Oh Sanijav!!!

Oh Snap! on vaginas and DJs

We’re not sure why local indie rockers Oh Snap! released their debut album, Flap Harder, only recently. After all, they finished recording it a year ago. But, perfectionists that they are, they took their time with post-production duties and artwork, making sure it was all tickety-boo before hitting the shelves and computer folders. And, mainly, they had to get rid of their lame old band name—Sanijav.

“We were tired of the old name,” says guitarist-vocalist Mitch Vinet. “No one could remember it and it had a crude meaning. It was ‘vaginas’ backwards with a ‘j’ in it instead of a ‘g.’ It was borne out of our juvenile nature and it was time to change. I’m not saying Oh Snap! is the most mature name, but it was something at least we could all agree on.”

When I did some interweb searching for Oh Snap!, a number of humorous things popped up. A site competing with YouTube featuring lots of useless videos (and one rather useful one called “The Sexiest Video of Alyssa Milano”); a message board/online community, the unifying theme of which I couldn’t quite figure out, but I think it was either SUVs or the general concept of complaining; a DJ with questionable oral hygiene.

“That is a problem,” chuckles Vinet about the band’s lack of Googlability. “Especially that DJ. He’s from Florida or something and he’s pretty popular. The distinction is that he puts two exclamation points behind his name and we put one. We’re going to hope that avoids any legal troubles down the line.”

Or, really, to avoid legal troubles altogether, Oh Snap! befriending Oh Snap!! and working together is probably the best idea. The collaboration could be called Oh Snap!!!

“We actually thought a good music video would be all of us doing martial arts and training and we’d fight this guy in a duel. We’re throwing that idea around,” laughs Vinet. “Or maybe we could do a collaboration; he could remix one of our songs.”

Why not? These guys have already proved with their stripped-down and simplified melodic rock that they stand out in Victoria’s music scene; at one point, Vinet mentions to me that the band is considering venturing into “short comedy skits.”

“We’re always thinking about new videos and not necessarily just music videos,” he explains. “Just another way to get attention. YouTube—we might as well capitalize on that.”

Go for it, guys: it might make those Google searches a bit more fruitful.

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Oh Snap!
(with And So Say All of Us)
8pm Saturday, May 23
Fort Café, 742 Fort
Tickets $6 • 250-382-3130