Just sneakin' around, having some fun

The sneaks are dirty-minded little cretins. And you know what? They don't care what you think, because, in their own words, You All Suck!

Actually, they don't really mind you that much. You All Suck!, off their debut EP of the same name, is just a bit of fun. Just a bit of pop music.

"We don't think people suck. They're great," beams singer and Casiotone player James Dansey. "We like babies, and mum's apple pie," says guitarist Martin Keane. "So, You All Suck! may have been taken out of context a bit," he laughs.

"Or," continues Dansey, "not enough thought went into the song in the first place."

But with other songs, such as French Tickler, North Shore Pussy, and a rampant 34-second ditty called Gimme Some Reparations, are the Sneaks a bunch of lads with short attention spans and dirty minds?

"We are," smiles Dansey, who has just moved back home with his folks ("They like having me there ... and I do have a part-time job") after quitting his job to concentrate on the band fulltime.

"We've talked before about how we should probably change North Shore Pussy to be less ... you know. But on the other hand, people like it heaps," says Keane.

Dansey: "But we openly admit it is misogynist, but it's just fun. It's fun being naughty."

Keane: "The French one is pretty dirty as well but it's in French so no one really realises it as much.

"Pop, pop, pop," says Dansey, flailing his elastic arms, "that's what [French Tickler] is intended to be.

"It's fun being in a band and pop music is all about having fun and there's not really that much more to it than that."

The Sneaks' brand of pop is at times frantic, sometimes loud and sweet (Kuzai You Girl), and sometimes just odd. But where do they get off calling the 34-second Gimme Some Reparations a song?

"It's been done before. But you're right, not much thought was put into that one either," laughs Dansey.

"That song was about the time my sister came around to my flat with her munter friends who got drunk and threw eggs around the place. I was pretty unimpressed about it," deadpans Keane.

The Sneaks' contemporaries are bands such as the Mint Chicks and the Checks. But while the Mint Chicks take themselves seriously, and the Checks strut, the Sneaks, well, the Sneaks just "throw themselves around" and have a bit of fun.

And Keane reckons Dansey also does a good "mince".

The pair started the Sneaks - accompanied by a drum machine - more than two years ago and initially wrote songs as a result of "us being hungover and having a bit of a laugh on a Saturday morning".

Then along came bassist Matt Rayment ("We thought he was too good to ever want to play with us") and drummer Daniel Ward ("He can play superfast and that's what we wanted").

Add in a shared love of the Pixies, Pavement and punk, and pop music with claps and "ooh, ooh, oohs", and the Sneaks were born.

Dansey also takes a lot of inspiration from Auckland band Shaft, his favourite when he was 16 years old.

"It all comes back to Shaft, the best band ever," he gushes. "Bob Cardy would jump off stage and roll around and do forward rolls on the ground and shit."

If you're thinking the Sneaks don't take their music too seriously then you would be right.

But they insist they're putting more thought into the new songs they're writing. "It didn't really matter what we were saying before because we were just playing house parties," says Dansey.

"No one can hear you anyway, so all you need to do is go, 'La, la, la, la, la', throw some shit around and then it's done, it's a song.

"But then you record and people start listening to what you're saying and it's like, 'I guess I didn't really think about that one'," he laughs.

"So the lyrics I'm writing now are getting stronger because now I realise people are going to be listening to them properly.

"You know, You All Suck!, it's pretty straightforward but it's not a very good way of saying that sort of thing.

"And [live] we're starting to work more on the vocals because I'm quite particular with how they're sung. We really do try and drill the vocals quite a bit because they really are an important part of it."

Dansey also learned a lot about the importance of song arrangement while on tour in the United States with Auckland band the Brunettes earlier this year. Brunettes' songwriter Jonathan Bree arranges songs meticulously.

"He arranges everything, everyone's doing something, I put down a shaker and pick up a tambourine, then I'll play the triangle.

"So even though the Sneaks are just a little punk band really, that sort of thought and effort should go into the music, and the arrangements should be serious," smirks Dansey.

WHO: The Sneaks
LINE-UP: James Dansey (vocals/Casiotone), Martin Keane (guitar/backing vocals), Daniel Ward (drums/backing vocals), and Matt Rayment (bass/backing vocals)
RELEASES: You All Suck! (out August 29)
PLAYING: Kings Arms, Thursday, August 25