk about their transatlantic debut, surviving gear meltdowns, and why their music is serious even when they aren’t.
“We’re kind of like a heavy, djenty, math rocky, emo thing” says Logan, introducing Chicago’s Snooze alongside bandmates Mike (guitar), Alex (drums), and Dimitri (bass). “How many genres can you fit into one thing?” Dimitri adds with a grin. “You forgot power pop. And a little country.”
The shorthand people reach for is “happy heavy math rock,” but the reality skews darker and heavier – especially in their new material. Since forming in 2016, Snooze have weathered loss, line-up shifts, and DIY touring miles to arrive at their most stable incarnation yet. This summer, that journey took them outside the US for the first time, to play ArcTanGent in Bristol.
“It was incredible, just the coolest shit ever” Logan recalls. “I was so focused that every time I looked up at the crowd I thought I might cry or have a panic attack. It was the most people we’ve ever played in front of. Our first time in the UK, our first time out of the States at all. The reception was amazing.”
The band’s current nucleus coalesced in the shadow of loss. Their former bassist Cameron passed away, and Logan still wears his shirt on stage. “We went through shit,” he says. “Me and Cameron jammed with Alex once, and it was great. After he passed, Alex hit me up and said, ‘Do you still want to do this band?’ I said, ‘Fuck it, sure.’ Then Mike joined, then another bassist who later moved on. But this is the line-up now – solid, post-Covid. The nucleus.”
Despite the heaviness of their sound and backstory, Snooze insist their offstage selves are far from brooding. “We’re all super childish” Dimitri admits. “People might think we’re really serious because the music has darker themes, but we’re just stupid and dumb. Touring is constant terrible jokes, noises, random words. It keeps us sane, like a nervous system regulator.” One running joke on this UK trip has been simply reading the names of English towns aloud. “Titherington” someone offers. “They sound made up. It’s wonderful.”
The trip hasn’t been without chaos. At their London show, Snooze blew their power conditioner and possibly their interface, eating into everyone else’s soundcheck. “We were panicking like idiots,” says Alex, before praising Tangled Hair’s James, who sourced a replacement interface at the last minute. “We used to run everything live with no backing tracks or clicks, so at least we could strip it back. But yeah, that was stressful.”
Still, the rewards have been worth it. “People here just seem more forthcoming about saying they loved the set,” Logan says. “Yesterday in London I had so many people come up and talk. We’ve been making loads of new friends.”
For a band used to the brutal geography of US tours, the UK feels like a cheat code. “That two-and-a-half-hour drive from London to Bristol felt like nothing,” Logan laughs. “We once drove from Chicago to Rhode Island to start a tour, or El Paso to Houston in a day. That’s just Texas. In Europe, that’s like Belgium to Austria.”
They’re still DIY at heart, working day jobs and juggling side projects. Alex plays in a “fuck tonne” of bands. But things are moving: Snooze have recently signed with Forthright Booking in the US, teamed up with John Niblock at Atonal in the UK (“He’s tall as fuck” Logan notes, affectionately), and tracked a live Audiotree session which is set to drop soon.
As for what’s next? “We’ve got a new song for the next release” Mike says. “We don’t have much else lined up for the rest of the year, but we’re planning a busy 2026 and we’d love to come back to the UK. Hopefully an EU tour too. It feels like an investment, coming all this way for just two shows – but it’s been totally worth it.”
Between grief, bad gear luck, and endless miles of road, Snooze have learned to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Their music may be weighty and intricate, but behind the scenes, they’re four friends giggling their way through the chaos. Or, as Dimitri puts it: “It’s all about the gigs.”